Duquesne professor cancels class after NCAA Tournament win vs. BYU
The Duquesne Dukes have secured their first NCAA tournament win in over 50 years. The Dukes won their opening-round matchup against the BYU Cougars on Thursday to advance to the Round of 32. Some individuals have wasted little time celebrating the victory.
One Duquesne professor has elected to give his students the day off to celebrate the historic victory. The professor made the announcement to his students through the school’s class portal, Which you can check out in the image below.
In the 6-seed vs. 11-seed job of the East region in the men’s NCAA tournament, the A-10 tournament champs took down one of the top teams from the Big 12 this season, in large part thanks to the play of their starting backcourt: Jimmy Clark III and Dae Dae Grant. Both fit the game as the only two Dukes starters in double digits, with 19 and 11 points, respectively. Also, forward Jakub Necas contributed off the bench, adding twelve points.
The biggest key to Duquesne’s win Thursday afternoon was its defense against BYU’s shooting. The Cougars failed to reach their 32 3-point attempts per contest mark and finished the game 8-24 from beyond the arc. They also forced the Cougars to expend a ton of energy attempting to come back as the Dukes only relinquished the lead one time but led by as many as 14 in the contest.
Up next for Duquesne is a showdown with the No. 3 seed in the East, Illinois. The Fighting Illini took down the No. 14 seed Morehead St. on Thursday.
Keith Dambrot after Duquesne’s upset of BYU: ‘They just don’t want me to retire’
The final game of Duquesne’s season will be the last game of the career of Keith Dambrot. That wasn’t today, though, after the Dukes pulled the first upset of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed against No. 6 BYU in the East Region.
Dambrot spoke on the court postgame about what the latest miraculous, 71-67 win for them felt like. He started by joking that his team just won’t let him ride off into the sunset because they just keep winning and extending his time on the sidelines.
“They just don’t want me to retire I guess,” Dambrot said. “I’m trying to get to the promised land and they’re making me keep coaching.”
Duquesne led for all but 31 seconds over BYU in Omaha on Thursday. They held the Cougars to almost 15 points off of their average by keeping them to under 40% from the field at 38.6% and under 35% from three at 33.3%. Jaxson Robinson came off the bench for 25 on quality efficiency, but besides that, it was a quiet day for the Cougs’ offense.
That defensive effort was at the center of this upset, according to Dambrot.
“Our guys did exactly what they had to do in order to win the game,” said Dambrot. “Keep the score down in. They’re a load on offense so it was a battle all game long.”