By ADAM ZAGORIA
When news of the latest point shaving-scandal in college basketball broke this week, DePaul was one of the programs linked to the misconduct.
Former DePaul players Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson were charged in the indictment, while Micawber “Mac” Etienne is mentioned as being charged elsewhere.
According to the indictment, “On or about February 24,2024, in the NCAA men’s basketball game between Georgetown and DePaul, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, defendants Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson, and Micawber Etienne and Person #6, under-performed in and influenced the first halfas they had agreed. Georgetown outscored DePaul 4l to 28 in the first half, covering the spread of approximately 2.5 points, and the fixers won their bets.”
Games against Butler and St. John’s were also mentioned as part of the point-shaving scheme.
Terry, Nelson and Etienne were bribed $40,000 to lose the Georgetown game, the indictment said. The same amount was allegedly promised for other games.
Ok last one but if this was in a movie script you'd roll your eyes at how unbelievable it was.
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) January 15, 2026
Playing keepaway from a player who is playing too well and then texting the bagman MIDGAME to calm him down. I'm dying. pic.twitter.com/0BgSJhFxKS
Etienne, who played at UCLA before transferring to DePaul for the 2022-23 season, reached a plea agreement on Dec. 8, as Sports Illustrated reported this week. That agreement remains under seal. He has a hearing scheduled for Feb. 18.
Asked about the scandal following his team’s 80-75 win over Marquette on Friday night, current head coach Chris Holtmann — who took over ahead of the 2024-25 season and did not coach Etienne — was emphatic in his response.
“Listen, I think there was some really irresponsible journalism in the last 24-36 hours,” he said, per beat writer Nick Palazzolo. “It doesn’t take you long to research the fact that no one in our program was a part of it. My name got mentioned a couple times, and a couple articles that players sent to me. So it is what it is that’s going to happen. We really did not talk about it much, it didn’t involve any of them. We mentioned it briefly yesterday. Our focus was on beating Marquette and playing well… it was a 30 second conversation in a three hour practice.”
With the win over Marquette, DePaul improved to 11-7, 3-4 in the Big East. The Blue Demons won just 4 league games a year ago during Holtmann’s first season.
After their first three-game winning streak in almost 20 years, Holtmann bought a round of drinks for DePaul students at a local bar.
Chris Holtmann saying “Who’s gonna grab my credit card?” at the end is AWESOME 🤣
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 17, 2026
⁰DePaul just posted its first three-game home winning streak in almost 20 years 👀
pic.twitter.com/SlvwlfyeQB
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