Duquesne, the Dukes

So, the Falcons head to Pittsburgh to play the Dukes of Duquesne tomorrow.  I was searching online to find a team photo or something, and this is what I came up with.

So, I'm thinking we can take these guys.  Plus, they were outsmarted by Eddie Murphy, Dan Akroyd and a topless Jamie Curtis, so they are not only un-athletic but also lacking in guile.

In reality, in the Falcon-Duke relationship over the past 3 years, it has been the Falcons playing the role of Randolph and Mortimer Duke while Duquesne has been playing the role of, well, the side that wins.

This is year 4 in an annual series between BG and Duquesne, and Duquesne has won the first 3, by 18, 11 and 36 points.  Last year's 36 point drubbing on BG's home floor was one of the low points of last season.  It was the most points BG allowed in a game, the third least efficient defensive game paired with the third least efficient  offensive game.

Not to say Duquesne is a bad team, because they are a good team that plays in a very good conference.  Still, BG only lost by 19 @ Michigan so you'd think you could hold Duquesne somewhere south of a 36 point deficit on your own floor.  It was pretty ugly.  It was never close.  Duquesne was up 10-2 and never slowed down.  BG turned the ball over 25 times.

College Basketball Stats

But that was last year....what about this year?  Can BG break the hex with a road win?

Of course they can.  It won't be easy.  The Dukes are 7-5 with an RPI of 78.  They have played the #59 schedule in the country.  One of their wins is non D-1, and, in games of interest to Falcon fans, they beat Akron  by 5 on a neutral floor and then lost by 16 @Valparaiso and lost @WMU by 14.  Their best win of the season was Green Bay and their worst loss is to WMU.  They have also lost to very good Arizona, Pitt and Robert Morris teams.

For whatever it is worth, Duquesne's coach was "incensed" at the WMU loss and shuffled the lineup around prior to the road win at George Mason.

This is a team built on upbeat play and offensive efficiency.  They are scoring 1.06 points per possession as compared to BG's .99, for example.  Their shooting is a little better than BG's, but they generate more points with a little richer mix of 3s and a much better track record of getting to the line though they are not great at FT shooting.  They take good care of the ball (17% turnovers) while creating turnovers on 27% of their defensive possessions which leads the country.

Like a lot of teams that play like this, they are not especially active on the offensive boards.  They are very strong on their own defensive boards, however.

They are giving up 1.02 points per possession, which is also not good.

NCAA Basketball

Individually, they feature 4 players in double figures...Sean Johnson, BJ Monteiro, Eric Evans and TJ McConnell.  Johnson is leading with team with 15 points a game and only plays 25 minutes.  The tallest of those players is 6'5", however....this is an athletic, guard-oriented team.  Two of their bigs--Derrick Martin and Martins Abele hardly play at all, and Abele is now ineligible.

Andre Marhold at 6'7" is their second leading rebounder, and their lineup changes after the WMU loss gave Freshman Mamadou Datt (of the Senegal) a chance, and he had 8 points and 9 rebounds against Mason.

As always, I am interested to see how BG plays against this style.  As I have already noted, this has not typically worked out very well for us, but tomorrow is always another day.  I'd like to think the Falcons are as "incensed" about last year's game as the Dukes were to lose to WMU and maybe that brings some extra focus.

The first challenge will be to take care of the ball.  This will include everyone on the team.  They are at 1.02 points per possession WITH all the turnovers, which means that teams do score when they actually get a shot off.  We need to do that.

BG will need very strong guard play on both ends of the floor to compete with this team.  I think BG might be able to score inside on these guys, which means that we need to get Calhoun untracked and into the game early.

On defense, BG has to avoiding fouling first and foremost...and play very solid team defense.  One difference from last year is that the Falcons have added the man defense to our repertoire which could make a difference.

This would be a very nice road win for the Falcons to get, especially against a team we have struggled against. The keys will be forcing Duquesne to defend the shot and holding them well south of the 90 they got last year.