The last game Andre Marhold started for Duquesne was the January 19th blowout loss against VCU. He hasn’t received more than fifteen minutes of playing time since. Against GW Wednesday night, he was on the court for a mere six minutes. But his playing time had suffered long before this. Marhold has gone from starter to reserve in less than a week.
One thing is for certain, he is getting no love from his coach right now. After the George Washington game, Ferry was asked whether or not the absence of his former starter was impacting his team’s rebounding performance. “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Marhold hasn’t given us anything in a long time,” was Ferry’s response. Maybe that was just the frustration of getting completely outplayed at home in front of 2,960 fans, but words often express true feelings, no matter what the circumstances.
It really is hard to say whether rotating Datt, Abele, Martin and Marhold in at the forward position is better or worse than playing Marhold for 30-plus minutes. Considering Duquesne hasn’t won a game and has only won one rebounding battle with this approach, it may seem as though it’s the wrong way to go. Datt and Abele played quite poorly—average at best, Wednesday night. They made a few plays here and there, but at times they couldn’t even catch a pass. Martin played decently but simply does not look ready for a large chunk of playing time yet.
In terms of rebounding, all three players can get it done, especially when part of a rotation. Scoring may be a different story—but Marhold was by no means a prolific scorer either. Perhaps rotating Datt, Abele, and Martin along with Marhold, hoping that one of them will be on is the best bet for Coach Ferry. Not that he has many other options. “People talk about playing two of them together; heck, I’m trying to find one,” Ferry said of his forwards.
Ferry is trying to solve the problem of the rebounding margin, but unfortunately the cupboard may be quite bare. The teams they are facing now are no Appalachian State either. The margin for error is incredibly small.
Xavier waits in the wings for a Saturday night game at Consol Energy Center. Let’s hope the fans still show up after Wednesday night’s embarrassing performance. More importantly, let’s hope Ferry finds something that works at the forward position.
Photo Credit: Post-Gazette
