There is an old saying that opportunities don't happen, you create them.  This is an opportunity for this team and coaches to get back on the right track. Make it happen. Let's Go Dukes!

Expect to see more of the extended matchup zone that stumped the team against Davidson.  Taking away any open looks at the 3-ball and assuming that Duquesne’s bigs don’t score much seems to be the current strategy to shut down Duquesne. So, it is incumbent upon Duquesne to have a plan to counteract this defense. Getting the ball to a mobile forward who can take it to the hoop or kick out if they converge might be an option. I also like getting the ball to a guy who can score around the foul line and look for the baseline cutter from the corners.  Jamie Dixon used this effectively against the Syracuse matchup zone for years. 
At any rate, hoping the Dukes can find a path to success in a gym that hasn’t been kind in recent years.  A win could rebuild the confidence after the miserable showing at home on Wednesday.

Big ball game for the Dukes today! I’m expecting a big bounce back game from us, and star-like performances from Grant and Clark. It is always a dog fight against the Bonnies, especially up at their place. But a win today would make 3 in a row against these guys. Let’s go Dukes!

What a bogus call on Dimichele. Inside position and they call a foul on him for boxing out? And of course it leads to a 3 for the Bonnies. Need a bucket here out of the timeout to stretch this lead back to what it should be.

WOW!  what a bounce back game

Fantastic win and fantastic performance. Clark was excellent. Drame was a beast. We shut down Venning who seems to destroy every team except us. We always have a plan that completely takes him out of the game. 3 in a row vs the Bonnies. Won 5 out of our last 6. Pitchforks away Dukes fans. It is okay, I repeat, it is okay to enjoy the process. Smile. That felt great. Stressful, but great.

Last edited by CityDuke (2/10/2024 4:25 pm)

Well, well, well.   Nice when the top 2 players put up some stats.   Dixon made Venning look silly.  Dixon is getting better every game.   Great win!   Team effort.

What a difference from a couple of days ago. Going to watch the replay as I had to listen this afternoon. Hope it's as exciting as it was on the radio.

Drame looking like Rodman on the boards today.

Wow. What a difference from last game. First off, I was at the bar with my parents, and the lady Dukes were on but I thought the men were just on ESPN+ today. Come home to see it was recorded on ESPN U (face palm). Just finished watching it, I was very impressed.

I know some folks didn't like that KD called out our two best players. I think if he didn't we wouldn't have won. Both Jimmy and Dae Dae were giving 1000% on both ends today, and it showed.

Jimmy had several passes that made me jump out of my chair. And he was feeeeeling it from 3. While Dae Dae wasn't, he had a huge baseline jumper at the end. Along with his basically automatic FTs (why did they foul him at the 1:00 mark?) And I felt both played much better D today (minus the really dumb foul from Jimmy to foul-out but... you take the good & bad with Jimmy).

F.Drame continues to impress with yet another double double. Bringing that St Pete's magic 😁 And I've said it before, Dixon gets better every single game. And Jake the high man on minutes, not a ton of points but his effort is palpable. And... you know I've been on the Dusan train. Finally over 10 mins today, that's all I'm asking for right now (at Dayton let's make it 15 mins).

And speaking of... I've also been harping on this. A 9 guy rotation today (muah chefs kiss) is what we should be aiming for especially before the A10 tournament. And I feel the use of those 9 guys were deployed much better today than against Davidson. Which... erg... If we had won the last game, we'd be 6th in the A10 right now going into Dayton.

I thought we kept Venning in check most of the time too. Now let's do that to Holmes on Tuesday huh. What a mud wrestling match they just had. I like it... Let's bring that same level of D today to Dayton, we can do this guys! Keep the faith.

When was the last time the Dukes won both Bonas games?  Very unexpected and enjoyable win.   When I looked at our A-10 schedule this year I thought we’d be at best 6-4 right now and more realistically 5-5.  We should be doing better record wise than we are but we are not that far off course.  We need to finish strong with a lot of winnable games.  So much positive stuff to unpack from this game but for starters, how about KD uncharacteristically calling a TO in the 2nd half at precisely the right moment?  Bonnies has started to cut into our big lead but it was still in double digits and the fans had just started to get really loud and KD calls one!  He NEVER does that. It it worked like a charm.

Always something extra fun about beating Bona.