Offensive struggles continue for Duquesne in loss at St. Bonaventure
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Perhaps to maintain his sanity and to ensure his players understand that the season is far from finished, Keith Dambrot found some little victories Friday night inside the big picture.
Duquesne’s 62-48 road loss to St. Bonaventure is what matters most, however. The Dukes have lost two in a row and four of five while failing to reach 50 points in three of the games.
The gloomy big picture is this: Duquesne is 3-5 for the first time in Dambrot’s four seasons as coach.
“They’re not used to it,” he said. “I’m not used to it.”
So, when he spoke to his team after the game, he emphasized what went right. The problems — 16 turnovers and 36% accuracy from the floor — will be attacked in practice before the Dukes’ next game Wednesday against Rhode Island.
Dambrot was pleased with his team’s defense against the Bonnies (6-1, 4-1), who moved into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10.
“When you hold a team like that to 36%, that’s a (good) job,” he said. “We’ll be in every game playing that kind of defense.”
Dambrot used five freshmen, something he’ll probably do for the remainder of the season. Chad Baker, Toby Okani and Tyson Acuff each played 20 or more minutes.
“That’s a pretty good defensive performance for five freshmen,” the coach said. “We were much better (Friday) as far as how we played versus how we played at Dayton (a 72-63 loss Wednesday night). We tried to make the right play on a consistent basis (Friday). At Dayton, we didn’t make the right play.
“The more times you make the right play, eventually good things will happen. Unless you just aren’t good enough. If you don’t make shots all year, you’re just not good enough.”
Senior center Michael Hughes helped the Dukes keep the game close for most of the night. He hit 7 of 10 shots and ended up with a team-high 14 points. Marcus Weathers added 12.
Duquesne trailed 37-27 with 16 minutes, 28 seconds left in the second half, but that’s when the momentum shifted briefly.
While St. Bonaventure had trouble scoring, the Dukes found their comfort zone beyond the 3-point arc. Ryan Murphy hit two 3s and Baker and Weathers added one each to trim the deficit to 43-42 with 9:10 left.
But St. Bonaventure quickly regained control with an 8-1 run, and Duquesne managed only two baskets the rest of the game.
Nearly 40% of Duquesne’s attempts (21 of 53) came from beyond the arc. St. Bonaventure doubled post players Hughes and Weathers, leaving the Dukes few options. The Bonnies’ 6-foot-10 center Osun Osunniyi blocked four shots.
“We can’t get any more (shots) in the paint right now because we can’t make enough from outside,” Dambrot said. “If you don’t make enough from outside, it never loosens up in the paint.”
Meanwhile, St. Bonaventure shot three times more foul shots than the Dukes (20/27 vs. 3/9). Asked about it, Dambrot declined comment.
“You trying to get me suspended?” he joked.
The other issue is fatigue. Dukes didn’t play for a month because of covid-19 issues within the team, but since the calendar turned to 2021, they have had six games in 14 days. Included in the itinerary this week were two bus trips in three days to Dayton and Olean, N.Y.
“I don’t think it helped us,” the coach said. “I think we were tired (at the end of the game). We’ve been tired in the second half almost every game, but this one was almost unreasonable.”
The game was moved from Saturday to accommodate the ESPN2 telecast.
Dambrot is hoping sophomore Maceo Austin, who is currently on a leave of absence while dealing with personal issues, will soon return to the team. He plans to meet with Austin on Saturday.
“All I care about is his mental health and well-being,” Dambrot said. “I like Maceo and I’m going to respect whatever he wants to do. Our team isn’t more important than him.”
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