Duquesne University
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Founded 1878
Enrollment 8,333
Nickname: Dukes
School Colors: Red and Blue
Conference: Atlantic 10
Head Coach: Keith Dambrot (Akron ‘82)
Record at Duquesne: 72-71 (6th year)
Career Record: 485-280 (25th year)
Last seasons record: 6-24
Starters Lost: 3
Starters Returning: 2
Game Information:
Nov 11 Duquesne at Kentucky- Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
7:00 p.m. EST, TV: SEC Network
Radio: UK Sports Radio Network
Probable Starters
#4 F Tre Williams 6-7 250lb Jr 6pts, 4reb vs Montana
#20 F Joe Reece 6-8 200lb Sr 12pts, 5reb, 3ast, 2stl, 2blk vs Montana
#55 G Quincy McGriff 6-6 200lb So 10pts, 2reb (2-7 from 3) vs Montana
#1 G Jimmy Clark 6-3 185lb Jr 8pts, 4ast, 3reb vs Montana
#3 G Dae Dae Grant 6-2 185lb Jr 25pts,8-8FG, including 6-6 from 3 vs Montana
Key Reserves
#14 F Matus Hronsky 6-8 205lbs Fr 13pts, 5-6 FG, 29min off bench
#35 F Kevin Easley 6-7 230lbs Jr 6pts, 5reb vs Montana (started 26 games last season)
#02 F David Dixon 6-9 215lbs Fr 4pts, 2reb vs Montana
#34 F Austin Rotroff 6-10 240 Grad (led team in rebounding vs Montana)
#21 F R.J. Gunn F 6-7 230 Grad 3pts, 2reb in 17 mins vs Montana
#32 G Kareem Rozier 5-9 160 Fr 4reb, 3ast vs Montana
KenPom numbers (2021-22) Finishing rating: #280
Current KenPom rating: #124
Best Numbers from last season
Defensive FTA/FGA (#14 nationally) (they don’t foul much)
Offensive TO% 16.9% (#68 nationally)
Block %: 10.8% (#80 nationally)
Non-steal TO %: 8.1% (#84 nationally)
Worst Numbers from last season
Defensive 3pt%: allowing 39.8% (#354 nationally)
2pt FG% 45.2% (#331 nationally)
Effective FG%: 45.4% (#315 nationally)
Defensive efficiency 108.7 (#281 nationally)
Analysis: Duquesne (pronounced Doo-‘Cain) comes to Rupp Arena on Friday evening for a 7pm EST tip riding high off a home opening win over Montana 91-63, which included a perfect shooting performance and 25pts (including 8-8 from the field and 6-6 from 3) from shooting guard Dae Dae Grant. The Dukes come to Rupp hoping to put a scare into the Wildcats and hopefully pull off the unlikely upset. The first thing you notice when looking at Duquesne from last season to this season is the number of newcomers on the roster. Head Coach Keith Dambrot hit the transfer portal pretty hard this off-season, adding 5 players from the portal, and also added 5 freshmen to the roster to boot. This team is not even close to the same as last year, which struggled to a 6-24 record and 1-16 and dead last in the Atlantic 10 as they finished the season by losing their final 17 games in a row.
So, Dambrot does return 2 starters from last season in Kevin Easley (who didn’t start the first game) and Tre Williams but brought in 4 transfers with D1 experience: Dae Dae Grant played at Miami (OH), Tevin Brewer played at Florida International (FIU), Joe Reece played at Old Dominion, and Jimmy Clark played at VCU before spending last year at Northwest Florida JC. He brought in another JUCO transfer in Quincy McGriff who led Salt Lake CC to the JUCO championship game last season. And Dambrot also brought in 5 true freshmen to the squad.
So, from a personnel standpoint, it would appear that the most dangerous players on this team are the newcomers. Clearly, shooting guard Dae Dae Grant, the 6-2 185lb Junior and Miami (OH) transfer is capable of getting hot if not guarded, having finished with 25 points in game 1 while shooting 8-8 from the floor and 6-6 from 3. I would note, Grant only had 1 assist and had 4 turnovers in that game. His partner in the backcourt is PG Jimmy Clark, the 6-3 185lb Junior (VCU and JUCO) who only played 19 minutes but scored 9pts and dished out 4 assists in game 1. The third guard starting is playing the small forward spot, it’s juco transfer Quincy McGriff, a 6-6 200lb Sophomore (Salt Lake CC) who showed scored 10pts and made 2-7 from 3 vs Montana.
In the frontcourt, they don’t have the length Howard threw at UK but they do have some strength down low in one of their 2 returnees from last season forward Tre Williams, the 6-7 250lb Junior who led the team last season in blocks and was second in rebounding. He anchors the middle while joined by PF Joe Reece, a 6-8 200lb Senior (Old Dominion) who had a full stat sheet with 12pts, 5reb, 3ast, 2stl, and 2blk vs Montana. Because of the need for size, we will likely also see a good bit of #34 F/C Austin Rotroff, the 6-10 240 Grad student who missed much of last season due to injury. We may also see quite a bit of the other returnee from last season forward Kevin Easley, the 6-7 230lb Junior who actually started 26 games last season for Duquesne.
As I watched the game between Duquesne and Montana, it was a tightly contested game for the first 8-10 minutes of the game until Duquesne turned up the intensity with a full court press. It was clear that Montana was not ready for it at all. It was a 1-2-2 trapping press very similar to what UK ran under Pitino back in the 90s where the point of the press tries to force the ball handler into one of the corners and a 2nd man will come trap the ball. They actually ran it very effectively against Montana after any made FG. The opposing coach called timeout after 3 straight turnovers, but it didn’t help very much. Duquesne continued to run the press until they pushed the lead into the teens, and they never really looked back. Dae Dae Grant’s hot shooting allowed them to not have to run that press as much, though they did trap some in the half-court as well when the pace would slow.
You would have to watch tape of 10 different teams to figure out this Duquesne Dukes team this season. They appear to be a bit better offensively than Howard, I’d say, especially with all the transfers, but they don’t have as much length as Howard had. Still, with the press thrown into the mix (which I’m sure we’ll see), it throws something new into the mix for UK and their trapping in the halfcourt could cause turnovers and trouble. I expect Duquesne will have trouble finding the same open shots they had against Montana and UK could have some transition points if the Dukes keep that press on for very long. I do expect a bit closer game than in game 1 and so do the oddsmakers. KenPom predicts an 82-61 win for UK. Oddsmakers have the early line at UK-17.5 and have the over/under set at 143.5. I don’t think either Kenpom or oddsmakers know what to think about Duquesne at this point. They may also not know exactly what to expect of UK without Oscar, Collins, and possibly Wheeler as well. My prediction: Kentucky 88 Duquesne 66
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Founded 1878
Enrollment 8,333
Nickname: Dukes
School Colors: Red and Blue
Conference: Atlantic 10
Head Coach: Keith Dambrot (Akron ‘82)
Record at Duquesne: 72-71 (6th year)
Career Record: 485-280 (25th year)
Last seasons record: 6-24
Starters Lost: 3
Starters Returning: 2
Game Information:
Nov 11 Duquesne at Kentucky- Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
7:00 p.m. EST, TV: SEC Network
Radio: UK Sports Radio Network
Probable Starters
#4 F Tre Williams 6-7 250lb Jr 6pts, 4reb vs Montana
#20 F Joe Reece 6-8 200lb Sr 12pts, 5reb, 3ast, 2stl, 2blk vs Montana
#55 G Quincy McGriff 6-6 200lb So 10pts, 2reb (2-7 from 3) vs Montana
#1 G Jimmy Clark 6-3 185lb Jr 8pts, 4ast, 3reb vs Montana
#3 G Dae Dae Grant 6-2 185lb Jr 25pts,8-8FG, including 6-6 from 3 vs Montana
Key Reserves
#14 F Matus Hronsky 6-8 205lbs Fr 13pts, 5-6 FG, 29min off bench
#35 F Kevin Easley 6-7 230lbs Jr 6pts, 5reb vs Montana (started 26 games last season)
#02 F David Dixon 6-9 215lbs Fr 4pts, 2reb vs Montana
#34 F Austin Rotroff 6-10 240 Grad (led team in rebounding vs Montana)
#21 F R.J. Gunn F 6-7 230 Grad 3pts, 2reb in 17 mins vs Montana
#32 G Kareem Rozier 5-9 160 Fr 4reb, 3ast vs Montana
KenPom numbers (2021-22) Finishing rating: #280
Current KenPom rating: #124
Best Numbers from last season
Defensive FTA/FGA (#14 nationally) (they don’t foul much)
Offensive TO% 16.9% (#68 nationally)
Block %: 10.8% (#80 nationally)
Non-steal TO %: 8.1% (#84 nationally)
Worst Numbers from last season
Defensive 3pt%: allowing 39.8% (#354 nationally)
2pt FG% 45.2% (#331 nationally)
Effective FG%: 45.4% (#315 nationally)
Defensive efficiency 108.7 (#281 nationally)
Analysis: Duquesne (pronounced Doo-‘Cain) comes to Rupp Arena on Friday evening for a 7pm EST tip riding high off a home opening win over Montana 91-63, which included a perfect shooting performance and 25pts (including 8-8 from the field and 6-6 from 3) from shooting guard Dae Dae Grant. The Dukes come to Rupp hoping to put a scare into the Wildcats and hopefully pull off the unlikely upset. The first thing you notice when looking at Duquesne from last season to this season is the number of newcomers on the roster. Head Coach Keith Dambrot hit the transfer portal pretty hard this off-season, adding 5 players from the portal, and also added 5 freshmen to the roster to boot. This team is not even close to the same as last year, which struggled to a 6-24 record and 1-16 and dead last in the Atlantic 10 as they finished the season by losing their final 17 games in a row.
So, Dambrot does return 2 starters from last season in Kevin Easley (who didn’t start the first game) and Tre Williams but brought in 4 transfers with D1 experience: Dae Dae Grant played at Miami (OH), Tevin Brewer played at Florida International (FIU), Joe Reece played at Old Dominion, and Jimmy Clark played at VCU before spending last year at Northwest Florida JC. He brought in another JUCO transfer in Quincy McGriff who led Salt Lake CC to the JUCO championship game last season. And Dambrot also brought in 5 true freshmen to the squad.
So, from a personnel standpoint, it would appear that the most dangerous players on this team are the newcomers. Clearly, shooting guard Dae Dae Grant, the 6-2 185lb Junior and Miami (OH) transfer is capable of getting hot if not guarded, having finished with 25 points in game 1 while shooting 8-8 from the floor and 6-6 from 3. I would note, Grant only had 1 assist and had 4 turnovers in that game. His partner in the backcourt is PG Jimmy Clark, the 6-3 185lb Junior (VCU and JUCO) who only played 19 minutes but scored 9pts and dished out 4 assists in game 1. The third guard starting is playing the small forward spot, it’s juco transfer Quincy McGriff, a 6-6 200lb Sophomore (Salt Lake CC) who showed scored 10pts and made 2-7 from 3 vs Montana.
In the frontcourt, they don’t have the length Howard threw at UK but they do have some strength down low in one of their 2 returnees from last season forward Tre Williams, the 6-7 250lb Junior who led the team last season in blocks and was second in rebounding. He anchors the middle while joined by PF Joe Reece, a 6-8 200lb Senior (Old Dominion) who had a full stat sheet with 12pts, 5reb, 3ast, 2stl, and 2blk vs Montana. Because of the need for size, we will likely also see a good bit of #34 F/C Austin Rotroff, the 6-10 240 Grad student who missed much of last season due to injury. We may also see quite a bit of the other returnee from last season forward Kevin Easley, the 6-7 230lb Junior who actually started 26 games last season for Duquesne.
As I watched the game between Duquesne and Montana, it was a tightly contested game for the first 8-10 minutes of the game until Duquesne turned up the intensity with a full court press. It was clear that Montana was not ready for it at all. It was a 1-2-2 trapping press very similar to what UK ran under Pitino back in the 90s where the point of the press tries to force the ball handler into one of the corners and a 2nd man will come trap the ball. They actually ran it very effectively against Montana after any made FG. The opposing coach called timeout after 3 straight turnovers, but it didn’t help very much. Duquesne continued to run the press until they pushed the lead into the teens, and they never really looked back. Dae Dae Grant’s hot shooting allowed them to not have to run that press as much, though they did trap some in the half-court as well when the pace would slow.
You would have to watch tape of 10 different teams to figure out this Duquesne Dukes team this season. They appear to be a bit better offensively than Howard, I’d say, especially with all the transfers, but they don’t have as much length as Howard had. Still, with the press thrown into the mix (which I’m sure we’ll see), it throws something new into the mix for UK and their trapping in the halfcourt could cause turnovers and trouble. I expect Duquesne will have trouble finding the same open shots they had against Montana and UK could have some transition points if the Dukes keep that press on for very long. I do expect a bit closer game than in game 1 and so do the oddsmakers. KenPom predicts an 82-61 win for UK. Oddsmakers have the early line at UK-17.5 and have the over/under set at 143.5. I don’t think either Kenpom or oddsmakers know what to think about Duquesne at this point. They may also not know exactly what to expect of UK without Oscar, Collins, and possibly Wheeler as well. My prediction: Kentucky 88 Duquesne 66
