Can anyone who watched the game tell what the problem was in the first half? Bad rebounding?  

Positives:
Shooting! It's always a concern in a big arena, and perhaps it took some adjustment, as it wasn't great to start, but we shot the lights out in the 2nd half.
Newcomers. Austin is the real deal. He might not be a star yet, but he looks like a legit A-10 starter from day one. Steele was huge too. There was usually a huge dropoff when Hughes would get in foul trouble last year. Tonight we looked even better.
Rotroff. I wasn't expecting much from him in the non-conference, but he didn't seem to have any ill effects of the injury.
Weathers. There were times he looked lost last year, like a man without a position. He still seems to be a 3.5, but he made some big plays tonight.
Defensive intensity. If you told me before the game we would turn Princeton over almost 20 times, I would have assumed we were pressing the entire game. I would like to see more press, but the ability to turn them over without overexerting or risking getting out of position with the press was huge. The team defense took awhile to show up, but once it did it was impressive.
Foul shooting. We didn't have a ton of attempts, but we took advantage of the ones we got.

Negatives:
Shot selection. It's tough to argue with 57% from the field, 52% from 3 point range, but there were some very ill-advised shots. They weren't just heat checks either. The early chucks helped lead to the deficit, and there were probably at least five shots in the second half that were the old NO! NO! NO!...oh good shot.
James Ellis. Perhaps expectations were too high for a guy who wasn't a big recruit and then sat out a year. Not seeing him at all was a disappointment though. He already redshirted, and a former manager got some PT. Why not Ellis?
Attendance. I watched the game from the comfort of my couch 200 miles away, so perhaps I have no room to complain on this one. A season opener, a doubleheader, and just one block off campus, I expected better. I don't know what the number actually was, but the huge swaths of empty seats looked terrible on TV.

Slow start but a great second half performance. Steele is an absolute man out there and seeing him knock down the three along with everything else he did offensively and defensively makes me think he can be a force this year, heard some big schools were in on him and early on he looks like an absolute steal, no pun intended.

He and Hughes weren’t effective together early but I think they could be in the future, that wasn’t the right matchup with the way Princeton played offensively. Carry was excellent all around tonight. Everybody looked sharp offensively in the 2nd and in somewhat limited roles tonight Hughes, Norman, and Austin all flashed a lot. This team could really be good if they can consistently play like they did in the 2nd. The depth really is crazy with guys like Ellis and Kelly not even in the picture at this point!

PSN postgame article with Dambrot presser:

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2019/11/05/watch-duquesne-postgame-following-win-over-princeton/

luckymcd wrote:

Attendance. I watched the game from the comfort of my couch 200 miles away, so perhaps I have no room to complain on this one. A season opener, a doubleheader, and just one block off campus, I expected better. I don't know what the number actually was, but the huge swaths of empty seats looked terrible on TV.

PPG isn't even one block off campus. Duquesne has several buildings on Fifth Ave., so PPG is actually across the street from Duquesne. Keep winning, and they'll start to come.

We're up to 94 in KenPom.
 

In the last 31 minutes of the game, the Dukes outscored Princeton 85-44. Nearly a perfect performance on both sides of the court. Impressive.

SkepticAl wrote:

Second Half was as good as the team played in a long long time -  Miller saw some action - I think he can at least contribute some this year -  possibly lessening some of the depth concerns I had.

I'd say the same for Buckley too. Neither one looks like a star, but neither looked like boys amongst men out there in their first college game either. Both look perfectly capable of buying some minutes to get us through either foul trouble or just limiting minutes for others. As true freshmen, that's good enough. Steele and an effective Norman also give us the ability to light a spark in different ways depending on opposition. I don't want to get too excited about one game and say it's the best, but it's definitely our most complete team in a very long time.

31 minutes for Carry. Like to see him around that number every game. Doubt he would've sat 9 minutes in a close game but I'd like to see it happen. Ellis getting some tough love like Williams got early last season. Weathers off to a good start on what I think is going to be a productive year for him. Did we get any top 20 votes yet?

duq81 wrote:

luckymcd wrote:

Attendance. I watched the game from the comfort of my couch 200 miles away, so perhaps I have no room to complain on this one. A season opener, a doubleheader, and just one block off campus, I expected better. I don't know what the number actually was, but the huge swaths of empty seats looked terrible on TV.

PPG isn't even one block off campus. Duquesne has several buildings on Fifth Ave., so PPG is actually across the street from Duquesne. Keep winning, and they'll start to come.

We're up to 94 in KenPom.
 

Being at the game, I felt like the crowd was OK, there were people on both sides of the court; and a nice contingent in the prime seats. When the Dukes made their run the crowd responded.  I'm sure the number won't look impressive, but my thought at the time was that it was a decent crowd, all things considered.  It looked like a reasonable contingent of students, but I think it's a mistake to put them on the floor behind the basket.  I would rather see them in seats where they are more visible on the right or left of the basket. 
 

luckymcd wrote:

SkepticAl wrote:

Second Half was as good as the team played in a long long time -  Miller saw some action - I think he can at least contribute some this year -  possibly lessening some of the depth concerns I had.

I'd say the same for Buckley too. Neither one looks like a star, but neither looked like boys amongst men out there in their first college game either. Both look perfectly capable of buying some minutes to get us through either foul trouble or just limiting minutes for others. As true freshmen, that's good enough. Steele and an effective Norman also give us the ability to light a spark in different ways depending on opposition. I don't want to get too excited about one game and say it's the best, but it's definitely our most complete team in a very long time.

Agree but Buckley (And Austin) played against WVU and have been mentioned -  Miller did NOT play that game - This was the first action he saw - and while the minutes were limited - looks like he is capable of contributing.
 

All great points guys and it is great to hear and see SC healthy!  Steele is a major coup for us - I was there of course and he will help tremendously.  This looks to be the deepest team we've had in quite some time.  The one thing I thought though is that when KD plays TDM, SC and Buckley at the same time we are too small for my liking.  Also, I really didn't see Evan playing the PG position and I thought he was recruited to back up SC a bit?  I liked what I saw of EB, but I think that TDM manned the point when SC wasn't in the game.