OMAHA, Neb. -- Destiny continued to call Duquesne.
For the first time since March 15, 1969, the Dukes were winners in the NCAA Tournament, beating BYU, 71-67, in a first-round matchup Thursday at the CHI Health Center. Keith Dambrot, set to retire after 26 seasons as a head coach, earned his first Tournament win in four tries. The Dukes, the unprecedented winner of the Atlantic 10 Tournament a week ago, now have a second-round date with Illinois here at 8:40 p.m. Saturday.
A Dallin Hall half-court prayer sailed wide left with four-tenths of a second left in regulation. Jakub Necas' in-bounds heave was intercepted as the final horn sounded. A collection of fans dressed in red and blue thrust their arms into their air in jubilation, matching many of the players who did the same on the floor in front of them.
More history for a program that has already made plenty.
“We were in the huddle before we came out for the game," Dusan Mahorcic recalled, "and we told each other, I was like, ‘look, man, we can be legendary here at Duquesne. Everybody’s going to remember us. Right now let’s push those barriers even further, let’s win one, let’s get us one.’ It means a lot. It really does.”
This game was vintage Dambrot. It was physical. It was rough. It was hard-nosed and hard-fought and required a hardened attitude to will through.
The Dukes (25-11) constantly kept the Cougars in their court. BYU's up-tempo, run-and-gun offense was met head-on by Dambrot's calculated defensive approach that Dambrot has a reputation for. The tempo was slowed down, the possessions were limited, and Duquesne constantly punched at BYU when BYU didn't have enough counters to offer.
One play to encompass the effort Duquesne pressed BYU with came at the beginning of the second half. Fousseyni Drame met Noah Waterman for a loose rebound, and Drame took Waterman to the ground with it. The two had to be separated as whistles blew from every direction. Drame arose from the scrap with the basketball with a smile, despite drawing a double technical foul for it.
“I understand all it takes is one action to change everything and to get everybody going," Drame said. "Being in college for five years I understand moments like this because I’ve been in situations like that, and that’s why when I was on the floor I made sure I got up with the ball because it’s to send a message that no matter what punch you guys throw we’re here to receive it and punch harder.”
Dambrot put things slightly more modestly. He knew Duquesne couldn't play BYU's game -- a "finesse" game, as he worded it. The play by Drame sent the message that Duquesne was not going to be another wannabe "Cinderella" team in this NCAA Tournament. The Dukes were here to play.
"We've really improved with our ball movement, our sharing of the ball, our understanding of how to win," Dambrot said. "I think the little -- I don't know what it was, little scuffle at the beginning of the second half kind of showed everything about what we're about. We're going to compete at a very high level in a very clean way, but we're going to compete and make people earn every inch of the court. It's clear, my dad kind of taught me years ago, that, hey, if you don't play great defense, you're not going to be a good team. And so I've kind of used that throughout my whole career, and these guys really bought into it."
BYU (23-11) missed its first eight looks from the field and didn't record a field goal until the 13:37 mark of the first half. By that point, Duquesne held a 12-5 lead. The Dukes led by 12 at one point in the first half and held BYU to 9 of 26 field goals and 5 of 14 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
Basketball can be a game of runs, but Duquesne never let BYU have theirs to a level of demise. Duquesne was always in it. BYU took a lead with 7:25 left in the first half, and Duquesne still took a 12-point lead with 2:51 left. BYU punched back and cut the deficit to three with 59 seconds left in the half, and Duquesne still entered the break up eight.
Punch. Counter.
"Our toughness level was high level," Dambrot said. "We stressed with them in order not to have dips in the game, you have to communicate at the highest level that we ever have. And I thought guys were getting bloodied on both sides. It was a tough game. They're super physical. Like people think, all they talk about with them is their 3-point shooting. But they're super physical. They hold. They grab. They play very similarly to us. They're big and strong.
"And we just -- we got out of the gates good, which was important for us. We've been down 14-2 in games, too, and come back and won. I think the biggest thing is our toughness is on display, and if you're a tough team, both mentally and physically, you have a chance to win. I think these guys' toughness over the year has really improved, which has made us a good basketball team."
Duquesne took its largest lead of the game -- 46-32 -- with 16:53 remaining in regulation. BYU chipped it down to a point with 6:06 left. Then the Cougars tied it at 60 with 1:48 left.
Then, as David Dixon worded it:
"We just grabbed our nuts and just decided to guard," he said. "We’re not taking no crap from nobody. They tried to throw their best punch late in the second half but we said, 'you know what, we’ve been doing this for too long. A lot of teams have tried to throw their best punch at us but we’ve always taken it, we’ve always taken those hits and dished them back even harder.'”
Then came Jimmy Clark, who scored the game's next five points via three free throws and a driving layup. Then came Jakub Necas, whose two free throws were the largest points of his career-high 12 Thursday. Then came Dae Dae Grant, one of the best free-throw shooters in the nation at above 90%. He made all four free-throw attempts in the game's final 10 seconds to ice things away.
Counter. Final blow.
This team knows about resilience. It started Atlantic 10 play at 0-5 and had to claw for positioning to extend its season. It took down four tough teams in its conference tournament. It battled from the bottom once this season, and that translated to how it would fight against a superior opponent in BYU.
Dambrot knows more about resilience. He once took Akron from mediocrity and made it into one of the most respected mid-majors in the nation before he was hired by Duquesne. On Thursday, he brought this Duquesne program to a level it has not experienced in 55 years.
“I just try to do my job to the highest level every single day, and the one thing I’ve learned is that’s all you can do," Dambrot said. "I’m proud of where we’re at. It’s been a struggle. It’s a hard league and it’s a hard job, now, with all the distractions and all that. You can’t ask for any more than what our guys have given us. I’m so happy for our guys and the fans and the donors and the administration at Duquesne. I’m just trying to finish strong. That’s all I’m trying to do. I’m trying to finish just like I started. That’s really how I view it.”
The 11th-seeded Dukes will face No. 3-seed Illinois Saturday at a time to be determined at the CHI Health Center. The winner will advance to the East Region semifinal in Boston next weekend.
"Well, I didn't watch hardly any of (Duquesne's) game, and I do know this: I know how well they're coached," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I have so much respect -- I've done a lot of clinics over the years with Keith. I've known him back since my junior college days. I know his teams are extremely tough. I know they're going to fight. To me, that was not an upset. That was not shocking.
"The Atlantic 10 is a tremendous league, and I think they started 0-5 if I'm correct. Then to get to this position, that's on a coach. That's on a coach leading his players in the right direction. We know we've got a tough game. They did a great job looks like numerically from the 3-point line and taking that away from BYU. Yeah, we'll have to play well, no doubt."
