The last time Duquesne played in an NCAA Tournament men’s basketball game was during the 1976-77 season, the same year the Dukes played their only game against Hofstra, a 76-70 loss to the Pride in the first round of the Pittsburgh Classic at the former Civic Arena.
Duquesne finally gets a chance to even the series Saturday night at UPMC Cooper Field House, just a stone’s throw from PPG Paints Arena, which is situated on the former Civic Arena site, where the teams first met Dec. 10, 1976.
It marks the second of five consecutive season-opening road games for Hofstra (0-1), a Colonial Athletic Association member picked to finish fifth among 10 teams.
In their opener Tuesday, the Pride, in Speedy Claxton’s debut as coach of his alma mater, wasted a 12-point, second-half lead and lost at No. 15 Houston, 83-75.
Hofstra was led by Zach Cooks’ 26 points.
Coincidentally, Cooks, a first-year grad transfer, scored 22 points to lead NJIT to a 78-67 victory against Duquesne on New Year’s Eve 2018 at the Dukes’ former home, Palumbo Center.
It marked the last team to beat Duquesne in a nonconference home game.
Since then, the Dukes have won six in a row against nonconference opponents.
Duquesne’s schedule continues Monday, when Weber State visits before Duquesne heads to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for a four-game set at the Paradise Jam, beginning Friday against Northeastern.
Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot is well aware that an early-season, concentrated stretch of games could take its toll on a newly constructed team, such as Duquesne, with five transfers and three freshmen.
Duquesne is one of 10 Division I programs and the highest-ranked non-Power 5 program on the list to have added more than 4,000 points to its roster via thetransfer portal, which was put into place in October 2018.
“One of my biggest mentors is Ben Braun,” said Dambrot, who served three years from 1986-89 as an assistant to Braun at Eastern Michigan. “He’s been hitting me over the head for a month now, saying, ‘Hey, just make sure you coach these guys a little differently than you have your other guys in the past’ because we’re just so new.”
By that, Dambrot meant, “Not inexperienced, but inexperienced in our situation. So, I have to be a little bit more patient.”
Dambrot is likely to tell you that in his 23 years as a head coach — he’s closing in on 500 victories (489) — patience hasn’t been one of his stronger suits.
That was brought to light most recently in the offseason, when he dismissed the bulk of his players from last season’s team that had exited the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament following an uninspired, 75-59, first-round loss to St. Bonaventure.
“One of my themes with this group,” he said, “has been that we have a chance to improve more than any team in the country because we are so new. That’s what we’re really trying to concentrate on.”
Duquesne (1-0) opened Tuesday with a 73-61 nonconference victory against Rider for its third win in as many games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, which debuted last season with a pair of contests in February against Dayton and Rhode Island.
“We played good enough to win,” Dambrot said. “It’s not really much different than I anticipated. We’re going to have our issues (for a time) … we made enough plays to win.”
A trio of first-year Duquesne players combined to lead the Dukes’ second-half comeback, sparked by a 15-2 run, after they trailed Rider at halftime, 33-30.
Indiana State transfer Tre Williams and freshman Primo Spears finished with 14 points each, while Mercer transfer Leon Ayers III scored 12, most of their points coming after halftime.
TCU transfer Kevin Easley Jr. led Duquesne with 16 points, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, where Duquesne shot 40%.
The Dukes committed just seven turnovers and made all 13 free-throw attempts for the best percentage in a game in Dambrot’s five seasons as coach.
“Everybody was there for one another,” said Spears, who got most of the minutes at point guard over fellow freshman Jackie Johnson III and sophomore Tyson Acuff. “This is a new group. Everybody just came together and put the individual aside and made it a team effort.”
Williams was clear to point out that every player needs to be ready when he’s called upon.
“Everybody is going to be a major piece to this season,” he said, “We’re just going to need everybody to keep contributing.”
Dave Mackall is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
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Duquesne finally gets 2nd shot at Hofstra ... 44 years later - TribLIVE
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