Duquesne Basketball
Inside the Dukes: Back On Track
Duquesne Men’s Basketball guard Tre Dinkins III fouled to head into a first half media timeout and after the break coach Dru Joyce III had him take the first seat on the bench, traditionally occupied by assistant Steve Wright.
In that moment, an engaged Joyce wanted to teach his starting guard. Dinkins took in the advice before coming back in.
Duquesne was locked in as a side and Saturday’s 70-54 victory over UC Irvine is its biggest victory of the season to date.
“What you look for in your team as you go through the season is growth,” Joyce determined. “For me in my program I look at growth. Wins are great, losses hurt but where are we going with it? Are we growing? Are we improving? Are we getting better? I think today’s game is the residual effect of us continuing to grow. Earlier in the season we had opportunities that we let get away, we couldn’t respond to a team’s run, or we fell flat as a team changed defense. We’re taking another step today as a team in figuring it out, understanding what’s important in the midst of when times aren’t going right. What’s important for us is our defense, and we’re letting our defense and our hunt be the deciding factor of what happens next. If we continue to do that then I think we’ll be in good shape.”
If all of this sounds familiar, well it should, it was this commitment to defense that led last year’s team to bounce back, making its historical run to the NCAA Tournament.
Earlier in the season, Duquesne had players only meetings, also a practice used for the 2023-24 campaign and with the coaches not there, the players had free reign to open up to each other, learn everyone’s stories better and increase bonds both on and off the court.
This allowed for everyone to be held accountable, and Cam Crawford explained that he felt the team has consistently come out better on the other side of these meetings.
“I’ve been at a few schools, and we’ve never done anything like that, so being able to have those meetings, have people take the criticism, take the encouragement and actually implement it and not take it the wrong way, is testament to the guys we have in the locker room,” explained Crawford. “We all want the same thing; we just want to win games.”
Jahsean Corbett dug deeper into the meetings explaining that it was about finding it on the court, learning each other’s games, adapting to Joyce’s words, implementing them in practice and having full trust from the staff.
The vulnerability has gone a long way as the Dukes have showcased their best basketball in these past two games.
“It’s encouraging but we’re going to keep striving to get better because we’re not going to play perfectly,” Crawford analyzed. “Even though we’ve gotten wins the past two games, there’s things we can correct and watch on film and get us better for A-10 play and March. We’re constantly trying to improve and get better, but we do feel good with where we’re at.”
Crawford’s insertion into the starting lineup in addition to Jakub Necas these past couple of games has allowed for more height, flexibility and has made it harder for opposing teams to find success at the three-point line.
Duquesne is winning the three-point battles, has defended better on a more consistent basis and is passing the ball with purpose.
In the first half, Crawford had a sequence where he tried to go for a steal off a missed shot, then used his length to reach in for a ball and force a UC Irvine turnover, then as the trail on that play, Kareem Rozier found him for a three-point basket.
“It feels good to be a pest, that’s kind of been one of the things they’ve wanted me to focus on since I got here, working on my defense,” reflected Crawford. “I’ve tried to buy into that role and stop whatever is in front of me. It feels better to get the stop than get a bucket or two. The energy was great. Reem found me and I hit a few, but the energy in the building was good and it was from the jump.”
After that play both the bench and those on the court saw the pendulum shift back Duquesne’s way and it was off to the races from there.
Joyce appreciates Crawford’s mindset of what he is pouring in defensively and his continued growth. The buy in and overall enjoyment stemmed from it had fans giving him a standing ovation when he came off the court in the second half.
“Energy follows, so when I see my teammates getting like that, it makes me want to play even harder, just knowing I have their back as much as they have mine,” Corbett beamed. “We’re all not perfect, there’s going to be mistakes, but as long as we play hard, and fight through adversity, it’s not going to be a problem at all. We’re finding our identity by just being pests, everybody flying around and taking control on the defensive side, because we’re going to score.”
Duquesne’s biggest potential hiccup could have come early in the second half after Corbett hit a buzzer beater just prior to halftime, only for the defense to conceded five early points to the Anteaters.
Instead, Joyce spent a timeout and allowed his team to get back on its feet. This one move showed collective growth and maturity in being counterpunchers.
As a team, Duquesne achieved a season high with 18 assists, the ball humming across the court with purpose, often with nearly all five players getting a touch.
It also explains why Duquesne shot 49.1% from the field and 56% from three-point range.
Throughout the season, Joyce has been determining lineups, combinations and roles. It seems like he has come across something that works.
Everyone has different criterion in figuring out who comes in when. Sometimes it could be giving experience the first shot in some cases, which Keith Dambrot admittedly did last year. It could be practice based, gut feeling, input from coaches or players, seeing something on film or a seemingly myriad of other things.
For Joyce it is simply going back to the Dambrot mantra of things working their way out.
“As a coach I’m not alone in this, you have to figure it out and I have a brand-new group,” he concluded. “It would be different if you have some returners in certain roles and you are surer of what you are going to get from them. When you have 15 points coming back in a position, for the most part, you believe you are going to get 15 points from that position. When it’s up in the air and you haven’t coached that roster before, you’ve got to figure it out. Some guys figure it out a little earlier than others, sometimes the process is slower, but at the end of the day, it’s not necessarily a loyalty to experience or anything for that matter. I just believe it who’s right for the job is going to win the position.”
