Duquesne hits double-digit wins, rolls past Winthrop

Excitement is building on The Bluff, and with good reason.

Duquesne notched its 10th men’s basketball victory of the season Wednesday in its final nonconference game to carry a double-digit win total into Atlantic 10 play for just the fourth time in program history.

Dae Dae Grant scored 21 points, and Duquesne held Winthrop scoreless for the first 7 minutes, 23 seconds while building a 20-point lead en route to a 74-57 victory in a rare weekday afternoon game at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Duquesne (10-3) won for the third consecutive time after a pair of losses to enter its A-10 opener next Wednesday night at Dayton with some momentum.

“I’m excited,” Grant said of the start of the conference schedule. “It’s going to be interesting to see just as soon as we get back how our flow in practice and our chemistry is. But me, knowing our team and who we are, I believe we’re going to be fine.”

Duquesne was playing without three injured players — graduate point guard Tevin Brewer, who injured his right shoulder in an 80-73 loss to New Mexico State on Dec. 11; freshman point guard Kareem Rozier, who sprained an ankle in practice this week; and graduate forward R.J. Gunn Jr., who has missed all but three games with a foot injury after sitting out much of last season with a high ankle sprain.

The Dukes also moved on without junior forward Kevin Easley Jr., who announced his intention to enter the transfer portal after opening the year with three appearances off the bench before sitting out a seven-game suspension for a violation of team rules.

Easley came to Duquesne before the start of last season after beginning his college career at Chattanooga, where he was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year. He transferred to TCU and played one year under former Pitt coach Jamie Dixon before enrolling at Duquesne.

A starter last season, when Duquesne was 6-24 and ended the year on a 17-game losing streak, Easley returned briefly to the team this month but did not re-enter the Dukes lineup. He finished the season averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.9 minutes after averaging 10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 30 games (26 starts) last year.

Jimmy “Tre” Clark III and Quincy McGriff added 15 points apiece for Duquesne, which shot 41.5%, a figure enhanced by another strong showing from behind the 3-point line, where the Dukes went 12 for 32 (37.5%).

Duquesne (36.9%) entered the day trailing only Fordham (37.2%) in 3-point percentage among A-10 teams. Grant (6 for 14) and McGriff (5 for 11) accounted for all but one long-range make for Duquesne. Clark registered the other.

After getting out of the gate in a hurry, the Dukes built their largest lead of 27 points (29-2) on a 3-pointer by Grant midway through the first half. Winthrop’s only scoring to that point was a pair of free throws by Kelton Talford, who led the Eagles with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Winthrop’s first field goal did not occur until Sin’Cere McMahon connected on a 3-pointer at the 10:36 mark of the first half.

“We were really good in the first half and just mediocre in the second half,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said.

Kasen Harrison and Cory Hightower added 12 points each for Winthrop (5-8), which shot 37.5%, but just 21.7 (5 for 23) from behind the arc, where Duquesne has struggled to contain opponents for much of the season.

The Dukes were ranked No. 323 among 352 Division I teams in field-goal percentage defense before the start of the day, at 37.3 %.

Winthrop, picked to finish second in a Big South preseason poll after winning the league championship and posting at least 23 victories in each of the past three seasons, was coming off an 89-81 loss to LSU in a game that saw the Eagles shoot 42.3 % from long range.

But they were no match for Duquesne’s length and athleticism.

The Eagles trailed the Dukes at halftime, 43-21, and were kept at arm’s length throughout the remainder of the contest.

After falling behind big early, Winthrop managed to close within 13 points with 9:35 left on a three-point play by Talford, capping a 7-0 run.

“That’s maturity,” Dambrot said. “We have to try to play like the score is 0-0 on every possession. Until we do that, we’re not going to be a championship-quality team, which is what we want to be.”

Grant stopped the Duquesne drought by reaching 1,400 points in his 100th career game combined at Miami (Ohio) and Duquesne on a 3-point shot that gave Duquesne a 62-46 advantage.

Duquesne, without an NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 44 seasons and one A-10 championship to its credit — the Dukes won the league’s first title back in 1977, the last time they made an appearance in the Big Dance — entered the year as a last-place pick in 14-team A-10 preseason poll.

“We have a long way to go,” said McGriff, who is in his first season at Duquesne after earning second-team NJCAA All-America honors in helping Salt Lake Community College to a 35-2 record and an appearance in NJCAA Division I championship game. “But, I have to laugh at the preseason rankings. I knew we were way better than that.”

The 10 nonconference victories during a home-heavy schedule mark the second time Duquesne has earned double-digit wins in a season under Dambrot before embarking on the A-10 schedule. The Dukes have played just one road game (77-52 loss at then-No. 4 Kentucky) and one neutral-site game (72-61 victory over UC Santa Barbara in Akron, Ohio).

“It’s a hard schedule. The numbers don’t lie. The matchups and how teams play will also determine how teams win,” Dambrot said, pointing out the varying styles of play by some A-10 teams, particularly VCU (ball pressure), Richmond (Princeton offense) and Davidson (motion).

“A lot of teams we’ve played have been basic ball-screen teams, which is how the game has moved to,” he said. “We’re going to have to learn on the fly. But one thing we have is multiple rim protection, which is going to help us.”

Duquesne’s other 10-win season in nonconference games under Dambrot was a 10-2 mark in 2020 on the way to a 21-9 overall mark (11-7 A-10).

Duquesne also recorded 10 nonconference victories in 2016 (10-3, 17-17 overall) under Jim Ferry and in 2008 (10-3, 21-13 overall) under Ron Everhart.

It remains to be seen what the final outcome will be with this latest reconstructed squad, dominated by first-year transfers and freshmen.

“While I’m not really satisfied with two home losses (to Marshall and New Mexico State), our guys have hit some adversity,” Dambrot said. “The next-man-up mentality has been really good with this group. It gives guys a chance of developing. We’re so new, but if we can improve, we can be a force in the middle of February.”