Pittsburgh—Toughness in the game of basketball can often be measured with a particular statistic. Sure, the opponent’s score can measure a team’s toughness on defense. But on the glass is where a basketball team shows its true grit. At every level of the game, coaches often look at their team’s rebounding numbers as a measure of toughness. While rebounding is only one part of being a tough team, it is nevertheless a necessary component.
When Coach Ferry started at Duquesne this past off-season, the main things he pushed (along with his transition offense) were toughness and rebounding. In every single practice so far this season, Ferry has run his team through intense rebounding drills. These drills often get highly competitive—the first year head coach always makes the losers run.
“It’s something that you have to instill,” Ferry said earlier in the season about toughness on the court. “You don’t win if you don’t do that stuff, and it’s something my programs have always done.”
Truth is, Duquesne as a team doesn’t have very much size. Junior center Martins Abele stands at 7-1, but he is not a starter. Their tallest starter is Kadeem Pantophlet, who is listed at 6-7. Starting forward Andre Marhold stands at 6-6. Duquesne often struggled with rebounding last year due to their lack of size. Coming into this season, it appeared as though rebounding would be an uphill battle for the Dukes. But Duquesne sure got it done last Wednesday on the glass.
Last Wednesday’s game against Youngstown State was the first game this season that the Dukes dominated their opponents in the rebounding column. Duquesne outrebounded the visiting Penguins 53-29. They played “Jim Ferry basketball” at a very early stage of the season. In only the 5th game of the year for Duquesne, it already appears as though the new coach’s style is starting to show in the team’s play. This really says a lot about the players’ work ethic and focus.
To add to the impressiveness of Duquesne’s performance last week, keep in mind that they beat a team that had handily defeated Georgia in an earlier round of the Legends Classic (not to mention outrebounding the Bulldogs 42-31). Also, keep in mind that the Dukes performed so well after such a bad loss the previous night to North Dakota State.
After the loss, Coach Ferry said of his coaching staff: “We’ll be up all night long, tomorrow morning we’ll come in and they’re gonna see it (the NDSU game).”
It was great to see the hard work pay off and the selfish play from the North Dakota State game disappear. But what may be even better is that the team didn’t get down on themselves and was able to turn things around in one day. They went from getting outplayed in every aspect of the game one night to an 84-74 win and the best rebounding performance Duquesne has seen in five years the next night. And this is a team that ranked next-to-last in the country in rebounding margin last season. It appears as though the players are really buying into what Ferry is emphasizing so far this season.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
