And once again, the other team hits free throws and we don't.  Same old story

CLK wrote:

Gill & Colter killing us.  

If either of those guys even have an average game shooting, this may have been a win

The Dukes could have maintained control in second half if they just forced the ball inside instead of looking for the 3 ball that wasn't there.  It's too easy to defend the three when your not setting up the inside play.  Notice the guards only drive to the hoop for themselves, not to set-up a back-door or kick it out to an open shot. If they want to win, then those drives should lead to assists. Besides they got blocked a lot trying. Still, this team can play with the big time teams, they just got to set the Bigs up for more shots in the paint to beat them.  Not a bad game over all, just not enough scoring down the wire.    

Jackson made it off the bench near the end to help pressure the inbounds pass.  He did his job - it led to a turnover, albeit late in the game.  The young man has an impressive wing span and used it to his advantage.
I hope we find a way to develop and use him as the season wears on.  Everyone needs to step up to help fill the void by Jeremiah's loss.

Jones' replacement (Eric James) did an 11 and 11 in 28 minutes.  Not too shabby.  The offense scored 34 points in the paint to 24 for the bigger GT team.  Rebounds only slightly favored GT.  Over and above the Jackson contribution, Steel hit a critical 3 pointer that tied the game before Smith nailed two 3'as for GT.The Dukes just had two dead periods totaling about 6 minutes that they couldn't throw the ball into the ocean again.  They have nothing to be ashamed of.  Play as hard as they did tonight on all away games of the A-10 schedule and it is almost a lock for a 20 game win season.

Couldn't watch the game tonight but just looking at the stat line I continue to hate LGs numbers. He just can not shoot the 3 ball effectively. Yes one every 4 games he lights up but come on you are 6'7 go take it to the rack. Really Reallly Really am worried about castro.

And to the point of jackson, I have been a fan of his since he came on. Hopefully we can us him the right way.

All in all, sounds like we played hard and we did keep it a game. Everything is rolling in the right direction.  

Box Score:   http://www.goduquesne.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2015-2016/13duqgt.html

Gill 3-13  1-6 on three pointers
Colter 4-17  0-5 on three pointers

Combined 7-30 & 1-11

Combined shooting 23%

Gill had good open looks but could not connect, Colter played out of control most of the second half. He was most effective in fast breaks but once GT closed that down he struggled. They doubled Micah making it very difficult to get off a shot leaving Gill open.






 

Ok after looking at LGs stats over this years games I really am frustrated. The last couples games have just been brutal. The worst part is these are WIDE OPEN shots that he is missing. All of his shots are so flat and line drives. This guy is our be rebounder and is fast off the dribble, get him go inside the three point line. If I was ferry there is no way I would let him chuck up brick after brick.

As far as the rest of the offense I also believe we need to set up the inside first and walk our way out.
I think D.C. is a beast, hopefully hell start going again and not try to do everything himself. Let feature Powell, James, Sanders, Steel, and Jackson some more.

We can beat Dayton and Davidson.

Mike Ignelsi wrote:

I think they gagged when crunch time arrived.  Nobody wanted the ball except Mason, and he was blanketed.  Thus, Colter's ill-fated drives with time expiring.  Add in the chokes at the foul line (Mason included) and its a loss.   Duquesne does not have a winners mindset yet, and that is very difficult thing to come by.  Had it once long ago, but lost it.  The Pirates lost theirs for a generation.  The Steelers never had one until Joe Greene brought his.  

I was watching  the game with the G-Tech anouncers calling the game and they were very impressed with Lewis and how he was affecting what G-Tech was doing, while he was in there we were neck and neck in scoring, but when coach sat him down the last 6 plus minutes, the game slipped away.  Sometimes the hidden stats are what he made their team do to get around him. Also, while he was on the bench, G-Tech put their 6-10  soph. center back in and he REALLY affected the game. The G-Tech folks calling the game commented on Ferry not responding with sending in our 6-10 center to counter and that was at about 5 plus minutes left?  I hope the coaches spend some time on the film of this game. It is the difference in what went right, and what went wrong, and how to adjust. I believe this team this year can be competitive if they start setting up the Bigs with some dribble drives and feed the ball , back-door to them instead of going to the hoop with 3 defenders that collapsed on them (leaving everyone else open at that moment).  Micah and Derrick will score more late in the game if they first start hurting teams inside to collapse the defense.  Otherwise, they are not going to get very much daylight to shoot.   This is a well balance team that hasn't played it's best game yet.  I think they can go 20 plus. Some  game predictors are showing 18 wins,  but this team can grow and win more if they use that balance more.  The seniors want to put it on their back late in the game, but in this case, it should have been to set up the inside game instead of launching contested 3's.       

The Dukes scored 34 in the Paint.  GT scored 24 in the Paint.  What more did you want them to do with their inside-outside game?  Too many missed shots from all concerned from the outside.  That happens occasionally and when it does good results do not happen.  Very simple math of their shooting 25 and making 18 foul shots to the Dukes shooting 10 shot and 4 made says it all.  Rebounds were essentially even.  I took nothing negative away from the game except that it will be a loss forever and a day.   Too much good happened for me to think otherwise.  The team is getting better.  They can play and compete with the big boys. That is what I take away from the OOC games.  No more and no less!

Last edited by grammudder (12/30/2015 7:02 pm)

currentstudent wrote:

grammudder wrote:

The Dukes scored 34 in the Paint.  GT scored 24 in the Paint.  What more did you want them to do with their inside-outside game?  Too many missed shots from all concerned from the outside.  That happens occasionally and when it does good results do not happen.  Very simple math of their shooting 25 and making 18 foul shots to the Dukes shooting 10 shot and 4 made says it all.  Rebounds were essentially even.  I took nothing negative away from the game except that it will be a loss forever and a day.   Too much good happened for me to think otherwise.  The team is getting better.  They can play and compete with the big boys. That is what I take away from the OOC games.  No more and no less!

I agree with you, I do not want to be discouraged by this game by all means. I am just very concerned about LG shooting struggles. Why is he allowed to chuck threes up game in and game out. When he came into the program I envisioned him as driver. I get they are wide open but every flat missed shot sucks the wind out of these guys.

I totally agree , this team is the strongest team I've seen since Aaron was Point and we had Damian and Billy, only, this team has more muscle and they are young and are going to be around for awhile. I didn't think, for years that Ferry was it, but somehow he has recruited a very impressive interior team, but he needs to get them into  the game. Late in this game, the Dukes went from a well balanced game plan back to that perimeter, chuck up 3 game.  This team has the potential to be the real deal, it just takes a game plan that exploits our bigs to open up the perimeter game, not the other way around.  These 2 seniors should take more pride in assist that points if they want to win. I didn't like Ferry coming in here, but, I am a little taken back at the talent he has standing in the paint this year. This maybe the team that can get there.  This season is getting a little interesting, really.  Though they lost, it wasn't a pushover, in fact, they should have won.  Learning experience.  Coaches look at the film, first half, they can beat anyone, second half, late, everything went wrong.  Growing moment.   

Steel city AJ wrote:

currentstudent wrote:

grammudder wrote:

The Dukes scored 34 in the Paint.  GT scored 24 in the Paint.  What more did you want them to do with their inside-outside game?  Too many missed shots from all concerned from the outside.  That happens occasionally and when it does good results do not happen.  Very simple math of their shooting 25 and making 18 foul shots to the Dukes shooting 10 shot and 4 made says it all.  Rebounds were essentially even.  I took nothing negative away from the game except that it will be a loss forever and a day.   Too much good happened for me to think otherwise.  The team is getting better.  They can play and compete with the big boys. That is what I take away from the OOC games.  No more and no less!

I agree with you, I do not want to be discouraged by this game by all means. I am just very concerned about LG shooting struggles. Why is he allowed to chuck threes up game in and game out. When he came into the program I envisioned him as driver. I get they are wide open but every flat missed shot sucks the wind out of these guys.

3's are WAY more efficient than 2's. Especially when you're talking about LG who can't finish at the rim if you couldn't tell. Unless you want LG to take long 2's, which is the worst shot in basketball, IDK what to say. Kid had an off night hopefully he bounces back Saturday.

An off night? he's had two acceptable shooting performances this whole year. At his size, id rather take it to the rack and get fouled than shoot line drive bricks.