Duquesne Dukes

Date/Time: Saturday January 11th @ 4:00 PM at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington DC.
Record Last Year: 19-13, 10-8 (T-6th in Atlantic 10)
Preseason Ranks: 109th (KenPom), 101st (Bart Torvik), 122nd (Sports Illustrated), 137th (CBS)
Projected Record: 23-7, 13-5 (T-2nd in Atlantic 10)
Postseason Last Year: None.

Coaching Record: Keith Dambrot, 35-29 in 2 seasons at Duquesne. Previously went 305-139 in 13 seasons at Akron, including three NCAA appearances, 5 NIT appearances, a CBI appearance, and a CIT appearance. Despite finishing in first during the regular season in his last two years there, the Zips failed to win their conference tournament, likely playing a factor in Dambrot's move to a conference capable of earning at-large bids. Dambrot also spent a couple seasons at another MAC school, Central Michigan, with a combined record of 20-34. He is a solid in-game coach, and having coached LeBron a couple years in high school has only helped bolster his resume. After reaching a partnership with Nike, the Dukes became one of the few schools to wear LeBron-brand gear on the hardwood. Between that and the new arena next season (the Dukes have been technically playing "away" from home all season) the administration is definitely making an investment on Duquesne athletics.

All Time Record: 50-30, although the Dukes have won the past four contests (we had won the previous five before that in the series). We have played the Dukes at least twice in each of the past five years. Last year's meeting in Foggy Bottom was definitely one of the more memorable games of last season. Duquesne took a 24-6 lead early in the game (our usual slow start), but we stormed back late in the game, actually taking the lead by 5 on a pair of Javier free throws with a minute to go. Unfortunately a really bad DJ turnover (I remember it being a very poor pass) allowed Duquesne to come back and eventually tie the game 77-77 at the end of regulation. We ultimately never recovered in overtime and fell by 6, 91-85. Javier had probably his best game of the season with a team-high 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks, with Justin (16 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists), Maceo (15 points, 6 rebounds), DJ (14 points, 7 rebounds), and Armel off the bench (14 points, 5 assists) also finishing in double figures. Our 17 assists for the game was probably a season high at the time.   

Offensive Efficiency: 108th (KenPom), 112th (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 53rd (KenPom), 43rd (Bart Torvik)
Tempo: 201st (KenPom), 200th (Bart Torvik)

Key Returning Players:
Sincere Carry (SO; Solon, OH) 12.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.4 spg; 43% FG, 32% 3-pt, 72% FT
      Last Year @ GW: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists; 6-15 FG, 2-7 3-pt, 5-8 FT in 42 minutes.

Michael Hughes (RS JR; Kansas City, MO) 11.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.3 bpg; 59% FG, 29% 3-pt, 59% FT
      Last Year @ GW: 21 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocks; 8-13 FG, 5-5 FT in 37 minutes.

Marcus Weathers (RS JR; Shawnee Mission, KS) 10 ppg, 6.4 rpg; 49% FG, 25% 3-pt, 64% FT
      Last Year @ GW: 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals; 6-8 FG, 0-1 3-pt, 2-2 FT in 31 minutes.

Frankie Hughes (RS JR; Garfield Heights, OH) 8.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.6 apg; 34% FG, 32% 3-pt, 63% FT
      Last Year @ GW: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists; 3-9 FG, 2-7 3-pt, 2-2 FT in 35 minutes.

Tavian Dunn-Martin (RS JR; Huntington, WV) 7.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 2.5 apg; 36% FG, 34% 3-pt, 88% FT
      Last Year @ GW: 8 points, 4 assists; 2-5 FG, 2-5 3-pt, 2-2 FT in 19 minutes.

Key Losses:
Eric Williams Jr. (Transferred to Oregon; Port Huron, MI) 14 ppg, 7.6 rpg; 42% FG, 37% 3-pt, 75% FT 

Comments:
The aforementioned new commitment to Duquesne athletics - new arena, new partnership, even new logo (am I the only one who prefers the old one?) has coincided with overall winning basketball on the hardwood for the Dukes. Keith Dambrot saw a +3 win improvement from year 1 to year 2, and may see an even bigger jump in year 3 if the Dukes continue to win. They haven't exactly played the toughest schedule OOC, but winning almost all their games so far has put them in some bubble conversations midway through the year, and such talks haven't slowed down after their 3-0 A10 start. Duquesne's identity much like SLU starts with the defensive end - the Dukes are definitely one of the better teams in the country in generating steals, turning teams over, and blocking shots near the rim. Offensively, they aren't that good from deep, but can convert well near the hoop and are very good from the free throw line (78% as a team!) so it seems very unlikely that we'll see another hacking approach Saturday afternoon.

Quarterbacking the team is second year guard Sincere Carry, who made waves as a freshman despite his light recruiting out of HS (his only other D1 offer out of HS was Youngstown State) with his savvy playmaking, knowing when to defer to his teammates or look for his own shot. He is putting up similar numbers to last year, but has noticeably improved his shooting from deep (36% - leads the team) and the free throw line (84%). Carry had a near triple-double against us last year, and will be one to keep an eye on all game. His backcourt mates Tavian-Dunn Martin and fellow sophomore Lamar Norman Jr. figure to be beneficiaries of Carry's playmaking off the ball. Although he is a great shooter off screens, Dunn-Martin, who followed Dambrot from Akron, has served as Carry's backup off the bench and is second on the team in assists. He is their best free throw shooter at 87% and leads the Dukes in made threes with 31. Norman is also a good free throw shooter, but is more of a volume scorer rather than efficient from the floor. Freshmen Maceo Austin and Ashton Miller have also seen time right away in their first go-around. Austin in particular has had a strong debut, and much like our Maceo, is a capable three point shooter. He has stepped up nicely in place of Frankie Hughes, who is out for the year with a meniscus injury. Miller will likely see less time and overall won't make much of an impact in the game - he is only shooting 8/36 from the floor on the year. The Dukes overall have a promising young backcourt and have an eye for the camera as well.

The frontcourt will be primarily occupied by juniors Marcus Weathers and Michael Hughes, as well as senior Baylee Steele. We should all be familiar with Hughes (he also followed Dambrot from Akron) as he continuously torched us inside play after play. Our team should hopefully be prepared well for him after facing Osunniyi and French in previous games. Like both of those guys, Hughes is among the league's best shot-blockers with 3 blocks per game. He shoots a great 60% from the field and is averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds per 22 minutes of action - those numbers would look much better if he played the entire game but Hughes has struggled with foul trouble at times. Maybe we look to double team him in the post as we have been doing recently - he's not quite the passer French is out of the post. Weathers is actually the team's leading scorer and rebounder on the year with averages of 14 ppg and 8 rpg. He has pretty quietly improved each year in college (he started out at another MAC school, Miami Ohio) and is shooting 61% from the field on the year. Weathers is probably the most well-rounded player on the team and can play both ends well - he is third in assists, first in steals, and second in blocks. Steele, a native Iowan who previously played at yet another MAC school, Eastern Michigan (as well as Utah Valley after that) adds an interesting dimension to the team off the bench. He is 6'11", but can shoot from deep, having made 18 threes on the year at a 33% clip which isn't bad. Steele is overall a solid shooter and above average rebounder.

I was somewhat worried about our offense going into the SLU game, but I thought we did a solid job overall on Wednesday. Duquesne is a fringe top 50 team nationally defensively, so we will have to continue to find creative ways to put up points (which will hopefully include getting to the line). On the other end, Duquesne has 5 players who have made 15+ threes on the year, but only Dunn-Martin averages over 2 makes a game, so again this isn't a team trying to beat you from deep. They are looking to get to the rim and get points off turnovers, so focusing on doubling the post and preventing easy baskets by taking care of the ball will be key. Just hoping to see continued progression.

Predicted Score: Duquesne 70, GW 61. 16% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 21.1% to notch our first conference win of the season.
 

The line I'm seeing is Duquesne -7.5

Toro costing us again down low on offense.  Can't seem to finish like he used to.

What a run to end the half all tied up!

Was the last  3 pointer disallowed?

Still says 32-32 at the Smith Center.

We can totally win this game.

Arg so frustrating.  These last two games show some promise for the years to come but man would it kill us to win???

Also Duquesne is rising on my hate list.  Hughes is a Grade A douche.

Last edited by GW0509 (1/11/2020 5:58 pm)

Tennessee Colonial wrote:

What really gets me is that we shot 45% from the foul line. But the biggest disappointment is that the point guards shot 1-7 from the foul line. That's the game. As a Vanderbilt friend of mine said , " a guard should never miss a foul shot" or in other words, one of the main point production parts of a guards game is foul shooting. If they fail at that then don't expect many victories, especially in close games. That is what we're seeing here.  

Given the foul disparity, the lack of making the limited number of FTs we got absolutely cost us this game.