Time to channel a little extra motivation if Duquesne is going to upset Davidson
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Since Tuesday marked the 42nd anniversary of the 1980 Team USA hockey win over the Russians, maybe Duquesne basketball coach Keith Dambrot caught a rerun of the movie “Miracle” on television.
Perhaps he can gin up a Herb Brooks-esque pregame speech.
I mean the Dukes do wear red, white and blue. OK, not the same shade of blue, exactly. Yeah. I’m reaching here. Give me some latitude.
But the Dukes are going to need some sort of extra motivational push Wednesday night. Because for as tough of a slog as the 2021-22 Atlantic 10 season has been, it’s about to get even harder with Davidson visiting the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Wildcats come in at 22-4 and are leaders of the A-10. Coach Bob McKillop’s team is 12-2 in conference play and has the highest NET ranking (48) of any A-10 squad.
Meanwhile, the Dukes are 1-12 in conference play, having lost 12 in a row after winning their conference opener against Massachusetts. The last five of those defeats have all been by double digits, and they have come by an average of 18 points.
One of those losses was to Davidson in North Carolina on Feb. 14. The Dukes fell 72-61, but they were within six points with 3:31 remaining. Primo Spears had 20 points, and Jackie Johnson had 14.
Theoretically, the Dukes could score a little bit against Davidson. The Wildcats are middle of the pack defensively at 68.9 points per game allowed in conference play. That’s seventh in the 14-team league.
Unfortunately for Dambrot’s club, scoring has been every bit the struggle that Duquesne’s 6-19 record would indicate. They are posting only 58.9 points per game in conference contests, last in the A-10. Duquesne hasn’t exceeded more than 62 points in its last eleven games.
As for McKillop’s team, it is the second-highest scoring group in the conference at 76.3 points per contest, trailing only St. Louis (78.1). And the Wildcats just thumped the 18-9 Billikens 79-58 in their most recent outing on Saturday.
They did so without Foster Loyer on the floor. He is the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game but missed that win due to injury. If he comes back to play Wednesday, that’s a problem for the Dukes. He tossed up 24 points in the first meeting. Loyer, Hyunjung Lee (16.3) and Luka Brajkovic (15.0) are three of the top 11 scorers in the A-10 this season.
Plus, what the Wildcats do on offense, they do efficiently. They shoot 48.5% from the floor, tops in the A-10. The Wildcats are tied with UMass for the best three-point percentage in the league (39.1%). And they are the best free-throw shooting team in the conference at 76.9%.
Unfortunately for Duquesne, its three-point field goal defense is last in the A-10 at 38.4%. They are 13th out of 14 teams in overall field goal defense at 46.9% in front of only UMass (48.5%).
By this point, Dambrot is probably “sick and tired of hearing about what a great team the Sov … uh … Davidson has.”
And it’s been said that “great moments are born from great opportunity.”
I mean, why not? The Dukes are nine-point underdogs at home. Channel a little Kurt Russell, roll out the ball and see how it goes.
Now if only this was a neutral site game played at Lake Placid and Mike Eruzione had a little college eligibility left. He must’ve played a little pick-up ball on occasion at Boston University, right?