Luke Henne | Editor-in-Chief
Feb. 2, 2023
The Duquesne men’s basketball team has played just seven of its 22 games so far this season away from UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
In those seven contests, the Dukes are just 2-5 (1-5 in true road games).
Duquesne’s struggles away from home continued Saturday, when the Dukes dropped a contest with UMass 87-79.
Dae Dae Grant recorded a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Jimmy Clark III added 21 points and six steals, but it wasn’t enough for Duquesne.
The Dukes led as late as 5:54 remaining in the first half at 25-24, but the Minutemen closed the half on a 15-8 run, taking a 6-point advantage into the locker room.
In the second half, UMass’ lead grew as large as 15 points (55-40), and Duquesne never cut it any closer than 5 points.
Late fouling and successful free throws from the Minutemen nixed any chance of a Dukes comeback.
Grant hit a 3-pointer as time expired to keep the deficit under double digits, but that was a moot point.
For a young and inexperienced Duquesne team, playing 11 of 13 non-conference games at home made a lot of sense in terms of building confidence and collecting wins.
Even in the non-conference, Duquesne’s two non-home games came at Kentucky, a team that was ranked No. 4 in the country at the time, and on a neutral court against a Colgate squad that is currently 11-0 in Patriot League play.
However, since A-10 play started in late December, road wins have been hard to come by for the Dukes.
Aside from a win at Saint Joseph’s, Duquesne lost by 12 at Dayton, blew a 22-point lead in a defeat at Richmond, and lost winnable games at both St. Bonaventure and UMass.
For Duquesne, just four of the nine remaining regular-season games will be on the road.
The Dukes return to action on Saturday, when they travel to the nation’s capital for a date with George Washington.
The Colonials have won four of the last five meetings.