Tournament time
Duquesne opens Atlantic 10 play Thursday morning against Richmond.
It’s Atlantic 10 conference tournament time for Duquesne’s men’s basketball team. The ninth- seeded Dukes are scheduled to play eighth-seeded Richmond at 11 a.m. Thursday in the second round of the tournament.
The Dukes (8-8, 7-7) hope their familiarity with the Spiders (13-7, 6-5) will benefit Duquesne more than Richmond. The Dukes lost, 79-72, Feb. 20 at Richmond’s Robins Center.
“I was a little bit surprised that we got Richmond,” coach Keith Dambrot said Tuesday via Zoom. “I thought that we’d get Dayton or Saint Louis. But, by now, you’ve played so many games that you’re ready for anything they throw at you.”
Duquesne hasn’t played as many games as they would’ve liked this season. Typically, they would’ve played 18 conference games. But two lengthy COVID-19 stoppages hindered the Dukes, as they went 30 days between games from Dec. 2 to Jan. 2. The Dukes won against UNC Greensboro in December and George Washington in January.
Another coronavirus quirk meant the Dukes would play George Washington again less than 24 hours later. Duquesne lost that game and the following contest three days later against Davidson at their temporary home, La Roche University.
“We haven’t played so well after the shutdowns,” Dambrot said.
The Dukes opened the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse with a Feb. 2 win against Dayton, and then a positive COVID-19 case within the program meant the Dukes would
miss four games before losing to Richmond on Feb. 20.
Senior Michael Hughes scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half of that game to help the Dukes overcome a 14-point deficit to take the lead late before Richmond overwhelmed them.
“We know what they’re going to do. They know what we’re going to do,” Dambrot said. “We have to have the right mindset.”
A coronavirus- related twist of fate means Thursday’s game is in Richmond, Va., but will occur at VCU’s
arena. Richmond and VCU are co-hosting the tournament to help social distancing, and the seeding places Richmond in the bracket in VCU’s gym.
Whoever wins the game gets the reward of playing No. 1 seed St. Bonaventure (13-4, 11-4) at 11 a.m. Friday.
Duquesne needs to win the A-10 tournament to make the NCAA tournament. Let’s take a look at a few stats that could shed some light on the Dukes’ chances.
• To win the A-10, the Dukes need to win four games. Their longest winning streak this season is three. If they manage to win three games this weekend, they wouldn’t have to play again until the conference final in Dayton.
• It would probably be easier for Duquesne if the games were at home. The Dukes are 2-0 at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse after starting the season playing at La Roche while renovations at their new arena were paused. The Dukes are 5-2 at home altogether. Going on the road hasn’t been kind to Duquesne, as Dambrot’s squad is 2-5 away from Pittsburgh.
• History is funny. There are only four times a team won four consecutive games to win the tournament. Sounds hopeless, right? But two of those runs happened in the past five tournaments — VCU in 2015 and Saint Louis in 2019.
• Hughes has four doubledoubles in league action. He’s building a brand as a passer from the post. His ability to pass out of double teams has the 6-foot-8 senior ranking second on the team with 34 assists. But he’s not just finessing on the court. He leads the team with 24 blocks.
• The Dukes have to rely on young players like Chad Baker. The freshman is a good shooter. Baker is 24 for 55 from the 3-point line (.436) in conference games. He’s a talented player. However, he has drawn four technical fouls. Late technicals against Dayton and Rhode Island kept those games in the balance longer than they should have. Baker has star potential, but he must stay off the refs’ radar.