Duquesne basketball cancels trip to Indianapolis after player, assistant test positive for covid-19

Jerry Dipaola | Saturday, December 12, 2020 2:55 p.m.

Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review

Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot’s team was scheduled to play Monday and Wednesday, but those games were called off.

Duquesne’s men’s basketball team received the bad news on the bus.

Moments before departing Saturday for Indianapolis to play two games Monday and Wednesday, the trip was canceled when covid-19 test results came back positive for a player and coach.

Games against Southern Illinois and Loyola-Chicago would have been the team’s first since Dec. 2.

“We’ve done all the protocols. We’ve done everything we’re supposed to do,” said coach Keith Dambrot, who noted the team was planning to travel in two buses.

Dambrot, the only full-time coach on the staff who has not tested positive, said he believes the team was infected during its trip to Louisville where it played two games Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.

“We thought the bubble was the safest way to go. In retrospect, it wasn’t,” he said.

The Dukes (1-1) were planning to play nonconference games against Bowling Green next Friday and Winthrop on Dec. 21 at La Roche University, but the status of those games is unknown.

“We have to make sure we do it safely,” Dambrot said.

If the games are played, Duquesne’s Atlantic 10 opener at Richmond, scheduled for Dec. 19, will be moved to later in the season.

“(Richmond coach) Chris Mooney has been unbelievable in trying to help,” Dambrot said. “I’ve never seen an opposing coach so helpful. It tells you a lot about people.”