Inside the Dukes: Duquesne MBB Embracing Identity

In the second half of Thursday evening’s Atlantic 10 Championship second round game, the Duquesne Men’s Basketball Team was looking for a spark.

Its opponent was the same Rhode Island team which forced 19 turnovers leading to a fourth consecutive loss in regular season play.

The half was more than half over when Alex Williams had an iso action in the middle of the paint and found Tarence Guinyard.

On the surface it may have appeared to be a made three-point shot, but to Rhode Island Head Coach Archie Miller, it was far more.

It took a little air out of the Rams.

“We had a lot of momentum defensively there and the game had started to become a little bit of a slugfest.” he recalled. “We had chiseled it down slowly but surely. That kid is the most under rated player in the league, maybe one of the more underrated point guards in college basketball this year for what he has done for their team. He is a fantastic player in terms of handling the ball, shooting, he defends. I thought his shot was a big moment in the game and from that point forward, they held serve so to speak.”

Though it was a game which had quite a bit of back and forth, especially given Tyler Cochran’s 34 points matched a career high and came on a personal best nine three-point baskets, Duquesne never trailed emerging victorious 67-61 at PPG Paints Arena.

As for the 19 turnovers, Duquesne had one in this game, a Maximus Edwards traveling violation, nearly 15 minutes into the game.

“How tough can we be possession by possession,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III asked his team at halftime. “I thought we had a good first half and you go into that second half it’s life or death now in tournament atmosphere. Value every possession and find some success. We battled and went small, and so did they. We got some key stops and rebounds.”

WHEN ACTIONS AND WORDS ALIGN

Throughout the season, Duquesne knew that its offense would take care of itself, but the defense would take longer to solve.

It was a gradual process throughout A-10 play, but by February, Duquesne became one of the most consistent teams in the conference and that was because of its defense.

In Thursday’s game, Duquesne went 9:06 without a basket during first half action and it was the defense which had to stand tall.

It did time and again.

Even when David Dixon, Jakub Necas and John Hugley IV were in foul trouble, the defense dug in, the Dukes went small and Rhode Island had to counter in turn.

A week ago, Duquesne found itself in a game focused on turnovers and executing. Thursday it was about everyone who came in the game making an impact and executing.

Though there were hiccups towards the end of the season, but there was a surge in the Richmond comeback. After Thursday’s game, both Alex and Jimmie Williams acknowledged that defense had become the team’s identity.

That was certainly music to Joyce’s ears.

“When they’re saying it, now I believe it,” Joyce emoted. “We had to build it up, our pace. We had our challenges, not everything was on the players, I thought it was a learning curve. We had to get better and make adjustments. We got Dave back to the five and he is one of the best shot blockers in this league. Making adjustments to help this team. I never thought for a second that we didn’t believe we had to play defense.”

VCU

The Rams are the test Friday evening. These teams have not seen each other since the Jan. 3 meeting and a lot has changed. For both teams.

“That game was a long time ago,” Joyce acknowledged. “Elements of that game where we didn’t play very well. I thought early in the game the tempo was more them and they played it really well. We play until they say we can’t play anymore. We have some fight to us and there is no quit in that room.”

A couple of seasons ago, Duquesne won the Atlantic 10 Championship by besting VCU. Once again the Rams stand in the way of extending the season and its band, The Peppas will certainly make their presence felt.

If Thursday was any indication, fans will show up, perhaps in even larger numbers. Duquesne is clearly feeding off the support acknowledging it after the victory. Dixon in particular did an Andre Agassi impression of sorts, offering his trademark raise the roof impression and even blowing kisses.

The past standard was right in front of Duquesne in Norm Nixon and now this current Dukes team desires to continue moving forward.

It does so fully knowing itself and having found ways to problem solve throughout Thursday’s effort. The turnaround time will be quicker, the opponent tougher but Duquesne displayed a mentality and a form that can intimidate opponents.