There might as well have been a boxing match with how physical Duquesne men’s basketball’s game with UMass was on Saturday. It’s not uncommon for fans, players and coaches to get disgruntled by the officiating, but with the amount of no-calls for the Dukes, there was quite a bit of outrage.
Fortunately for both teams, the officiating will likely be the story of the game because the actual basketball was anything but pretty. It was an especially ugly end for Duquesne, as it had little response for UMass’ increased offensive output and lost 62-53, handing the Dukes their fourth straight defeat.
"You've got to be able to survive,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce said. “Things happen right? Our whole front court had two fouls in the first half. Eli fouls out early, early in the second half. We just got to figure it out. We figured it out for a period of time. But we just couldn't close the game.”
There are slow starts and then there are slow halves. The first half dragged on with neither team able to find shooting success, and it wasn’t just due to good defensive pressure. Duquesne wasn’t always making the best decisions and gave up nine possessions via turnovers. It took until the final couple of minutes before a single player was even able to put two field goals together.
With the struggles, the half stayed close — the largest lead being just five points for both the Dukes and UMass. Tre Dinkins III had a chance to tie it up at the end of the first half but was fouled before he could take the 3-pointer, and UMass had a 25-24 advantage at halftime.
Duquesne’s offense started off a lot better with Dinkins and Cam Crawford scoring seven points combined to give the Dukes a narrow lead. The Dukes seemed to get a bit rattled after Eli Wilborn was called for his fourth foul by the official furthest from the play.
He got his fifth foul with 13:57 left, leaving the team more short-handed with bigs than it already was — Chabi Barre was out with an injury, and David Dixon and Jakub Necas were also in foul trouble. It definitely didn’t help that Dixon limped off the court just five minutes later. He did go back in.
The Minutemen capitalized on the extra space, and all five of their second half 3-pointers came after the foul issues, giving them enough space to secure the win.
Joyce was especially frustrated because he felt that Duquesne’s defense was actually pretty good. Other than Rahsool Diggins Jr., everyone was fairly limited. The team shot 24-of-58 and Diggins himself went 11-of-18.
“I don't think any coach is really in awe of their shooting performance,” Joyce said. “Those shots were highly contested, and well today we gotta shake [Diggins] hand and say, ‘Good game.’ I didn't think our defense was really an issue. We forced 18 turnovers. We did a pretty good job on the rebounds, against the best rebounding team in the league. We only gave up 10 fast break points tonight defensively, I didn't think for a moment that our defense was poor.”
It was over when …
UMass took a 10-point lead after a Marqui Worthy 3-pointer with 1:35 to go. Duquesne would cut the lead to 8 but never got closer.
Player of the game
No one even came close to Minutemen senior guard Diggins when it came to scoring. After only having five in the first half, he finished the game with 32 points. He even scored 16-straight points in the second half which led to UMass taking the lead.
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Jahsean Corbett was the epitome of a utility player against UMass. He was bumped from the starting lineup for the first time this season but showed up when his name was called, especially on the defensive end.
He had to play his normal role and had to serve as a front court player with the amount of fouls called against Duquesne’s bigs. He finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds and three steals.
“His versatility, that's one of the things we noticed about him,” Joyce said. “He handles the ball well. He can pass. He plays majority on the interior, but it's deceiving, because you see him in post ups, but you also see him as a really good slasher. He did those things tonight. I like how he rebounded the basketball and kept a lot of plays alive for us tonight with six offensive boards. It was a good game for him.”
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This was Duquesne’s lowest offensive output of the season with a season-low 53 points scored — and it happened against one of the worst defenses in the Atlantic-10. It was also a season-low shooting percentage, finishing at 31.7%. And just two players scored in double-digits — Dinkins and Crawford added 11 and 10, respectively.
“I thought we had good looks,” Joyce said. “I thought we had good looks all game. We just missed it. I'm not really deterred by the quality of possessions. When we go back and look at the shot selection, we didn't take a lot of mid range twos that were contested. We had the ball right in front of the rim. I just didn't make it. I can't say that I am discouraged, offensively, really about our performance.”
Up next
The Dukes are back on the road for a game with Richmond on Wednesday. They then welcome Loyola Chicago for a Saturday evening game.
First Published: February 1, 2025, 9:08 p.m.
