Pittsburgh—Picking up a fourth straight loss always hurts. But Duquesne showed some good things against Saint Joseph’s that might inspire some hope at this low point in Duquesne’s season. Regardless of any positives, there is still much basketball left to play this season.
Last Saturday, Duquesne rebounded well against a talented team with size. The scoring sheet was also more balanced, indicating they are not relying on a few individuals anymore to get things done. It is important that these things are in place for Duquesne, because they are playing at Massachusetts (11-4, 1-1) on Thursday and hosting #22 VCU (14-3, 2-0) this weekend at the Consol Energy Center.
Coach Ferry’s voice was optimistic in his press conference after the game ended on Saturday. His voice contained none of the heaviness of disappointment, and if he was feeling it, he masked it well. The first year coach touched on a familiar topic—playing hard. Sometimes he says his team played hard but not well, sometimes he gives his team credit for doing both. This time, he didn’t explicitly mention that his team played well or not. But coaches usually don’t say their team played well after a loss.
“We played extremely hard, we played extremely physical, we guarded well, we really rebounded the basketball, which has been the message that’s been sent.” These were Ferry’s words after the basketball game—encouraging, especially given the way his team has been playing for the past couple of weeks.
The Dukes did rebound the basketball well, a lot better than most people probably thought they would given the competition. Saint Joe’s went without Halil Kanacevic, who missed the game due to a death in the family. But even with the presence of the 6-8 forward, Duquesne surely would have won the rebounding battle. Mamadou Datt, a 6-9 sophomore forward who sat out the first semester, was a big reason for this. His return enabled Duquesne to match Saint Joe’s firepower on the glass, thus giving them a chance to win. Andre Marhold also had an outstanding individual rebounding performance, pulling down eleven rebounds.
Three different players for Duquesne went into double figures the other night. Although it didn’t amount to a win, Derrick Colter, Andre Marhold and Sean Johnson all had over ten points. In addition, Jerry Jones had 9 and Quevyn Winters had 8. Everyone is used to seeing Colter and Johnson putting up big scoring numbers, but sometimes it can’t be that way. A basketball team cannot be two-dimensional—or what’s worse, dependent on just guard play. It was encouraging to see Marhold, Jones, and Winters’ names in the mix. Contributions from a wide array of players are what Duquesne needs if they want to compete with the best teams in the Atlantic 10.
Duquesne showed more good than bad in the loss to conference favorite Saint Joseph’s last Saturday night. Unfortunately, the margin of error was too slim to earn a victory. Judging by Coach Ferry’s words after the game, I don’t think he’s concerned right now about how many victories his team will pull off in the conference this year. Nor should he be.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
