Keith Dambrot navigates new Dukes through rough start to season

Consider the misfortune that has struck Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot in the past three months:

• The day Dambrot turned 63 — two weeks before the Dukes’ first game — his father, Sidney, died at the age of 90. Sidney Dambrot played on Duquesne’s great teams of the 1950s, and it has been his son’s personal quest to revive the program.

• Then, in the midst of a season Dambrot is trying to navigate with seven first-year players, he was hit with covid and was sick for nearly three weeks.

• Meanwhile, three Atlantic 10 games were postponed, another canceled because of covid complications and the Dukes started the season 6-8.

• Eight games were decided by a margin of eight or fewer points, and Duquesne lost five.

• Yet, the most unusual event of all occurred Wednesday. Fordham’s Antonio Daye Jr., who hit a layup with 4 seconds left to beat the Dukes, 72-71, quit the team the next day.

“I’ve never seen a guy quit the next day after hitting the game-winner,” he said. “It’s one of those years for Dambrot, right now.”

Although the Dukes have a losing record, they have played only two conference games (1-1), and Dambrot insists that 6-8 record “very easily” could be 11-3.

Five of the losses could have been avoided, he said.

• Marshall and Colorado hit 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds of regulation. Marshall won 72-71, and Colorado (11-4, 3-2 Pac-12) finally won in overtime 84-76.

• Duquesne was leading Weber State by 11 in the second half before losing 63-59.

• Same situation in the Bowling Green game: The Dukes were up eight in second half, led most of the game and lost 78-70.

• The Dukes lost an 11-point lead to Fordham in a span of 3½ minutes of the second half before rallying and losing on Daye’s layup.

“It’s the most remarkable stretch I’ve ever been involved in. I give my guys credit. They keep fighting,” he said.

Dambrot admits free-throw shooting was a problem in those losses when the Dukes shot only 62.5% from the foul line.

“I probably lost more close games this year than I have in my whole career. I’ve won a lot of games like that,” he said.

“It happens sometimes. We have to do a better job getting the ball stopped, winning individual battles.”

Dambrot does like his team’s offensive punch. When the Dukes tip off against Dayton at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Cooper Fieldhouse, four players will carry double-digit scoring averages and freshman guard Jackie Johnson III is two points short at 9.9.

“We made enough offensive plays in the last four games to win,” Dambrot said. “We got smacked in the mouth and rallied right back and had a great chance to win the game and just didn’t quite get it done. We certainly aren’t great, but we certainly are competitive. We’re capable of playing with anybody.

“We found different ways to lose at the end of the game. That’s what average teams do. But we’re a new team. No excuses, (but) we’re certainly no pushover. Probably the biggest thing is we’re not good enough defensively yet.”

Duquesne has kept only four opponents out of the 70s — only two since mid-November.

“I told our guys at the beginning of the year, we’re going to be in 26 close games,” he said. “I expect 18 more close games. Our season will be determined by whether we win close, which we haven’t to this point.”

Through it all, Dambrot said the roster reconstruction is headed in the right direction. Five of the new players are the team’s leading scorers, led by Leon Ayers III (12.5 points per game). Primo Spears forms the other half of Duquesne’s freshman guard tandem and is averaging 12.3. Kevin Easley Jr. is at 12.2 and Tre Williams 10.5.

“I kind of re-started the engine, re-booted it, re-organized it. I feel like if not for a little bit of bad luck, we rebooted it pretty good,” he said. “I think in the long haul, we re-booted it really well. The biggest thing now is making sure we don’t have any injuries.”

R.J. Gunn is lost for the season with an ankle injury, and Austin Rotroff (6-foot-10, 240 pounds) is recovering from a stress fracture of the foot.

“We aren’t practicing him at all,” Dambrot said of Rotroff. “It hurts, but we can’t really play him much more than we’ve played. If he gets shut down, we’re screwed.”

Rotroff averages nearly four rebounds in less than 11 minutes per game.

“That’s probably our biggest problem, staying fresh,” Dambrot said. “We’re not playing hard enough, but it’s not their fault. We’re playing a little bit of a light bench.”

Dayton (10-6, 2-1 Atlantic 10) may be Duquesne’s toughest opponent to date. The Flyers defeated No. 9 Kansas and Miami on back-to-back days in November.

Duquesne beat Dayton last season in the first game at Cooper Fieldhouse. Dambrot knows the Flyers all too well.

“I was at Akron for all those years,” he said, “and if Dayton was involved (in recruiting a player), I never even bothered recruiting them. We weren’t ever getting any of their guys that they recruited. Even at Duquesne, if they want them and we want them, they’re getting them.”