By PAUL GOTHAM
The Duquesne Dukes’ turnover numbers are up. Just don’t expect head coach Jim Ferry to lose any sleep over it.
At 10-2, the Dukes are off to their best start since 1979-80. Part of that has to do with an aggressive mentality on offense.
“I’m trying to get us used to playing at this rate so early in the season,” Ferry said by phone, Monday. “I’m going to live with some of the turnovers just to get us to play at the right pace.”
Duquesne’s 13.5 turnovers per game may rank in the bottom half of the country, but the Dukes field goal percentage of 48.8 is 27th. Per BB State, they are hitting 56.1 per cent of their shots inside the arc- good for 20th in the nation.
“Hopefully, as the season progresses we still play at that pace, but we’re used to it more, and we’re not making as many turnovers,” Ferry added.
The Dukes hand out more than 17 assists per game. Despite the miscues, Duquesne, as a team, holds an assist to turnover ratio of 1.284 and dishes dimes on 58 percent of their made baskets.
“One of the biggest stats that we look at is assist to made baskets,” Ferry explained. “When we’re playing well we’re getting 20 assists on 30 baskets. We talk about that a lot. When we’re playing that way that’s when we’re at our best offensively – when the ball is moving, and the ball is finding shots. We’re not built on a team of guys creating their own shots.”
A year ago, Duquesne sputtered to 12-19 and a 6-12 mark in the Atlantic 10. Eight of those losses came by single digits. Among those was a four-game stretch when the Dukes fell by one to Rhode Island, nine to Saint Louis, six to then No. 17 VCU and 100-97 in overtime to St. Bonaventure.
“We can’t quick fix things and do it right,” the fourth-year coach said. “You take a lot of high school guys each year, and you try to build a program. With that comes some hard times. You try to mature and get as old as you can and get the most experience as you can. That’s kinda what played out. I would have liked to happen a little bit quicker last year, but you can’t foresee that stuff and it doesn’t just happen.
“This is the first time since I’ve been here that we have more upper classmen than I have new guys in the program. You can start to see the direction the program will go in. The growth of it… You have leadership. You have accountability. You have the ability to hand things down. You have upper classmen that are teaching the younger kids in the program what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.”
Duquesne started the season winning six of seven. They have won their last four. Led by Derrick Colter and Micah Mason, the Dukes score 82.8 a game – up from 71 a year ago. Mason has added more than three points per game to his totals going from 12.8 per contest last season to 16 this year. At the same time, the senior guard leads the squad with 4.7 assists in comparison to his 2.9 dimes in 2014-15.
“It’s a maturing of Micah,” Ferry said. “It’s a maturing of our team, offensively. It’s the fact that our guys have now been playing together for a little while. There’s not as many new guys out there, so the guys have a good feel for who they are, and what we are. We play very unselfishly. The group has really bought into that. Passing is contagious. We share the basketball, and we’re pretty balanced.”
Mason was second in the A-10 and 76th in the nation hitting 44 percent (88 of 197) behind the arc. He is currently hitting 41.8 percent from long range. The Dukes are 6-0 when Mason hands out five or more helpers.
“We need him to be more aggressive,” Ferry noted. “The kid is way more than just a shooter. People are starting to see that. He’s been really to play the game the right way. He’s so unselfish. He sees so many things. Maybe it’s a contested shot that he’s not taking. We still need him to do that. Towards the end of last year he started being a little bit more aggressive. It’s kinda carried over into this season.”
Tuesday night, Ferry’s Dukes will get their last warm-up before conference play when they visit Georgia Tech. The game will be their second this season against an Atlantic Coast Conference team having lost 96-75 to City rival Pittsburgh on December 4th.
“I look at a game like this especially for league play it’s really going to prepare us,” Ferry noted. “Our conference is a monster now. Our conference is one of the top conferences in the country.”
Duquesne opens A-10 play Saturday when they host Dayton. After that, Duquesne heads out on the road for contests with George Washington and Davidson. Dayton and Davidson were both NCAA Tournament teams a year ago. George Washington was nationally ranked last week. Those teams also make up three of Duquesne’s five home-and home partners in a league schedule where the Dukes will also travel to Rhode Island and VCU.
“You find me a tougher league schedule in the Atlantic 10 than what we have. Dayton, Davidson and GW are top three in the league.”
Duquesne will go the rest of the season without Jeremiah Jones – their third-leading scorer who tore his ACL in their win over Robert Morris.
“He’s our heart and soul,one of our captains,” Ferry stated. “It’s just got a little bit harder for our program.”
A 7 p.m. tip time is scheduled at McCamish Pavilion. The Yellowjackets (9-3) have won two straight and five of six. They are led by Charles Mitchell (13.3 ppg/11.8 rpg).
“Up to this point, we’ve played very well. We have some confidence. It’s going to be a major, major challenge…This game is absolutely going to help us get ready. We’re going to have to grind. Once you get to league play it’s one day at a time. You can’t get too high or too low because. We could lose a bunch of games and still be pretty good. I think that’s what the kids have to understand that grind to get better as we get closer to tournament play.”
***Updated at 3:30. Original article mistakenly stated the game would be broadcast on ESPN3.
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