Pittsburgh—The daily rebounding drills in practice are paying off for Duquesne—or at least it seemed that way tonight. The Dukes as a team had their best performance on the glass that any Duquesne team has had in a years. They outrebounded their opponent Youngstown State by a margin of 53-29. The last time they outrebounded a Division I opponent by a margin of 20 or more was on November 9, 2007 against Howard.
When a team rebounds this well, odds are they will win any game they play. Perhaps that is why Coach Ferry emphasizes rebounding so much in practice. “My philosophy has always been toughness and rebounding, we write it on the board and talk about it every day,” Ferry told the Post-Gazette in an interview after the game Wednesday night.
Derrick Colter and Quevyn Winters each had 18 points in the game. It seems as though when these two freshmen both score in double figures in a game, the Dukes’ odds of winning increase.
Duquesne went on a 17-2 run early in the 1st half, giving them a handy lead going forward. They led by 11 at halftime. Youngstown State cut the lead to 5 with around two minutes left, but Jerry Jones converted a layup and subsequent free throw to give his team more breathing room.
In the Legends Classic tournament we have seen one dismal performance sandwiched between two excellent performances. After Tuesday night’s loss to North Dakota State, Coach Ferry talked a little about the “two teams” he sees in practice each day. We’ve now gotten a closer look at both sides of Duquesne basketball. After tonight’s performance, it seems apparent that something—some kind of change—must have happened between Tuesday night’s game and Wednesday night. Hopefully Ferry’s team can take what they have learned in this tournament and apply it to the rest of their season.
Photo Credit: Duquesne
