Two former DePaul men’s basketball players were among 20 people indicted Wednesday in a gambling and game-fixing scandal that spans multiple teams.
Former Blue Demons guard Jalen Terry and forward Da’Sean Nelson are accused of fixing the first halves of games by underperforming in Big East games in February and March 2024. Forward Micawber “Mac” Etienne also is named in the indictment, which says he is charged elsewhere. A fourth DePaul player, named only as “Person #6,” also was alleged to have been involved.
The indictment lists a Feb. 24 game against Georgetown, a March 2 game against Butler and a March 5 game against St. John’s as games that potentially were affected. DePaul lost all of those games, part of its record 39-game Big East regular-season losing streak.
The games in the indictment were played after DePaul fired coach Tony Stubblefield in January 2024. Matt Brady, currently an assistant coach at Boston University, was the interim coach.
The Blue Demons hired former Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann shortly after DePaul’s season ended in March 2024.
DePaul said in a statement Thursday that it was “deeply disappointed that former student-athletes were named in the indictment for alleged gambling activities during the 2023-2024 men’s basketball season.”
The department noted that no current student-athletes were members of that team.
Fifteen of the 20 people charged Wednesday in federal court in Philadelphia played NCAA Division I basketball as recently as the 2024-25 season. The other five were characterized as a group of fixers.
Prosecutors allege those fixers, who included former Chicago Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney, got Etienne to agree to the scheme in February 2024 and recruit fellow players.
The four players were alleged to have taken bribes, including $40,000 in cash for both the Georgetown and St. John’s games, to underperform in the first halves so that DePaul wouldn’t cover the spread.
At halftime of the game against Georgetown, which was favored by 2½ points in the first half, DePaul trailed 41-28. According to the indictment, a fixer texted Etienne in the middle of the game: “l love Jalen terry he perfected his job … Sh*t Nelson snapped too.”
Terry was scoreless in the first half of that game and scored 16 points in the second half. Georgetown won 77-76.
At least $123,789 in bets were placed at various sportsbooks for Butler to cover the 6½-point first-half spread on March 2, 2024. The wagers also included parlays with other games alleged to have been fixed. Butler led DePaul 45-27 at halftime and won 82-63.
The indictment alleges that during the St. John’s game, a fixer texted Etienne that one of his teammates was playing too well. Etienne texted back during the game “that the DePaul players involved in the scheme were keeping the ball away from that player and preventing him from scoring,” according to the indictment.
DePaul guard Jalen Terry advances the ball against Loyola on Dec. 4, 2021, at Wintrust Arena. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Terry and Nelson transferred to Eastern Michigan after the 2023-24 season amid the coaching change. Etienne transferred to LaSalle.
DePaul said in its statement that “the university has a longstanding commitment to educating our athletics community about the dangers and consequences of sports gambling.”
It noted that the school participates in wagering monitoring through Integrity Compliance 360 and a gambling education program with EPIC Risk Management.
“We will continue to evaluate and strengthen our education, monitoring and compliance efforts to protect the integrity of competition and the well-being of our student-athletes,” the university said.
Blakeney, who played in 76 games for the Bulls from 2017-19, was not named as a defendant. But he is named in the indictment, first as having been recruited to fix games in the Chinese Basketball Association and then as having recruited college athletes to help fix NCAA games.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/depaul-basketball-gambling-indictment/
