Duquesne's success in Atlantic 10 Tournament likely tied to defense

After coaches review video with players until their eyes hurt, there are no secrets at the end of a basketball season.

Even this year, with covid-19 protocols limiting Duquesne to 16 games (approximately half a season), coach Keith Dambrot expects no surprises when his No. 9-seeded team meets No. 8 Richmond at 11 a.m. Thursday in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

“At this point of the year, you’ve played so many games that anything they throw at you, you can handle,” he said.

The same is true of Richmond, which defeated Duquesne, 79-72, on Feb. 20.

So who wins this time and advances to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 St. Bonaventure on Friday?

Dambrot believes it will be the team that is stingiest on defense. The bad news: Duquesne’s defense has slipped in recent games.

The Dukes (8-8, 7-7) played good defense through most of their first 13 games. They allowed teams into the 70s only five times — twice immediately after Duquesne’s 30-day, covid-related pause and three times most recently after the team was off for 17 days.

“Every time we’ve had a pause, we stunk,” Dambrot said.

Richmond, La Salle and Rhode Island averaged 79.7 points in the Dukes’ final three regular-season games, almost 13 more than Duquesne’s season average.

“I’m sure originally it was tied to the pause,” said Dambrot, conceding difficulties tied to this strange season. “Then, it’s tied to mindset. You have to care about that end.

“If you don’t care about that end, then certainly you’re not going to play very well defensively.”

Dambrot’s teams have played good defense for most of the past decade. In his final seven seasons at Akron, the Zips gave up an average of 66.2 points over 243 games. In the past two seasons at Duquesne, the average has been 66.4 (2019-20) and 66.9 (now). The Dukes are 42-10 under Dambrot (7-3 this season) when the opponent fails to reach 70 points.

“Ultimately, that comes down to me,” he said. “I’ve never, ever in my career had trouble getting guys to play at that end.”

But when depth is compromised, the situation changes, he said.

“If you don’t think you’re coming out, sometimes you don’t play at that end.”

The good news for Duquesne is Dambrot found some depth against Rhode Island and 11 players got in the game, including freshman guard Mike Bekelja, who the coach believes is his best on-ball defender. Bekelja played only five minutes in the Richmond game after recovering from coronavirus.

“More guys and guys playing shorter, harder intervals and then guys who are good defensively. I think that helps,” he said.

“But if somebody gets ticked off because they’re not getting as many minutes and decides they’re going to have a mind problem, (more guys) create an issue, too.

“We just have to have the right mindset, the right discipline, play the right way, make sure we care at the defensive end. We have to play better defensively than we have the past three games in order to win the game.”

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