Duquesne MBB Prepares For A-10 Championship

The journey to the Atlantic 10 Championship is several footsteps away for the Duquesne Men’s Basketball Team as this season’s location PPG Paints Arena provides an advantage as Pittsburgh will be on display for the first time since 2017.

All of this is being done to commemorate the conference’s 50th anniversary.

Duquesne, is seeded seventh in the championship and faces the 10 seed Rhode Island at 5 p.m. Thursday on USA Network.

These two teams split the season series and last met a week ago in a game where Duquesne committed 19 turnovers, falling 64-52 to the Rams.

Prior to that setback, Duquesne had won the last four meetings.

CATCHING UP

Duquesne snapped a four-game losing streak with a 79-77 victory over Richmond Saturday afternoon at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhose.

In the contest, the Dukes trailed by as many as 30 points and turned it around, the fourth largest comeback in NCAA Division I history.

Appropriately, David Dixon, a four-year forward wrapped up his senior day with the game-winning basket, tipping in a Tarence Guinyard missed shot, a sequence resulting in a show open from SportsCenter and the #2 placement on the top 10 plays for that day.

At teammate Jakub Necas’s urging, Dixon climbed atop the scorer’s table, fully enjoying the moment.

It was quite the exclamation point for Dixon who was playing in front of his father for the first time since the latter suffered a stroke last year.

The game meant a lot for all of the seniors being honored, but also gave Duquesne a significant lift heading into Thursday’s game.

As Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III explained it during Monday’s media availability, it was a testament to his team’s competitiveness, will and poise.

Dixon would add that it was a testament to Duquesne’s hard work paying off.

It was at Joyce’s instruction that the team did not look at the scoreboard and rather try to win each possession.

Now as the team turns the page, it aims to flush a lot from Saturday. While Joyce hopes the spirit and confidence from last game stay, he also understands that each game is its own battle and it is about putting words into action.

On Monday the conference revealed its all-conference teams and Guinyard (16.9 ppg/142 assts/45.9% FG) was named to the first team and Jimmie Williams (15.1 ppg/46/1% FG/47 stls) made the third team.

THREE KEYS

1. It is very clear that this team goes as its defense goes. At times throughout the season Duquesne is a spurty team and the easiest way to see if it is doing well boils down to how locked in it is defensively. In tournament play, it is win or go home and playing a full 40 minutes starts with that defensive side of the ball. Sure, shots did not fall for much of that first half, but not getting nearly enough stops stunts the potential for any momentum. When Duquesne is at its best, it is disruptive and can provide pressure across 40 minutes.

2. There is little worry on Duquesne’s end if the ball can find the hole, but it has to play within itself. Tyler Cochran was named the Atlantic 10’s co-Defensive Player of the Year and for good reason. He has the most steals of anyone in the A-10 but also can take care of business on the offensive end. Duquesne will need someone to step up. Often this season that has been Alex Williams who went from playing a couple of minutes in the season opener based on practice habits to being a crucial part of the rotation. Williams has the willingness to take crucial shots as he did during the conference opener against Davidson, but also his defense has been underrated. If a Jakub Necas, Cam Crawford, Jake DiMichele, Brandon Hall can step in and provide minutes and continuity on both ends of the court, that can truly help Duquesne’s cause. As Dixon put it Monday, the conference championship is going to be “10 times tougher than the conference time,” so having several options to go with will loom large, especially if Duquesne can advance past Thursday’s game.

3. At Duquesne contests, there at times is something to be desired with fan attendance, with students specifically coming under fire. Duquesne has done everything it can do with Guinyard offering 50 free tickets beside Rooney Field, Dixon walking in uniform by the arena and Joyce taking care of another 50 tickets as well. There has certainly been a call to action and there will be some genuine excitement from fans, perhaps some will be first timers who with a good effort could be won over to come to future games. Rhode Island will have some fans, not to mention its coach Archie Miller’s local ties will draw attention, but there will be a lot of eyes on Duquesne, and it has the opportunity to meet and surpass that expectation. When Duquesne was in Omaha it drew well and the fans there made their presence felt, the Dukes hope the same can be said throughout this week.