Duquesne bounces back from Kentucky loss with rout of S.C. State

Keith Dambrot was looking for a bounce-back game from Duquesne on Monday, three days removed from a humbling trip to legendary Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., and a decisive loss to No. 4 Kentucky.

The Dukes responded to their coach in resounding fashion, scoring from seemingly everywhere, and ran past South Carolina State, 96-71, in the second game of the Tribute Classic at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“After Kentucky, what we talked about was trying to share the ball better,” Dambrot said. “Playing the right way.”

Duquesne (2-1) shot 47% and logged 21 assists on 35 baskets. The Dukes outrebounded South Carolina State 51-41 with Austin Rotroff grabbing a career-high 11 in just 12 minutes, 14 seconds on the floor.

“He’s been rebounding at an unbelievable clip,” Dambrot said of the 6-foot-10 graduate student who has been plagued by injuries throughout his career.

Rotroff got off to a strong start last season before injuries sidelined him.

“That’s my mentality coming into every game,” Rotroff said. “Get as many as I can because I know it may seem like a little statistic, but offensively, it can create extra possessions and that’s something I can do with my rebounding effort.”

Duquesne seemed to have moved past its 77-52 setback at Kentucky on Friday in the opener of the Tribute Classic, a multi-team event that will pair North Florida against Duquesne next Monday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Before that, the Dukes will travel to Dambrot’s hometown of Akron, Ohio, for a Friday matchup with Colgate at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where Dambrot, behind star player LeBron James, compiled a three-year coaching record of 69-10 from 1998-2001.

Colgate, of the Patriot League, was 2-1 before visiting Syracuse on Tuesday night.

“I really like our group this year,” Rotroff said. “We’re really talented, really deep. We had some decent stretches at Kentucky, where we felt like we could hang with them. There were some encouraging things. It showed us how good we can be, our potential.”

With former coach Ron Everhart in attendance, Duquesne dominated South Carolina State from the opening tip, leading by as many as 21 points at halftime. The Dukes used a 13-0 rush to push their advantage to 80-46 with 8:57 left and coasted the rest of the way as Dambrot employed all 14 players in uniform.

After a successful six-year run as coach at Duquesne, Everhart went on to become an assistant at West Virginia, where he spent 10 seasons on the Mountaineers bench with first-year South Carolina State coach Erik Martin, another former assistant.

Meanwhile, Kentucky coach John Calipari said the effects of his team’s 25-point victory over Duquesne last week shouldn’t dampen Dambrot and the Dukes’ sprits.

“They’re going to be a tough out and I’m going to tell you why,” Calipari said. “They’ve got really good guards and they’ve got guys that aren’t afraid to be physical.”

After chasing Kentucky for much of the night, Duquesne enjoyed the role again of being hunted by South Carolina State.

Dae Dae Grant scored 14 points with a team-high six assists and Tre Clark III added 13 points to guide the Dukes to a similar outcome to their 91-63 opening-night victory over Montana at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse ahead of the trip to Kentucky.

“I watched 40 minutes of them just pound Montana by a hundred, and I’m like, what in the world?” Calipari said. “By the middle of this season, we will say, ‘We beat a good team. Look at them. We beat a good team.’”

Dambrot hopes to see more of the same from the Dukes as time goes on.

“I’m a fan of the program. I grew up in Pittsburgh,” said Calipari, a Moon native who has coached Kentucky to a nine-year record of 367-101 (.786). “Keith does a good (job). … He just stuck a team together, like 11 new guys. (The Dukes roster includes 10 newcomers this season). They’re trying to figure each other out. But they’ve got good guys. They did what they wanted, at times (against Kentucky).”

A pair of Clark dunks sparked Duquesne to an early double-digit lead and Grant connected on his first two 3-point attempts to go a perfect 8 for 8 this season before missing.

South Carolina State (0-3) closed within nine points, 33-24, on a 3-point shot by Jordan Simpson, but Duquesne’s depth and athleticism was too much for the Spartans, who gave South Carolina a scare before losing 80-77 in their opener.

Davion Everett led South Carolina State with 15 points. DaJuan Bates added 14 for the Spartans, picked to finish in a tie for last in the eight-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Duquesne closed out the first half on a 10-0 run, capped by R.J. Gunn Jr.’s 3-point shot at the buzzer, to take a commanding 50-29 lead.

“We have a lot of work to do, but I think in another month or so, we could be formidable,” Dambrot said.

Duquesne’s trip to Akron later this week marks the fourth time in five years that Dambrot has scheduled the Dukes for his hometown, where they’ve gone unbeaten during that stretch.

Duquesne defeated Radford twice in 2018 and ‘19 and scored a 76-54 victory over Cal-Irvine on Dec. 19, 2021.