It seemed like a lifetime ago, but in truth it had been only 11 months since coaches Chris Collins and Chris Holtmann last met at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Collins’ Northwestern team walloped Holtmann’s Ohio State Buckeyes by 25 points on a cold, late-January night in Evanston, Ill., en route to the Wildcats’ second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Holtmann, meanwhile, was on his way out the door — fired by Ohio State five games later with four years remaining on his contract. He wound up in a most unlikely location, at the Lincoln Park school whose basketball glory days were so long ago only Baby Boomers remember the particulars.

Saturday’s coaching reunion was a chance for Holtmann to show the Blue Demons’ early-season success was no mirage. But after spotting DePaul the first basket of the afternoon, the Wildcats ripped off a 20-0 run and cruised to an 84-64 nonconference win.

Eighteen DePaul turnovers, many leading to easy transition baskets, were the obvious difference in the game.

“We need to get better and we will,” Holtmann said. “Trust me, we will.”

Faith in DePaul basketball has been in short supply for quite a while, so forgive Blue Demons fans if they need to see improvement before taking the new coach’s word for it.

Nick Martinelli (23 points) and Brooks Barnhizer (21 points, 12 rebounds) led Northwestern, while Jacob Meyer paced DePaul with 18 points. Barnhizer was named the game’s MVP, an award late radio personality Les Grobstein helped champion when the rivalry between the local programs was a relatively big deal.

Collins said it was still a “big game” to his players and believes the four local schools — including Loyola and UIC — are as strong collectively as Chicago has seen in years.

NU and DePaul have been heading in opposite directions for the last decade, basically switching identities since Collins turned around the Wildcats program.

Northwestern, renowned for losing, made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2017, and after playing in the tournament the last two years Collins has significantly raised expectations for the onetime dregs of the conference. Not making it to March Madness in 2025 would now be considered a disappointing season by alumni.

DePaul, the onetime Cinderella-turned-national power in the late 1970s and early ’80s, last made the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and is coming off a 3-29 season, the worst in the school’s 102-year history. There’s nowhere for the Demons to go but up.

The disastrous 2023-24 season included the ouster of Tony Stubblefield and eventually the surprising hire of Holtmann, whom OSU fired on Valentine’s Day with a 14-11 record.

Ohio State gave Holtmann a $12.8 million buyout, which would be enough for most of us to lounge in Cabo for a while before even considering a return to work. Holtmann instead took the DePaul opening, a decision that befuddled anyone who has paid attention to the program’s plight over the last few decades. For Holtmann, it was simply a matter of staying occupied.

“I’m kind of an (expletive) when I’m bored,” Holtmann explained to CBSsports.com. “I don’t have enough hobbies. I just think I can be irritable. … For me, I don’t know how I’d be not having a team, not having a purpose for a year. And if there’s a couple opportunities, or an opportunity that kind of grabs my heart, then I need to take advantage of that.”

The transfer portal facilitated a roster cleansing, and Holtmann’s 8-2 start with a team filled with 3-point shooters brought cautious optimism to DePaul’s campus.

But DePaul still hasn’t won a game in Big East play in nearly two years, since a one-point win over Xavier on Jan. 18, 2023. And a 28-point loss at St. John’s on Tuesday looked like more of the same.

The Blue Demons could’ve cashed it in after Saturday’s inauspicious start, in which they trailed 20-2 after six minutes and watched the Wildcats convert inside at will, going 9 for 9 from the field.

“Turnovers all night,” Holtmann said. “We just gave them bucket after bucket after bucket.”

Northwestern hit 12 of its first 13 attempts and built a 19-point lead, but DePaul clawed back and trailed only 37-27 at the half despite committing 14 turnovers.

The Demons still made Northwestern sweat a little, pulling within eight with a little more than three minutes left. But the Wildcats pulled away again and turned it into a rout, as Martinelli sank three straight jumpers and Barnhizer slammed one home. Holtmann called Barnhizer a future NBA player, and Collins agreed.

“Why wouldn’t you want someone like that on your team, at any level?” Collins said.

DePaul (8-4) has one more nonconference game next Saturday against Loyola-Maryland before returning to Big East play on Jan. 1 at Wintrust Arena, facing two-time defending national champion UConn. It’s unlikely the Blue Demons will break their 34-game Big East regular-season losing streak against the No. 11 Huskies.

But sooner or later it has to end. Just ask the Chicago White Sox. Who knows? DePaul might even end its conference streak before the Bears end their skid.

Holtmann said he’s looking for “growth” and doesn’t want anyone to to be “consumed” by the Big East streak.

“They want it so badly, I want it so badly for my AD,” Holtmann said. “But it’s really my job to focus on figuring out how to solve some of these issues we need to get better at and keeping our guys focused on getting better and growing. … We’re trying to establish something here in Year One in terms of competitiveness and how we’ve played. I think we’ve done that. Now we need to answer some of these challenges in front of us.”

NU, which lost a heartbreaker to Iowa in its Big Ten opener on Josh Dix’ game-ending 3-pointer, then upset Illinois on Dec. 6, resumes conference play Jan. 2 at Penn State before back-to-back games at No. 16 Purdue and against No. 20 Michigan State at Welsh-Ryan.

“Let me enjoy my Christmas, Paul,” Collins replied when I reminded him of the tough start to the new year.

Collins added it’s a “unique team” that he’s still learning about. Getting everyone more involved will take time, but he likes what he has seen.

“I feel like we’re improving,” he said. “I felt it was a real step forward today. … You have to keep getting better. Our league is too good, coaches are too good.”

Northwestern should contend again with Barnhizer and Martinelli as the centerpieces, while DePaul might be able to be more competitive with better ballhandling.

Grobstein would’ve just been happy to see a couple of Chicago basketball programs making things interesting again.

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