Inside the Dukes: Duquesne Experiencing Peaks and Valleys

There was an uncertain silence that filled the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse during halftime of Wednesday night’s Duquesne Men’s Basketball contest against Central State and it had everything to do with one deficiency, defense.

It was the defensive effort that let Duquesne down in Akron against Northeastern, the first time the Dukes lost since playing its annual Ohio contest and the fan base certainly had its share of grumbles and concerns.

Duquesne Coach Dru Joyce III knew the defense effort at the start of Wednesday’s game was unacceptable, so he took matters into his own hands.

Less than five minutes into the game he spent a timeout and brought a different five out onto the court. It was an intentional move to try and generate some desperately needed energy.

“I was very unhappy with where we were defensively,” Joyce stated. “I’m just going to trust the next five guys to go in and see what they can do. I thought they steadied us a little bit. You want that bench to come in and raise the level.”

The Marauders led for nearly three minutes in the first half, shooting 43.8% from the field, though some of that number dropped because of a scoreless streak heading into intermission.

Joyce went into the locker room and if the brand new five coming in was not enough, he pulled up video of the first half. He wanted his team to see every clip of how it was scored upon.

“There was no denial,” simplified Joyce.

While the second half of a 101-80 victory over Central State was not a complete shift, it was a step in the right direction, with more engagement displayed.

“Coach said a good amount of things,” junior guard Jimmie Williams revealed. “It was needed for sure and I think our energy was better in the second half. Energy on the court and energy on the bench. We play better when we have good energy and had more ball pressure.”

While Duquesne shot the ball well from the field it was unable to fully get going until the second half, a clear endorsement of the defensive improvements. As a side, the Dukes fired at a 70% clip in the final 20 minutes and posted a Joyce-era high 64.4% conversion rate overall.

It was a valuable lesson that when the defense can make plays that it can free up an offense that already was finding success.

Defensively everyone views success in a different lens and by all means Joyce believes there still is work that needs to be done but there were positive steps taken, namely his side’s ball screen defense.

Constructively, he admitted that the one-on-one situations created some issues, which can be tied to better paying attention to detail on the scouting report.

The evidence of this came in Keionte Cornelius who scored 22 points. It is his desire to get jump shots up, when Duquesne’s scout wanted to make him a driver. While Duquesne may view those as tough shots, they were comfortable looks for him that he hunted for.

It seems as though Duquesne has an idea as to what it desires its identity is but the execution is still very much a work in progress.

“It’s a fine line with your aggression, it has to be calculated,” Joyce said of the defensive approach. “We try to play the ball through our discipline, move your feet first, absorb the contact. A lot of times teams have a tendency to over dribble and give the ball to you, you don’t have to reach. We have to be calculated and the gamble of going all out or move my feet and now have a chance to play the basketball. There’s instances where we’re doing both. Our pace is fast too so scoring will be up a bit.”

SETTING EXPECTATIONS

Perhaps the second biggest question after the Northeastern loss was why Maximus Edwards did not play. Joyce made it quite clear the reason why which also seemed like a clear example that if the standard lets up in practice that this could be the result.

“He needed to act like that he wanted to play basketball,” he offered. “Sometimes players have a tendency to treat their minutes like a sense of entitlement like it’s supposed to happen and that’s not nearly the case in my program; I’m going to make you work for it. If you practice and are here for the team and pouring in those habits, I can get with that, but if it’s the other way around if I’m not the best teacher, sometimes the bench is.”

Edwards was a key piece to Duquesne’s offense, a fact evidenced by 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting across 24 minutes.

WHAT’S POPPIN

At practice Tuesday Jake DiMichele walked up to Joyce and reminded him that the next day’s game would mark exactly one year since playing in a game.

In typical DiMichele fashion, he then told Joyce, ‘it couldn’t be a better moment to return,’ a reaction which brought the lone laugh of the postgame presser.

“I said, ‘you know what, you’re right Jake,” beamed Joyce. “Just a super different outlook on it, I immediately got why would you bring that up, this is the moment we crashed last year and you went down. He’s worked hard to get to this point, he feels stronger this time around through both injuries he sustained and we’re just working him through. There are still some restrictions, I still try to monitor his play but overall Jake has a knack for being a winner and play with a certain level of energy. He will continue to find his way.”

DiMichele had a plantar fasciitis and then a stress fracture in his foot, causing his season to end after seven games. He was a full go during the summer when during a drill at the end of practice, he went down in pain in the practice gym and it was back in the boot.

It has been a long road back to the court for DiMichele and one in which Duquesne wanted to be careful because of the setback.

DiMichele was one of the five who came in after the timeout and immediately got a piece of a Cornelius three-point shot, an effort Joyce said was not only a great play, but one of the few misses Central State had early.

He would later score his first points of the season, taking a pass from Stef van Bussel and cutting towards the basket.

As Joyce indicated there will be some restrictions working him back into the rotation but he has been a proven winner, a prospect which will significantly help keep the team together.

Redshirt senior Cam Crawford was proud of his teammate in his return and as the team moves onto William & Mary Tuesday night it does so knowing that DiMichele is back and ready to go.

“It was great to see, as someone who had foot surgery and sat out for a year, I know what it’s like sitting on the sideline and wishing you could get in,” he concluded. “I know he’s been working every day with Austin (Pascarella), (John) Hendo (Henderson) and our staff to get back so it was good to see him out there.”