Duquesne Dukes Fan Forum / Game Thread - Rhode Island Rams

**Posted by BluffHunter** 12/31/2024 1:36 am

A10 conference play kicks off Tuesday 12/31, 2:00 PM EST at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse again Archie Miller's Rams.

Coverage on ESPN+
Radio: 104.7 HD2 with Ray Goss and Noah Buono

KenPom (364 programs):
#169 Duquesne (5-8)
(D1 Wins vs. #69 UC Irvine, #222 Towson, #240 Delaware, #322 Old Dominion. Losses vs. #95 Lipscomb, at #100 DePaul, #114 Princeton, #120 South Dakota State, #135 Milwaukee, #212 Saint Peter's, #226 Hampton, #229 Maine.)
#90 Rhode Island (11-1)
(D1 Wins vs. #80 Providence, #93 Yale, #122 Temple, #123 Charleston, #154 UT Arlington, #209 Central Connecticut, #292 Lafayette, #307 Holy Cross, #311 Fairfield, #317 Detroit Mercy. Loss at #190 Brown.)

Haslametrics:
#163 Duquesne - 68
#84 Rhode Island - 73
https://haslametrics.com/preview.php?yr=&tid1=477&tid2=4391&neut=0

BartTorvik:
#151 Duquesne - 71
#96 Rhode Island - 72
https://www.barttorvik.com/trank.php?&year=2025&t1l=Rhode+Island&t2l=Duquesne#

Duquesne Preview:
https://goduquesne.com/news/2024/12/30/mens-basketball-dukes-rams-open-atlantic-10-slate-tuesday.aspx

Tristan Freeman:
https://bustingbrackets.com/duquesne-basketball-3-keys-to-atlantic-10-home-opener-against-rhode-island-rams

Betting spread opened up at Duquesne +3.5, has now moved to +2.5, Duquesne +130. o/u 142.5.

A10 season starts now... The Rams have lost their only road game this season vs. Brown. The Dukes need to use home court advantage, with support of the $1 beers, to start the A10 season off strong!

Last edited by BluffHunter (12/31/2024 1:39 am)

**Posted by CLK** 12/31/2024 8:33 am

We have the hidden vigorous of being undefeated on $1 beer 🍺 Day. Go Dukes 🏀

**Posted by luckymcd** 12/31/2024 12:14 pm

Just like everyone else here I was very excited for the Lipscomb game, but the season really starts today. URI should be a good test of our new lineup. The loss to Brown shows they aren't unbeatable, but they have to be considered one of the favorites in the conference this year. If we played them a few weeks ago they might have run us out of the building, but I think we'll see a good matchup today.

Tempo could be a big factor. The Rams have the 20th fastest tempo in the country while we have the 35th slowest. We need to stay aggressive, but not let it become a track meet. Hopefully Chabi is healthy, or Wilborn can continue his strong play filling in. 7 footer Javonte Brown has thrown some daggers on the rare late shot clock possessions they have. Dixon will be key, but he can't play 40 minutes.

I remembered before the Towson game that we were undefeated in Akron, but was afraid to jinx it by pointing it out. I'd be pretty surprised to see us win this one by 18, but hopefully we can keep our $1 beer streak going too. 2024 was a special year for the Dukes, let's end it on a good note. Go Dukes!

**Posted by DuqLaw95** 12/31/2024 2:06 pm

This is the worst free throw shooting team I've ever seen.

**Posted by CityDuke** 12/31/2024 4:01 pm

Great start to the A10 season. Let’s keep it rolling Dukes! We could be very scary with Dimichele and Barre healthy again and back into the mix.

**Posted by NapaDuke** 12/31/2024 4:53 pm

The Dukes just beat a team that got to practice and play games early in August, and was well coached and 11-1 this season. These Dukes held URI to their lowest score of the year. Everyone on the Dukes had a very good game. First place in the A-10, well likely tied for first. LOL. Let's keep that streak of wins going.

**Posted by SAHsideCraps** 12/31/2024 5:30 pm

Dominating an 11-1 Archie Miller coached team in the A10 opener. Awesome response to a rough start by Dru and staff, our returnees, our transfers, our fans, everyone.

I think we sent out a little reminder that we’re the defending champs and at the end of the day, the A10 still runs through us. Bring on Davidson

**Posted by luckymcd** 12/31/2024 5:38 pm

Great performance by the Dukes. Dixon’s skirmish early on reminded of Drame’s in the BYU game. There wasn’t actually much to it, but it fired up and unified the team. Dixon went on to have his best game of the year in a game we really needed him. Necas is looking very similar to his form from late last season too, even if his stats aren’t great.

Rozier and Dinkins could end up being a dangerous duo even if they don’t ever play together. They do it very differently, but having two capable point guards is a luxury not many teams have. If one is off, the other can pick up the slack. Dinkins was off his game today and took some ill-advised shots. Then Kareem came in and was great running the pick and roll.

I still can’t believe some of the teams we lost to, but I may owe Dru an apology for saying he was in over his head after some of those ugly losses. Irvine and URI might not be top seeds, but they are both good teams. We not only beat both, but did so pretty comfortably. I really hope the fluke injuries are over, but this is shaping up to be another solid Dukes team. Congrats Druquesne. Let’s keep it going and make 2025 another year to remember.

**Posted by FAM** 12/31/2024 5:43 pm

Awesome win. It’s all about the dollar beers.

**Posted by VBC** 12/31/2024 6:07 pm

This was a very good win over a strong A-10 team. Well played and balanced all around. A big change from November. The thing that I enjoyed most today was watching Kareem dribble out the clock for 25.7 seconds to end it.

**Posted by NapaDuke** 12/31/2024 6:19 pm

VBC wrote:
This was a very good win over a strong A-10 team. Well played and balanced all around. A big change from November. The thing that I enjoyed most today was watching Kareem dribble out the clock for 25.7 seconds to end it.

Agree on Rozier. He is lightning first off the bench and seems to be the shooting guard with Dinkins. It really works well. Late in the game with the lead, Rozier as the closer. Nice.

**Posted by NapaDuke** 12/31/2024 6:28 pm

Just my observation. But to me, I really expected the Dukes would win this way since beating a very good UCI this very way. Teams, going forward are going to have a hard time preparing for this style of play. Not just great defense, ( like running into a wall.) But, Coach Dru is now mixing in 10 plus players with no drop in production. Heck, he just out coached Archie Miller. More teams will fall this way going forward. Dru's style of being close to the players is now showing. URI's only other lose was in double over-time. Coach Dru's team killed them from the start to the finish. Everyone on this team now is all onboard.

Last edited by NapaDuke (12/31/2024 6:48 pm)

**Posted by BluffHunter** 12/31/2024 7:44 pm

Weiss article and press conference videos!

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2024/12/31/duquesne-mbb-wins-a-10-opener-fourth-in-a-row/

**Posted by KenOTR73** 12/31/2024 9:54 pm

Very pleased with the up-tempo play. Also, attacking the rim. The best rebounding effort that we've seen to date.

**Posted by WashPaRick** 1/01/2025 5:26 pm

Impressive defensive performance yesterday. Not to mention outrebounding them by a decent amount as Rhody was getting 6 more than their opponents. Keep playing defense like that and we should be competitive in most of the remaining games,

**Posted by CLK** 1/01/2025 6:55 pm

Coach Dru and staff did a great job of game planning and game day coaching. We no longer have a one size fits all defense. That 3-2 zone with Tre, Jakub, and Matus up front and Corbett and Dixon protecting the rim was suffocating. Defense travels and wins championships. Go Dukes

Trib Article

https://search.app/dNSunB9HbnBHaLWb6

**Posted by townsonkid** 1/02/2025 8:52 am

Indeed, that zone was nice. To have a 6'9'' guy out front with long arms cuts off some options their offense might have.
Looks like i will keep my espn+ another month, hopefully longer. :-)

**Posted by Ironduke81** 1/02/2025 9:41 am

CLK wrote:
Coach Dru and staff did a great job of game planning and game day coaching. We no longer have a one size fits all defense. That 3-2 zone with Tre, Jakub, and Matus up front and Corbett and Dixon protecting the rim was suffocating. Defense travels and wins championships. Go Dukes

Trib Article

https://search.app/dNSunB9HbnBHaLWb6

Agree CLK. Coach Dru finally figuring out the most effective rotations. Jake & Chabi hopefully will be back soon. Most impressive was the post game interview in which Coach Dru acknowledged that David Dixon requested to step back from starting. That’s so unselfish. Most impressive is not the x & o’s but a unit which exemplifies TEAM first. This 2025 could be very special. Go Dukes

**Posted by townsonkid** 1/03/2025 2:40 pm

just commenting to get the Bryce James thread off of the main index page..

Last edited by townsonkid (1/03/2025 2:40 pm)