Milwaukee keeps Duquesne coach Joyce winless in 1st season at helm

This is not how Duquesne drew up the start of this season after a long-awaited return to the NCAA Tournament.

This is not what the Dukes were expecting.

After four games, Dru Joyce III was still looking for his first college basketball coaching victory, and his players were searching for some answers.

“I have my circle of people that I always talk to, that I trust in, that I know are going to tell me the truth,” Joyce said Tuesday night following Duquesne’s 80-74 loss to Milwaukee at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, dropping the Dukes’ record to 0-4.

“When I make those calls, they tell me the truth. Don’t make me feel good. I don’t need my shoulders rubbed. If I was bad, tell me I was rotten. Tell me what I didn’t do or what I could’ve done better.”

Kentrell Pullian scored 22 points to lead five Milwaukee players in double figures as the Panthers held the lead for nearly the entire night and fought off the Dukes, keeping Joyce winless in his first season as a head coach.

A.J. McKee and Themus Fulks hit for 15 points each and Jamichael Stillwell and John Lovelace Jr. scored 11 apiece for Milwaukee (2-2), the Horizon League’s co-favorite with Purdue Fort Wayne to win a league championship this season.

Stillwell’s 10 rebounds gave him a double-double as Milwaukee outrebounded Duquesne, 38-33.

Duquesne (0-4) nearly pulled off a comeback in the closing minutes, rallying from 12 points down in the final 2:11 to inch within three points on two occasions before succumbing.

Jake DiMichele led Duquesne with a career-high 21 points. Tre Dinkins, in his first season with the Dukes after transferring from Canisius, scored 20.

After being thoroughly outplayed by Milwaukee in the first half in a continuation of Friday’s second-half collapse during an 84-58 loss at DePaul, Duquesne stepped up the intensity in the second half.

But something still was missing.

DiMichele, among the holdovers from last season’s NCAA Tournament team, sparked the Dukes’ 46-point second half with an array of spectacular shots and passes as Duquesne continually closed in on Milwaukee only to fall short of the lead.

The Dukes got as close as 54-53 on a driving layup by DiMichele with 10:27 left.

DiMichele, a McKees Rocks native who led Our Lady of the Sacred Heart to four WPIAL Class 2A championships and two PIAA titles, was reminded of Duquesne’s 0-5 start to the Atlantic 10 schedule last season, when the Dukes went on to win the conference championship.

Was there a similar feel now to that forgettable streak?

“One hundred percent,” he said. “The only way I would describe it as being different is we’ve got a different challenge this time. We have a completely new group of guys who are trying to learn every day and jell with each other. I don’t think we have a talent issue at all. We need to develop an attitude of buying in and being completely unselfish, especially on the defensive end, because stops win games, and that was evident last year.”

Joyce, Duquesne’s associate head coach the past two seasons, took over the program upon the retirement of former coach Keith Dambrot following a monumental season that led to the Duquesne’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 47 years.

Dambrot, who coached Joyce in high school and college, led Duquesne for seven seasons, his teams producing records of at least 20 wins three times, including a 25-12 mark and that A-10 championship a year ago.

Now, it’s Joyce’s turn.

He was subdued following his team’s latest setback, though he wasn’t about to pout, keenly aware of where a big portion of the Dukes’ early season problems lie.

While they shot 41.7%, they allowed Milwaukee to shoot 51.9%. While they scored more than 70 points for the second time, they allowed at least 80 for the second time.

“We’re capable of defending. We don’t get back in that game if we didn’t defend,” Joyce said. “Every run that was made started on the defensive end. It wasn’t an offensive explosion. Every run that was made was triggered by stops. We have not put that together for 40 minutes (in losses to Lipscomb, Princeton, DePaul and now Milwaukee).”

With Duquesne knocking on the door, Milwaukee went on a 14-3 run to push the advantage back to double digits at 68-56.

Cameron Crawford made 1 of 2 free throws with 16 seconds left to pull Duquesne within one possession, 75-72. But Fulks sank a pair at the other end for Milwaukee, giving the Panthers a five-point lead.

After Dinkins’ jumper with 8 seconds left kept Duquesne within striking range, down 77-74, Milwaukee closed out the Dukes with three unanswered free throws the rest of the way.

“There’s a journey and a process,” Joyce said. “Do we want to be sitting here 0-4? No, we don’t. We would love if it was flipped the other way around. But there’s still a game to prepare for. You’ve still got to get ready for the next opponent, so it’s very, very critical that we’re able to learn, move and get ready for our next opponent. We have a course of a season that’s coming up. We don’t have time to sulk. We have to be professional. We have to get ourselves ready to play for the next game.”

Milwaukee led during the first half for all but 1 minute, 8 seconds and enjoyed a 37-28 halftime cushion.

The Panthers used a 15-4 run over the final 6½ minutes, including 13 straight points, to turn around a two-point deficit.

And they never trailed in the second half.

Duquesne is idle until visiting George Town, Grand Cayman, on Sunday for the Cayman Islands Classic, where the Dukes open play in the three-day, eight-team event against South Dakota State at 1:30 p.m. in a matchup of NCAA Tournament teams from last season.

The rest of the field features Boise State — another returning NCAA Tournament team — Boston College, Old Dominion, Missouri State, High Point and Hampton.