First-year Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III admittedly didn't like the way he felt after Monday night's 77-72 season-opening loss to visiting Lipscomb inside the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. He clearly wasn't satisfied with a losing result, as well as the lackluster stretches that led to his team trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half and 16 in the second.
But that doesn't mean he didn't find redeemable aspects in the performance of a team that lost nine players from last year's roster and has nine newcomers, including eight transfers, joining just three significant contributors from last year's Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament team.
“There's just a lot of growth that still needs to happen," Joyce said. "We're a new team. This is everyone's first year playing for me, no matter if they've been here before, no matter if I was their assistant coach in years before. This is still a new team, and it's going to take us some time to gel. What I do like about our team is we got hit right in the mouth early. At home, we were down big. Nothing was going our way, and everything seemed to be going in their favor, but our team stuck together. We raised our level of play. We found our game defensively, which allowed things to open up for us offensively, and then we fought."
Duquesne's growth as a team will come as time goes on and as players continue to develop a rapport on the floor. It'll all start with the three returners in Kareem Rozier, David Dixon and Jake DiMichele, but three particular transfers will play a pivotal role in Tre Dinkins, Maximus Edwards and Jahsean Corbett. That trio proved their value right away and provided even more positives to take away from a tough setback, as Dinkins led the way with a team-high 16 points in just under 21 minutes off the bench. Edwards had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Corbett had 12 points.
"They're confident, and they know how to score the ball," Joyce said. "The challenge I'll continue to make to them, and they know, is to continue to make the best play. Continue to make the best play and the right play each and every time."
While Joyce was encouraged by the play of his three newest players, it wasn't all positive. He expects more moving forward.
"Max, terrific effort, but at the end of the day, when we sit down and talk, he knows, 'Hey, I've got to take better care of the basketball,'" Joyce said of Edwards, who committed turnovers. "Tre, when we sit down and talk, 'Hey, how do I get my teammates more involved, too?' I think they did a good job, but they can be better."
The Dukes rallied back to pull to within 41-34 at halftime after digging an early hole due in part to Lipscomb's 8-of-10 shooting in the opening eight minutes. And they didn't do themselves any favors in going 14 for 29 from the field, 2 for 9 from three-point range, 4 for 13 from the free-throw line.
"They punched us in the mouth early and our transition game wasn’t as well as I thought," Rozier said. "They came out hitting everything to start the game, and when a team is hot like that, it’s hard to slow them down ... I think we're still figuring things out. I mean, that team's been together for the last three years, I believe. But at the same point, we got to get off to a better start defensively. They shouldn't be able to come out whatever 14-2, whatever it was, like that in our gym.”
While Lipscomb eventually put its foot back on the gas pedal to see its lead swell to 60-44 with 14 minutes to go in the second half, the Dukes rallied yet again, as an 18-5 spree over the course of nearly eight minutes cut the lead to 65-62 with five and a half minutes left. They found ways to get some easy buckets in the paint, in transition and hit some timely three-pointers, including one by Dinkins that made it a three-point game. But the Dukes' newfound momentum was dashed as quickly as it was generated, as Jacob Ognacevic scored six straight points to cap off a 30-point performance and help the Bisons close out the victory.
Like Joyce, Rozier wasn't satisfied with the final result after contributing six points, two rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes on the floor. He was encouraged by what the group managed to do in battling back from the two significant deficits, but he also knows that improvement and growth are both needed moving forward.
“I think we got a lot of guys that have played a lot of games, so it's just a matter of putting it all together with us being such a new team,” Rozier said. “But even with us being a new team, I think that we showed some good signs tonight, being able to fight back, and that we have fight. I'm proud of us with that.”
