Determined Dukes to visit SLU
For all the Duquesne basketball team has endured in the past week, the Dukes have fared remarkably well.
They had to play at George Mason in an auxiliary gym a day earlier than scheduled because of the impending snow storm on the East Coast. Then the team bus got stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the blizzard on the way home to Pittsburgh.
They got stranded Friday night after beating George Mason, sat for about 30 hours and returned home at 11 p.m. Saturday.
?It?s been a media circus,? coach Jim Ferry said. ?We had Good Morning America here and ESPN and all this stuff. I wish they were here because we were playing good basketball.?
Actually, the Dukes are doing just that. They beat La Salle three days after getting home to even their record in the Atlantic 10 and will try to continue their winning way Saturday at St. Louis University.
The media coverage has had little to do with Duquesne?s solid season. Their plight in the storm became a Twitter sensation as folks waited to see when the team would escape the mess along with many other stranded vehicles.
At one point, the Duquesne basketball Twitter account posted: ?Desperate times call for desperate measures. #DUQMBB must vote someone off the bus. Who should it be? #DUQSurvivor.? A vote ensued.
For all of the discomfort the group endured, Ferry said it really was overstated.
?Everyone talks about the bonding opportunity,? he said. ?I prefer the one we had in August when we went to Ireland. But we?re close. The stuff this program has been through with (assistant) John Rhodes battling cancer and (player) Derrick Colter?s cancer two years ago. What they?ve been through at a young age to help fight was a lot more difficult than sitting on a bus.?
The Dukes were in the weight room and on the court the next day for a light workout. Then on Tuesday they beat La Salle for their fourth win in five games. The run started with a lopsided win over the Billikens.
It was halftime of a game at Duquesne that SLU coach Jim Crews altered his lineup and essentially said enough is enough. Although the Dukes led big the entire game, the Billikens were able to score 58 points in the second half.
The offense was largely impressive for the next three games until SLU was held to 37 points by Dayton on Wednesday. It was a jarring turn of events after the Billikens, using an adjusted offensive attack, had scored 86 and 96 points in the two previous games.
?We?ve only been doing this for a couple of weeks with this personnel and we?ve done extremely well,? Crews said. ?I?m not discouraged at all. We knew there would be bumps in the road with it.?
Possibly the biggest key for SLU?s improved performances has been a dramatic reduction in turnovers. The Billikens were among the 50 worst teams in the country in turnovers before Crews began to use four guards simultaneously.
They have averaged nine in the last five games. Suddenly in league games, only three teams are averaging fewer turnovers.
For all of their difficulties, the Billikens are hanging around the middle of the pack in the A-10 and have a chance to maintain contact with that group.
--stltoday.com
