The Dukes have lost their past eight games and ten of their past thirteen. Marhold, one of the senior leaders, has been benched for underperforming. The team’s two star players, Colter and Johnson were each held to two points last weekend at Dayton. So what is really going on with Duquesne? How can we account for the lengthy losing streak, the inability to finish games, and the inconsistencies from one half to the next?
Perhaps it all boils down to the inexperience. But it is debatable as to whether or not this explains all (or even most) of Duquesne’s misfortune so far this season. Sure there’s the level of competition, but the primary reason why the Dukes have lost eight straight is due to lack of confidence. It is so easy for a team to get down on themselves in the midst of a losing streak such as this one.
Let’s go back and look at where Duquesne’s season really started going up in smoke. You can point to the UL-Lafayette contest that started the losing streak, but the crux of Duquesne’s current issues can be traced back to the RMU game on December 15th. Please recall that Duquesne was coming off a thrilling, come from behind victory over West Virginia at the Consol Energy Center that proved to be one of the biggest comebacks in Duquesne basketball history. The RMU game was a great chance to build momentum—to beat two quality teams in a row would have been huge for the young squad. But it wasn’t meant to be. After hanging tough in the first half, Duquesne got rained on by RMU’s 3-point attack and never really stood a chance in the 2nd half.
As high as the Dukes may have been feeling after the West Virginia game, they must have been taken down at least a few pegs after their next showing. Duquesne would go on (as we have seen) to have more lackluster 2nd half showings (remember UL-Lafayette and Forham?). However insignificant of a loss it may seem now, could this have been the game where Duquesne began to doubt?
They did rebound from this loss with a solid 71-66 win over Western Michigan. But since then it has been all downhill. It would be foolish to say that Duquesne had a lot of confidence going into conference play given their back-to-back losses going in. If they had confidence they would have beat Fordham, regardless of experience.
Duquesne needs to get their identity and confidence back in the last month or so of the season. It’s crucial, not only for this year’s team and the seniors but for the Jim Ferry era. A coach who finishes his first season with no conference wins is going to leave a lot of people feeling apprehensive about what the future holds.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
