The Bluejays defeated DePaul 77-53 Wednesday night to improve to 17-5 overall and 13-4 in conference play.

It was the first time the Jays hit the court since their 16-point win over Villanova on Feb. 13.

The late-season break isn’t typical for the Jays, but gave a chance to recover prior to the final few games.

“It’s a different feel in the middle of February, but much needed and I think it was huge for us going forward into this final stretch of the season,” senior guard Mitch Ballock said.

It was also the first chance to work on some specifics coach Greg McDermott and his staff were looking out for all season.

“You can work on some situational things that maybe you don’t have time for when you’re prepping from game to game,” McDermott said. “We zeroed in on some things that we saw that we felt we needed to clean up as we move into this stretch.”

Coming off that break, the Jays were slow to start against the Blue Demons, getting down by as many as eight in the first few minutes.

Despite the deficit, Creighton pushed itself to a 31-12 run to end the half.

“We just had to get our timing, our game rhythm back, that’s what happened at the second half of the first half, and we took it over to the second half,” senior forward Denzel Mahoney said.

From there it was all Jays on both ends.

“For the most part we’ve been a better defensive team this year, and as the season has gone on I think they’ve become more connected,” McDermott said.

Creighton held DePaul to 35% shooting, which transitioned well on the offensive end.

Mahoney, along with juniors Marcus Zegarowski and Christian Bishop, each contributed 13 points to the 24-point win.

Senior guard Alex O’Connell followed with 10 of his own off the bench. It was a strong showing from the bench as nine players total scored on the evening.

“That was really good to see, that was part of our mission and goal last week in practice,” McDermott said. “Let’s try to get some confidence in their game.”

The Bluejays now head to Cincinnati to play Xavier, where they’ll try to stay ahead in the conference polls.