As emphatic, unexpected and euphoric as its 78-52 flattening of Penn State was, Duquesne couldn’t dwell on the win for too long.
The one-game-at-a-time maxim is an understandable and oft-used one in the early stages of a four-month season. But the Dukes’ almost measured attitude toward its rout of a Big Ten opponent Friday had less to do with the timing of it and more to do with what awaited them afterward.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” coach Jim Ferry said. “We’re going to get smacked right in the face on Monday playing Pepperdine. We’ve got to move on.”
Duquesne (3-0) doesn’t yet know its final two opponents in this week’s Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., as those will be determined by how it fares in its first matchup. But it knows that its first foe, Pepperdine, is perhaps its toughest of the season.
While the Waves don’t carry the same conference affiliation and overall name recognition that the Nittany Lions do, they return six of their seven leading scorers from their 2014-15 squad. Though they’ve gone just 1-2 in their first three games, they’re among the top 105 Division I teams in the Sagarin and Pomeroy ratings.
Pepperdine should present at least a reasonable test for a Dukes defense coming off a showing in which it limited Penn State to 0.71 points per possession, the lowest mark it has allowed in the past three seasons.
After finishing last in the Atlantic 10 in several major defensive categories last season, defense was, overwhelmingly, Duquesne’s primary concern in the offseason. It switched from a more traditional two-three zone to a look that is more rooted in man-to-man principles.
Thus far, it seems to be taking hold.
“When you’re getting stops, guys are working for each other,” Ferry said. “That’s why we’re such a different team. We were more playing one-on-one last year trying to defend. Now, we defend as a team.”
The team’s, and its defense’s, hopes for a win will be bolstered as sophomore forward TySean Powell will return to play, according to a source, after a suspension for a violation of team rules kept him out of the first three games.
Powell’s comeback will bolster the depth of a team that has already shown improvement in that category. In addition to its starters, Duquesne has utilized a second five-man rotation, one that includes freshman Nakye Sanders and sophomore Jordan Robinson down low, a pairing that could potentially be altered with Powell back in the mix.
That depth will be tested in the early season tournament, which will have the Dukes play three games in as many days. It’s a format that will, even this early on, help prepare them in some small way for the Atlantic 10 tournament in March, a series of games that could determine the success of their season.
Through three games, they’re confident they’ve already made serious, fundamental progress that better prepares them for situations like this one.
“In the past couple of years, we kind of lacked toughness,” forward L.G. Gill said. “That’s a big thing. That kind of held us back in the past.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
First Published: November 23, 2015, 5:00 a.m.