Duquesne crushes Columbia, improves to 8-0 for the first time in 48 years

If he believes it’s necessary, Keith Dambrot will scream at his team like an angry parent.

Five minutes later, Duquesne’s coach will sit, chat and joke with reporters like he’s known them for years. (Sometimes even after a loss.)

Duquesne is 8-0 for the first time in 48 years after crushing Columbia, 90-54, Monday night at La Roche, but he’s not afraid to push his players.

“He thinks we’re 0-8,” junior guard Tavian Dunn-Martin said.

What he won’t do is apologize for winning. After all, Duquesne is one of only eight unbeaten teams in all of college basketball and it even received one voting point in this week’s Associated Press poll.

It’s a fact the Dukes’ eight victims have a collective average RPI of 187.7. Other than Indiana State (49), the RPIs range from 147 (Princeton) to 344 (VMI).

But, guess what? Dambrot doesn’t care.

“It’s eight wins. what the heck?” he said. “We looked like a good team tonight. You can choose to be negative or you can choose to be positive. You can say, ‘Ah, they played no one,’ or you can say, ‘They’re 8-0.’

“People will choose either side of the fence. I really don’t care. If they don’t think we’re any good, that’s fine. If we get better, we’ll be right there in the mix. If we don’t, we won’t. We have enough talent to win in this league (Atlantic 10). Now, this league is very good, but we’re pretty good.

“We’re 8-0 without any home games. It’s the perfect schedule for this particular program at this particular time under these particular circumstances.”

The Dukes are playing their so-called home games at three venues while renovation continues at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. They played their last of four games at La Roche on Monday and will open the Atlantic 10 season Jan. 2 at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center. There are also five more games at PPG Paints Arena.

While it’s too early to know definitively how the season will unravel, Dambrot believes he has the right ingredients.

“We have size at the rim, a good point guard and guys who know how to win,” he said.

The big guys are Michael Hughes, Marcus Weathers and 6-foot-11 Baylee Steele. Hughes scored only six points, but he built a complete stat line with 10 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals. Weathers added 16 points and six rebounds, and Steele scored 11.

Point guard Sincere Carry, who leads the team with 13 points per game, scored seven with five assists.

Overall, Duquesne collected 24 assists and shot 58.5%. The percentage is a high under Dambrot and the assists are one short of that.

“Good things happen when you share the ball,” he said.

Dunn-Martin led his team with 25 points on 9 of 12 shooting (five of eight beyond the arc). He came to Duquesne with Dambrot from a winning program at Akron.

Dunn-Martin entered the game shooting only 27.5 percent from long range, but Dambrot is sure that will improve.

“He’s an explosion waiting to happen,” he said. “He’s not going to shoot 25% from 3. I’ll give you my house if he does.

“They gravitate toward their numbers and he’ll end up shooting 35, 38, 39%.”

Austin played on four PIAA championship teams at Kennedy Catholic, and he chose Duquesne over Big Ten teams Penn State and Northwestern. He added a season-high 18 points.

“I put a lot on Maceo Austin,” the coach said. “He allows me to really get on him and help him improve and that helps.”

The most important team trait might be what goes on inside their heads.

Dunn-Martin said it’s different from last year’s team that won 19 games, but was one-and-done in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

“I just feel like we are playing more as a team this year,” he said. “I feel like we’re more family oriented than we were last year. I feel like this team cares to win more than we did last year.”

Added Dambrot: “We have better guys. We have better camaraderie. We got good players. I don’t know how good yet. I’ll let you know in three, four weeks.”