Astounding. On a road trip today, listening to the game on my wife's cellphone onWJAS. The missed opportunities at the end of regulation, then (first) OT goes wrong. Dukes down5 with 40 some seconds. When Ray and Jarrett said it's over, I was sure it was so. Asked my wife to turn the game off and she did.

Checked into a hotel, and checked into this board to read the thoughts of our best fans, and what a shame to lose this one - and what a great surprise! Wow!

I had 5 tickets for my family coming in from all parts and exchanged them for the Bonnie's game when the weather was so bad.  Then I ended up going down myself at the last minute and I'm sooo glad I did!

Not a bad crowd but it would have been MUCH better if it weren't for the weather,   Student section and pep band were great!

Never saw a Duquesne triple over time win!

Last edited by coffee (1/13/2018 7:25 pm)

Interesting stat from today's game: the top three minute earners for the Dukes played 39, 39, and 38 minutes apiece. The top three minute earners for lasalle played 55, 50, and 47 minutes apiece. Great job by coach D of distributing the minutes more evenly. It showed in the last two OT periods, as the Dukes looked a little fresher. Obviously some of that was due to fouls, but still.

All I can say is WOW!

What a comeback and gutty performance to pick themselves off the mat so many times when it looked bleak or something went wrong where with the teams of old you thought it might be the turning point where they'd come apart.

Good to be on the positive side of a comeback where your team team rolls it up the floor while the defense lets them do it and allows for quick hitters in a short amount of time. Tarin couldn't be stopped in those final possessions of the first OT and did it in such minimal time it really extended the game.

Also huge efforts from J-Rob, Mike Lewis in the latter half of the overtimes and  another double-double for Eric Williams Jr. Really, in a game of attrition like this, everyone had at least some hand in getting this W today and much like the Lamar game they didn't cave.

Fun with numbers: Obviously not everything went smoothly for the Dukes but what issues hurt the team in this game gets forgotten when you win like they did as the win probability chart said when it was 78-72 La Salle with 45 seconds left, Duquesne had a 0.9% chance of winning the game!
Also, this game rates as #1 for the "Tension" category and the chart reads like a heart monitor with all the swings back and forth.

Now for a tough road game on Wednesday vs a team with some talent but facing some major issues this season In SLU. Probably another nail biter if the Dukes pull it out but everyone's confidence has to be growing with each passing game.

Crowd was standing and cheering in the last overtime; not a huge crowd due to weather and Pens game probably.  Student numbers were much better; and they made some noise!
Give the team credit; could have folded many times but did not.  Great to see guys like Jordan and Eric make big plays in an incredible win.  Then Mike Lewis was the closer!

Last edited by levon1975 (1/14/2018 8:39 am)

Duquesne won this game, LaSalle did lose because they scored less points.
Although LaSalle is a top free shooting team they had a lower percentage than our  Dukes. Our big men played more minutes and both had season high points and one had a double-double.
Our incoming guards may make our 6th man the 7th man next year, but for this year they have lead us to a 2nd place spot in the A-10.
We finished the game without Williams, Castro or Smith on the floor due to disqualification ( fouled out) LaSalle had all their players still.

And after such an emotional win I find it hard to take shots at the kids playing or the team, but this is a board all thought should be heard.

These are a few other thoughts.

Last edited by Phildog (1/14/2018 9:53 am)

rittersdiner wrote:

Few thoughts:

2. This is a terrible free throw shooting team. Castro was exceptionally bad. Technique awful. Teams are going to put them on the line at game's end.
d.

​Right before Eric James missed his first free throw I noticed he hitches his right shoulder. Does he do that normally? It was a quick cutaway camera shot, and as soon as I saw that I said to my wife "He's going to miss."
 

Great win yesterday!

I stayed until the end.

A nice showing of students, but still too bad so many of them left at halftime.  Not as bad an exodus as in the past, but still disappointing.

The Dukes are NOT a terrible free throw shooting team,  They are a good team that had an off day yesterday and still won.

As the Dukes came back at the end of the first overtime my pal Mysterio and I planned out the ending.  We had the Dukes stealing the ball and hitting a 3 to win.  No complaints about Taylor's 2 point put back to tie, though.

The good old days have returned to The Bluff.  We have 2 good basketball programs.  Please come out and support them.

rittersdiner wrote:

Few thoughts:
1. They should have lost this game -- probably would have under Ferry -- but didn't. Thought the coaching was good and liked the desire.
2. This is a terrible free throw shooting team. Castro was exceptionally bad. Technique awful. Teams are going to put them on the line at game's end.
3.  Big men aren't ready for more minutes yet. Liked the rotation.
4. Need better outside shooting from guards.
5. For most part, they rebounded well and defense
6. Never thought 4-1 start in A-10. Pleasantly surprised.

Are most consistent free throw shooter as of late has been Williams

rittersdiner wrote:

They are 234th out of 351 teams in free throw shootings. Bottom third. Bad.

rittersdiner, they are better at free throw shooting than you are at math - 234th still places them in the middle third. Bad math. (just kidding - 235th would do it.)
On paper, they are a poor FT shooting team - in addition to being 234th in the country, they are 13th in the league for conference games (only Saint Louis worse).  Yesterday was a bit of an anomaly, with Smith, Castro-Caneddy and Lewis all having below average days from the line.

I do believe that this is one of those statistics that doesn't hold up under scrutiny.  The guys who have the ball in their hands the most and certainly at the end of games are Lewis, Smith, Castro-Caneddy and Williams - combined they are shooting 231-309 from the line - a 74.8% clip (which would put them in the Top 60 in the country).  The rest of the team is just putrid at 55-104 for 52.9% (which would put them in the bottom third of most high school teams).

Shows you how weird the La Salle game was - the big 4 were a collective 21-35 from the line (60%), while the rest of the team was 8 for 10 (80%).