Duquesne’s Dae Dae Grant Perfect In Season Opener

Apparently perfect shooting nights are more contagious than flu season as Duquesne’s basketball teams have had two in as many days.

First Megan McConnell scored 17 points Monday night against Point Park, and now Dae Dae Grant made an emphatic introduction to Duquesne fans with his 25 points, making all eight of his shots from the field, six of which were from three-point range.

“Just trusting my teammates and giving thanks to them and trusting the coaching staff to get me the ball and playing off of me,” Grant said of his performance. “I love to share it as well as score.”

Dae Dae Grant of @DuqMBB is the only Division I player in the last 25 years to score 25+ points in a season opener without missing a field goal or free throw.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) November 9, 2022

Grant credited his shooting on the patience he displays in life, also coming on the basketball court and just letting the game come to him.

According to his coach, Keith Dambrot, Grant has really come on these last two-and-a-half weeks where he echoed those sentiments of things being simple.

“When he shot it, every time I thought it was going in,” Dambrot added. “That’s how it’s been every day in practice. That’s something we’ve been missing since I’ve been here, we haven’t shot the ball at a high level. I didn’t want to drain him energy wise handling the ball and let the other two handle the ball.”

A week ago, when talking to PSN, Dambrot stressed that he was trying to make Grant less of a home run/strikeout type of player and the former baseball player certainly was able to get that out of an Ohio guard he has known for quite some time.

It was that relationship and loyalty which stemmed from it that landed him at Duquesne.

“He showed us Northeast Ohio loyalty and we’re all from the same area, him, me, Dru (Joyce), Terry (Weigand) and Rick (McFadden) is from Youngstown,” said Dambrot. “He knew us, and his people knew us as well. To me it wasn’t us showing loyalty, we knew he could play. We needed him more than he needed us and that’s what makes him special. He’s really been a pleasure to coach. He’s come to work every single day and you can talk to him, tell him and he listens. A lot of people don’t listen now, but he does.”

While Grant was more deflective of praise following Tuesday’s win, but prior to the season did express getting a handle on both sides of the ball and that a combination of sharpening his mind in addition to hitting the weight room have paid dividends.

Perhaps the final word could be best established by what happened after the press conference, when he returned to the court and put-up shots with teammate Quincy McGriff rebounding for him.

“I’m just going to continue working,” Grant said.