Dukes are 8-3 in past 11 games

various injuries to key players.

Despite the challenges, the Dukes went 20-11 overall and 10-8 in conference play.

The bouts of adversity have prepared them for this final stretch.

As the No. 6 seed in the A10 tournament, Duquesne starts postseason play on Thursday against the winner of the Rhode IslandSaint Louis’ opening round contest — and the team knows that winning the tournament is its only hope of making the NCAA tournament.

“One moment is all it takes to change the whole narrative of the season or to win a championship,” Fousseyni Drame said. “Everything comes from one thing. Every team that won a championship, something like that came and that changed things. Boom. Just like that.”

Fousseyni believes that moment for Duquesne came in a two- point victory against George Washington this past Saturday when Dae Dae Grant tipped the ball out of James Bishop IV’s hand and slid to catch the loose ball. He passed it to Fousseyni, who then missed a layup, only for Grant to jump over Bishop to finish the play. The Drame brothers also highlighted a Jimmy Clark steal, which came later in the game. He intercepted a pass and drove down the court for a dunk.

“We have to have that mentality for 40 minutes,” Hassan Drame said. “That’s the one thing we’re missing the whole year. To see it happening from a guard like Dae Dae, the leading scorer, that’s setting the standard and bar. No matter what, moving forward, that will be there.”

Those are the kinds of hustle plays that are needed to win a championship.

The challenge for the Dukes, however, lies in the fact that they haven’t proved that they can be that consistent for 40 minutes. Until recently, that is.

Duquesne is on a fourgame winning streak heading into the tournament and went 8-3 in its past 11 games of conference play. They’ll kick things off against one of the worst teams in the league — either Saint Louis or Rhode Island. Awaiting them in the quarterfinals would be No. 24-ranked Dayton.

“We got a decent path,” Grant said. “We got more of a little harder road because we created it for ourselves, starting off zero and five. I’ve been mentioning it throughout the season; it’s really how you are playing in February and March.”

The Dukes’ lineup chaos has been one of the season’s biggest storylines. Coach Keith Dambrot is still playing anywhere from 8-12 players, which is fairly abnormal this late in the season. What was seen as a challenge is now considered a strength, however, because of the possibility of playing games on consecutive days in Brooklyn.

Duquesne is led by All-Atlantic 10 second-team honorees Grant and Jimmy Clark III. They are averaging 16.7 and 15.1 points, respectively. They’re joined in the starting lineup by freshman Jake DiMichele, senior Tre Williams and — depending on the day or matchups — graduate Dusan Mahorcic or David Dixon.

Kareem Rozier and Fousseyni Drame are staples off the bench. Halil Barre and Jacub Necas have also played in a majority of the games this season, just less time than the others. It’s also not out of the question to see Andrei Savrasov and Matus Hronsky get on the court.

“That’s the one advantage we have if we can get to day three,” Dambrot said. “If we can get through day one and then get to day two, three and four, we have enough people to get it done. ... Most teams don’t have as much depth as we have.”

The Dukes will continue dealing with injury struggles while in Brooklyn.

Rozier, who plays the 26.7 minutes per game — third on the team — was in a walking boot Monday during practice. His X-ray came back negative, and Dambrot is certain Rozier will play, but it’s still a potential issue. Dixon, the team’s leading shot blocker with 2.1 per game, also has a nagging knee injury.

“We’ll be all right because we’ve had adversity hit us already,” Grant said. “Me having a concussion. Other guys just being out hurt, battling back from injuries and not even being 100% [They’re] still going out there and giving it their all. We’re going to be fine.”

The Dukes have said since the beginning of the season that this is the year they’ll go to the NCAA tournament, and with an at-large bid out of the question, Dambrot has tried to lighten the load for that type of pressure.

On Monday, he ended practice by having the team, coaches and managers play tag. It’s not their first time doing it; it probably won’t be the last.

“The hard part of the season is gone,” Dambrot said. “Now the fun part begins … We should go out there and just let our hair down and have fun. Let the chips fall where they may. We put in our hard work. We’ve battled back. We’re certainly good enough. We just have to play one good game and another good game, then another good game, another good game.

“We don’t have to play a great game. We just have to play good games.”