Pittsburgh—“It’s time” is all Coach Ferry needed to say to Andre Marhold to get him going December 8th against New Orleans. Marhold scored 14 points in that game, his first double-figure performance of the season—and his only one to date. The 6-6 senior forward has been decent on the glass, pulling down at least four rebounds in all but three games. Decent, however, isn’t what the team needs though. They need reliable.
Now, Andre really isn’t the biggest stats guy. He said so himself after the New Orleans game. His main concern lies with the team’s performance, and he has shown this in the way he stepped up as a team leader in the off-season. And he really isn’t doing bad this year—I don’t think he or anyone else expected him to go out there and get 15 points and 10 rebounds every game. He’s just not a big-time scorer. It’s just not who he is. But right now, his team should really be expecting more from him, and he should be expecting more from himself. Just like Coach Ferry told him in practice before the New Orleans game, he’s a senior and it’s time. One rebound against UL-Lafayette just isn’t good enough. It wasn’t good enough for that game, and it sure won’t be good enough when Atlantic 10 play starts. (And by the way it starts January 9th.) As the starting forward, Marhold needs to make his presence felt more fully in the paint. The 9 point, 8 rebound-type performances like he had against Western Michigan—that’s the Andre Marhold that needs to show up on game day more often.
No one for Duquesne has earned the right to be called a “scoring threat” in the paint so far this year. 7-1 center Martins Abele has been valuable on defense but doesn’t have that soft touch, the ability to kiss that little five-footer off the glass that can be such a great weapon for a big man. His coordination has gotten better since last season, but he still has some things to work on in that category.
Freshman forward Quevyn Winters came in as a more versatile player, with the ability to shoot from long range and inside. His rebounding has been good, but he still needs to be a little more consistent. Winters was on a hot streak shooting from the outside earlier on in the season, but has since cooled off a bit. Grinding it out in the paint isn’t exactly Winters’ forte and probably never will be. Even so, he has to turn his attention to other parts of his game aside from his 3-point shooting. Jerry Jones has a similar set of skills to Winters. Jones is one of the best athletes on the team. He can shoot, finish inside, and crash the boards, but he isn’t exactly what coaches would call a post player.
So what should be understood from all of this? It is really up to Marhold and Abele to step up their game inside. They both have it in them. Marhold has the experience and the dynamics. Abele has the height and they both have the ability. They both have rallied the team on quite a few occasions this season with big-time blocks and authoritative dunks. These plays have gotten the Duquesne crowd to cheer louder than the 3-pointers that Colter and Johnson knock down. Even more than this, when they make these types of plays it sparks the team to play harder. Duquesne as a team doesn’t quite need any more blocks—Andre is providing a steady amount of those. They just need both big men to become more reliable inside. They cannot keep relying solely on the guards.
Photo Credit: OregonLive
