Duquesne Dukes Fan Forum » Game Thread

PhoenixRising2 · 12/30/2025 10:43 pm

MikeR wrote:
Nicely done! Davidson threw everything at us tonight but the ghost of William Lee Davidson and his kitchen sink.

Glad they didn’t throw the ghost of Lefty Driesell at us. The Dukes took every punch from Davidson and landed the KO of their own.

PistolPete · 12/30/2025 10:56 pm

Maybe the best all around game that Dixon played in a Dukes uniform. He was a beast and he played a ton of minutes. Great game all the way around. Both Williams (especially Jimmy), Guinyard was super clutch and Necas was a very steady hand at some very key moments. Crawford came alive second half and his D was vastly improved and Max in the first half helped too. The best road win I can remember in a long, long time. Keep up the effort and we will win our fair share of A-10 contests. Go Dukes!!

PistolPete · 12/30/2025 10:58 pm

And I must add the quality of the Davidson announcers set a high bar. I thought they were very equitable in their assessments for both teams and their play by play was much better than we get at the Coop.

BluffHunter · 12/30/2025 11:09 pm

PistolPete wrote:
And I must add the quality of the Davidson announcers set a high bar. I thought they were very equitable in their assessments for both teams and their play by play was much better than we get at the Coop.

They were fantastic in my opinion… Although they did seem to mention this guy Steph Curry a few times haha

Styles1229 · 12/30/2025 11:23 pm

So great to be on the good end of one of these. My key takeaways:

TG knew his role and played it well. He drove to the hoop and scored when it was there and he hit the big shots when we needed it. He is an A-10 point guard. No doubt about it

Jimmie was steady. Very slow start but he never quit and man did he deliver when the chips were down. This is the backcourt we thought we had.

Big Dave was beastly. Cleaned up the boards and protected the rim like he never has before but as we all knew he has the potential to do. Very proud of him. My hope is Dave now has the confidence to be a top a-10 big man. Remember, it was only last year he asked to come off the bench instead of start. That spoke not only to his team first mentality but also to his lack of confidence. I believe Dave will feel 10 feet tall now and will want OWN the paint from here on out

Dru made his bones tonight. He arrived. He coached a great 2nd half and OTs. He pushed all the right buttons and showed he’s smarter than me playing Cam. I dont think that particular score is settled but he knew who to play tonight. The play he drew up to get Alex that open 3 at the end of regulation was masterful. Dude is cool as a cucumber. Very proud of him tonight

I’m concerned about depth at Center. Big Dave cannot carry that load all season. Bus and Milosevic will have to deliver quality minutes every night. That did not happen tonight

The fact that this happened on the road in that building on this kind of night may be the biggest positive.

Gentlemen - tonight we cashed in on being Dukes fans. Savor the flavor.

CalDuke · 12/31/2025 1:53 am

Rayrich wrote:
BluffHunter wrote:
CalDuke wrote:
BIG ...BIG ....WIN !!!

Dixon was a Beast Inside....
"Clutch Gene " Guinyard, simply took-over the game in overtime..
BOTH- Jimmy & Alex Williams Exceptional

Last but not least.....We played ....GREAT DEFENSE !!

Let's Go Dukes !!!

...
Loved that quote from TG postgame, and very classy of the Davidson broadcast to interview a Duquesne player after a double-overtime win. "I just got a clutch gene, that's all."

Very classy from the Davidson woman reporter interviewing the Duquesne players after the game. Very refreshing.

We beat Davidson in every important statistical scoring category...FG%, 3PT%, FT%, Asts,
Too many steals and blocks by them,,....but we completely destroyed them on the Boards.

Motor · 12/31/2025 8:30 am

What an awesome game. Great plays by all the guys. TG and JW are going to be all conference players.
What a great Christmas and new Years Gift to all the Dukes players fans and alumni’s

Go Dukes 2026 will be amazing too

Ironduke81 · 12/31/2025 8:36 am

BluffHunter wrote:
PistolPete wrote:
And I must add the quality of the Davidson announcers set a high bar. I thought they were very equitable in their assessments for both teams and their play by play was much better than we get at the Coop.
They were fantastic in my opinion… Although they did seem to mention this guy Steph Curry a few times haha

Pistol minority opinion on this board. The majority want rah rah Duquesne announcers. Never mention the opposing team or pre game discussion with the opposing coach. God forbid. The Davidson announcers did do a good job however. No Lasalle, pow , bang after every hoop or Bonnie’s announcers questioning the refs every call. Bottom line every school in A10 pays the espn+ fee as well as cover the production cost including announcers. Great win. Go Dukes

CLK · 12/31/2025 8:52 am

For a Duquesne team coming off an 8-5 non-conference slate with momentum from blowout wins but questions on the road, this feels like a potential season-defining victory. It shows they can hang with (and beat) established A-10 programs away from home. If the Dukes build on this—starting 1-0 in conference and hpefull wirh with a signature quad win on Saturday —it could propel them toward a strong A-10 finish and postseason buzz.Huge gut-check win. The Dukes are for real this year. GO DUKES!!!

CLK · 12/31/2025 9:19 am

This has to be the key stat of the game; As a team, Duquesne outrebounded Davidson, 55-39. David Dixon had 13 rebounds and Jimmie 9.

Styles1229 · 12/31/2025 9:22 am

CLK wrote:
This has to be the key stat of the game; As a team, Duquesne outrebounded Davidson, 55-39. David Dixon had 13 rebounds and Jimmie 9.

And Max had 6 in limited minutes!

Washparick4 · 12/31/2025 11:34 am

NapaDuke wrote:
Washparick4 wrote:
I think I just assured a Duquesne victory tonight by betting on Davidson to win. If it works out like my Steeler bets, it's a lock. I've been on the wrong side of Steelers results every bet i've made this season. Something like 0 for 10.
Keep it up. We need all the luck falling our way this year. LOL.

I'll be on VCU and Baltimore this weekend.

phil95 · 12/31/2025 1:16 pm

I am surprised not to be reading commentary on last night's shorter bench. Rolling with 9 guys in a double OT game is quite a departure from what has been happening. I like it.

luckymcd · 12/31/2025 1:22 pm

CLK wrote:
For a Duquesne team coming off an 8-5 non-conference slate with momentum from blowout wins but questions on the road, this feels like a potential season-defining victory. It shows they can hang with (and beat) established A-10 programs away from home. If the Dukes build on this—starting 1-0 in conference and hpefull wirh with a signature quad win on Saturday —it could propel them toward a strong A-10 finish and postseason buzz.Huge gut-check win. The Dukes are for real this year. GO DUKES!!!

The reason this win excites me so much isn't because it was a great team we beat. Matt McKillop has better players than his father ever did (with the obvious exception of Curry), but he isn't half the coach. The team the Dukes beat didn't look like a Davidson team we saw for years with Bob McKillop at the helm. They are still a good team. They'll probably get a bye in the conference tourney and might end up propping up our NET at the end of the season.

Davidson really wanted this game though. Had we beaten Villanova it would have been a huge win over a great team, but it wouldn't have meant as much. Of course Villanova wants to win every game they play, but a non-conference game against a middle of the road team in their second arena doesn't tip the scales for anybody. Last night's win over a team nowhere near as good as Villanova means more because Davidson put everything on that game.

Bringing Curry back is big. Having him bring multiple NBA stars with him makes it even bigger. Having him announce his coach's hall of fame candidacy brings it to another level. The Dukes have beaten teams on par with this Davidson team; not as often as we'd like, but a few times a year for most of the last decade.

We haven't won many in that kind of atmosphere though, largely because we haven't even had the opportunity. The rare times we have played those major games haven't gone well. We kept some of them close, but almost without exception these are games the Dukes have lost for the last 50 years. Pretty much the only exception is the 2024 team. This game, coming in December, doesn't mean much on its own. The confidence boost it gives the team and the killer instinct it shows these players have means a ton. Dukes fans have been teased in the past, and I really hope that doesn't happen again after this diatribe I just delivered. I feel the same way as CLK. I think this leads to bigger and better things for the Dukes.

Last edited by luckymcd (12/31/2025 1:22 pm)

luckymcd · 12/31/2025 1:44 pm

phil95 wrote:
I am surprised not to be reading commentary on last night's shorter bench. Rolling with 9 guys in a double OT game is quite a departure from what has been happening. I like it.

Dru pushed all the right buttons last night. The play call to get it into overtime was brilliant, and the execution shows they must have been drilled on it countless times. When the intensity started to fade just a little bit, Dru pushed the envelope enough to fire the team back up, but not enough to get a T. I loved the shorter bench for about 48 minutes. I was really questioning sticking with it in double overtime because the team looked totally wiped. The results speak for themselves though. The last couple minutes may not have looked pretty, but that made it even sweeter in the end.

phil95 · 12/31/2025 2:01 pm

I am thrilled about last night's victory as well as where & how it was accomplished. However, I am still not convinced that this team has the potential for more than 18-19 wins & an early exit from the A-10 tournament.

Let's see how they handle the highly regarded VCU team coming in on Saturday. Starting this conference season 2-0 under these circumstances would make a believer out of me.

Being wrong about this crew would give me great joy.

Ironduke81 · 12/31/2025 4:19 pm

Watched the game again. Wow stress free knowing the outcome👍Did anyone notice these two points. Coach McKillip & staff all dressed in suits and ties.Old school coaches indeed very rare these days. The A10 commercial has each teams star player. Duquesne chose Hugley. How did that work out. Can they splice in Guinyard😂

phil95 · 12/31/2025 5:18 pm

My wife, who watches about 2 sporting events per decade, mentioned the suit thing a couple of times. Dru & crew are too casual for her. She had no comment on the thrilling victory.

Ironduke81 wrote:
Watched the game again. Wow stress free knowing the outcome👍Did anyone notice these two points. Coach McKillip & staff all dressed in suits and ties.Old school coaches indeed very rare these days. The A10 commercial has each teams star player. Duquesne chose Hugley. How did that work out. Can they splice in Guinyard😂

Styles1229 · 12/31/2025 6:20 pm

phil95 wrote:
My wife, who watches about 2 sporting events per decade, mentioned the suit thing a couple of times. Dru & crew are too casual for her. She had no comment on the thrilling victory.

Ironduke81 wrote:
Watched the game again. Wow stress free knowing the outcome👍Did anyone notice these two points. Coach McKillip & staff all dressed in suits and ties.Old school coaches indeed very rare these days. The A10 commercial has each teams star player. Duquesne chose Hugley. How did that work out. Can they splice in Guinyard😂

They are just proper, southern gentlemen. I’m sure they are carrying on the standard and tradition Bob McKillop set