Men’s basketball playing with new passion

Following two tough losses at the hands of Saint Louis and La Salle, the Duquesne men's basketball team has rebounded to earn two impressive victories and have gained something they've lacked all season: swagger.

During Saturday night's 81-72 victory over Richmond, the Dukes (14-9, 5-4) showcased an attitude that proclaimed they were going to dominate the Spiders, a team they had lost 14 straight against, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. 

They showcased the same type of swagger that the team, fueled by graduates Damian Saunders and Bill Clark, exuded last year during its 11-game win streak.

But not until last Wednesday, when the red and blue traveled to the University of Dayton Arena to face the Flyers, did this set of Dukes exude that same type of confidence. 

The Dukes, knowing they were outsized, decided to jack three-after-three to avoid being forced to penetrate the paint, and surprisingly, that game-plan worked toward an 83-73 victory. They finished 12-for-23 from three with B.J. Monteiro finding his stroke with a 4-for-7 performance beyond the arc and T.J. McConnell hitting multiple NBA-distance 3-pointers to add some extra flash.

The Dukes surrendered a 16-point second-half lead in that game, but managed to regroup and extend the lead back to 10 for the win, something they had been unable to do all season. 

But Saturday was more impressive.

It would have been easy for the Dukes to get caught up in the moment. They were playing in front of a sellout A.J. Palumbo Center crowd for the first time since Feb. 8, 2009 against Xavier. They were playing on national television, and they were honoring Chuck Cooper, the first African-American to play in the NBA. 

But the Dukes never faded. Instead, they seemed fueled by the pop in the crowd and confident under the scope of the television camera. 

In the first half, they let a 10-point lead slip to four going into the half. But with 15:45 remaining in the second the lead was extended to 11 with an Eric Evans' layup and was no smaller than seven for the remainder of the game.

Monteiro, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, said the crowd played a large role in the outcome.

"It was definitely a great crowd tonight. We're happy everybody came out to watch the game," Monteiro said. "I think we fed off the energy a lot and we got out to a good start."

One aspect that has helped the Dukes these past two games is that they've found some semblance of a low-post presence. They were only outrebounded by two (33 to 31) against a much-bigger Dayton squad and they outrebounded Richmond with 39 boards, including 14 offensive rebounds leading to 17 second-chance points, to the Spiders' 31.

If Duquesne can continue to hang in the rebounding battle with the bigger teams while getting the best of teams they are on par with height-wise, it could be a dangerous team down the stretch. 

When the ball clanks off the rim, they now show more tenacity — with the forwards boxing out and the guards crashing the paint — than they have shown in quite a while. Their play has escalated and they seem to know that it's that time of season where they either win or they watch the Atlantic 10 Tournament at home.

Duquesne sits in a crowd of seven teams within one game of second place in the A-10 and, with this newfound "swagger" as coach Ron Everhart put it, has put itself in a position to potentially make some noise down the stretch.

"I think [the past two wins] should give us a little confidence," Everhart said. "I didn't think we had any swagger earlier in the year. I don't know where it went. But these wins have given us a little bit of belief in ourselves."