Inside the Dukes: Taking Back City Game Bragging Rights

Nae Bernard, Kiandra Browne and Megan McConnell entered the Aloe Suite following an emotional 56-55 City Game victory over Pitt Saturday afternoon, but before reflecting on the win had one thing in mind.

The trio walked in doing the gritty while rapping Sexyy Red’s SkeeYee, the smiles and happiness evident across their faces and the first of which coach Dan Burt did heading into the team’s locker room.

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“I honestly started crying as soon as that horn went off,” McConnell revealed. “I just think we work so hard and there’s a lot of disrespect on our name. I think we finally have proven to everybody what we’re made of.”

Duquesne had some built-in confidence from a 2-1 road trip after having issues away from the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and came back to one of the most raucous environments Burt has seen in his 17 seasons with the program.

“If you’re a fan of basketball, even casually, you can’t ask for anything better than you saw, especially in the second half today,” opined Burt. “Drama, excitement and two teams that really battled it out and were really gritty. We were fortunate enough to come away with the victory over a team I think is going to win games and is going to be a good team. They made us play differently than how we wanted to play.”

Indeed, Duquesne was pressured, and Pitt implemented a zone which caused a lot of passivity on the Dukes end, to the tune of 21 three-point shots taken out of the 27 first-half efforts from the field.

It was that passivity, where Duquesne favored 30-foot shots instead of getting to the nail, which was the focal point in the halftime locker room. All parties involved agreed that there was too much standing and passing around the perimeter.

The three-point efforts were settling for what the opponent was offering and moving forward the ask was to post hard and strong deep in the paint and to drive the ball.

With that directive quite clear, there were more efforts as Duquesne also broke the press both easier and quicker.

When Kiandra Browne broke through a double team, she found McConnell in the corner for a three-point shot, which caused the Duquesne fans to erupt in approval.

The Dukes had their first lead since 6:39 in the second quarter and when Pitt spent a timeout McConnell made sure to inspire her team to close the game.

“We trailed the whole game, and I just knew that we had to get over that tipping point,” she revealed. “When we went up one, I said ‘this is our time, we’re not losing this game’. We know what we’re made of. It was stop, score, stop, score, and what do you know? We came out with the W.”

The end of the game was not for the faint of heart as Duquesne’s eight-point edge with just over 90 seconds almost completely evaporated.

Down the stretch, Duquesne led by two and it appeared that Pitt’s Liatu King hit the tying basket with nine seconds left, but instead she was whistled for a traveling call.

“It looked incredibly awkward,” said Burt of the play. “I haven’t seen it, I don’t know it was a travel. You didn’t think it was a travel (asking a media member)? It was a travel (bangs hand on the podium) as far as I’m concerned and I’m really glad it was called that way.”

WHAT BROWNE CAN DO FOR YOU

The box score from the Howard game would show Kiandra Browne fouled out in eight minutes, but to look at a piece of paper does not signify the effort she made in that game.

Browne was a DNP in the team’s second game of the season at Niagara, but when Burt was displeased with how his posts were playing against Howard, he inserted her into the game.

Though Browne did not score that game, her boxing out and ability to execute not only gave Burt confidence to place her into Saturday’s Pitt game but set the tone to close out the victory at Howard.

In the third quarter, Browne got into the paint first and drew a charge, one of multiple such efforts that afternoon.

“I love taking charges,” she explained. “It just takes away the offensive player’s hope. You just think ‘oh I’m getting a bucket’ and then ‘ha psych, you’ve got a foul’. Charges are such a great way to get momentum, and everyone gets hyped.”

The first charge seemed to inspire Browne, who only picked up her intensity, coming away with several rebounds. Almost every key play down the stretch seemed to have her fingerprints on them.

“Inserting Kiandra into the game was just a really good thing for us to do,” said Burt. “She’s a gritty tough kid that does all of the little things to help you win basketball games. Her box outs, aggressiveness and will to win are just contagious.”

Even when Browne found McConnell for the go-ahead score, her explanation was a simple one, that she saw one of her team’s best shooters wide open and gave her the ball.

As both laughed, McConnell returned serve by explaining she was an unselfish post player who broke a double team to make that pass and “played her ass off”.

When King got called for a travel, there was Browne whose presence ultimately resulted in official Rod Creech blowing his whistle.

After a timeout to advance the ball, the ball was in bounded to Browne who calmly sank two free throws create the separation Duquesne needed to secure victory.

It was almost fitting that the ball ended in Browne’s hands at game’s end. She was a +7, the best plus-minus of any player and her efforts to fire the fans up, only added to the pressure Pitt felt.

“That energy came from Kiandra, and she helped everyone rise up,” Burt said.

“SHE’S A MCCONNELL”

Down the stretch of this game, McConnell went down in an odd angle with an arm injury and with a timeout on the floor got surrounded by training staff.

During the stoppage it appeared that the guard would miss some time, but to assume this would not properly explain who the junior guard is.

Instead, clutching her arm, she jogged to the sideline. As she explained just prior to the press conference, nothing was going to take her away from finishing this game.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Meg other than when she got her teeth knocked out last year that she showed pain,” Burt said. “She’s as tough as you will find of any kid. Her arm was hanging there and I was thinking ‘please don’t be a shoulder’, and it’s not. I think Meg’s going to be fine.