By PAUL GOTHAM
The University of Dayton Flyers and the Duquesne University Dukes faced each other just last month in the Atlantic 10 opener at the A.J. Palumbo Center. When the two schools meet Tuesday night at the University of Dayton Arena, fans may not completely recognize the squads on the floor.
“We’re two different teams,” Dayton head coach Archie Miller said about his UD club during this week’s A-10 tele-conference. “When we started conference play we weren’t in a good way mentally as well as physically.
“We were a paralyzed team, mentally. We were in mud – the decision making, the speed of how we play. I think our effort level was pretty good, but we just had a lot of mental errors. You could tell we were a clouded team. I think that caught up with us in the early part of when conference season had started.”
Dyshawn Pierre had recently returned to the Flyers lineup after a semester-long suspension.
“Dyshawn had just gotten back,” Miller explained. “A lot guys on the team didn’t know how that was going to affect them personally. It took us some time.”
Duquesne played that game without Micah Mason (16.3 ppg/4.5 apg) who was recovering from an injury. The Dukes were also two weeks removed from losing their leader in Jeremiah Jones to a season-ending injury. They had recently lost a heart-breaker at Georgia Tech, 73-67 – a game Duquesne led with eight minutes remaining.
“We were a complete mess at that time to be quite honest,” Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry stated. “We were coming off a tough loss at Georgia Tech where we actually played well enough to win the game. It was just an ugly, ugly game – both teams.”
The result was a rock ’em sock’em affair where the teams combined for CYO-like shooting numbers of 34.7 percent (40-115) from the floor including 5-37 from behind the arc. Duquesne, ranked 67th in the country handing out assists on 57 percent of made field goals, collected just eight helpers on 17 field goals for the night while committing 18 turnovers. In their most recent game, a 93-82 setback to Davidson, the Dukes dished out 23 assists on 28 field goals while committing 13 mishandles.
“That’s who we are,” Ferry said of sharing the ball. “That’s how we play. That’s the way a lot of my teams have played. That’s something that we focus on. That’s something we talk about, being unselfish and moving the ball.”
Since the game on January 2, Duquesne has put together a stretch where they won three in a row and five of six. The Dukes finished 6-12 in A-10 play a year ago. Currently they are 5-5.
“They’re very, very good,” Miller said of Duquesne. “They’re much improved especially with Mason and (Derrick) Colter (18.3ppg/4.1 apg) and what they’re doing. I love the way that they play on offense. We’re in for a heckuva fight on Tuesday.”
Dayton (19-3/9-1) has won seven straight. The Flyers are ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll as well as No. 19 in the Pickin’ Splinters rankings. This past weekend UD shot 62.9 percent (39-62) including 63.6 percent (14-22) in a 98-64 win at George Mason. Worth noting that the Patriots defeated Ole Miss and Oklahoma State earlier this season.
“I think they’re a top ten team right now the way they’re playing,” Ferry said. “They’re significantly better than the team they had two years ago that made that run because they do have the depth. They’re mature. They play so unselfishly and so fast. They are defending at such a high level right now.”
A 7 p.m. tipoff is scheduled. The game will be televised on ASN. The game can be watched online here.
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