Duquesne aims for improved shooting against No. 7 Dayton

When Duquesne plays No. 7 Dayton on Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena, the Dukes’ most challenging opponent won’t be the Flyers or their future NBA first-round draft choice, Obi Toppin.

Actually, the Dukes (15-4, 5-2 Atlantic 10) have been fighting a more stubborn foe the past few weeks: the basketball. It just won’t go through the hoop often enough.

In the past three games, the Dukes are shooting 35.5% (59 of 166). To give that small sample size some perspective, the worst-shooting team in the nation — Kennesaw State (1-19) of the Atlantic Sun Conference — is shooting 35.3%.

“We have to score better,” coach Keith Dambrot said. “There’s no doubt about that because at some point, you just get demoralized when the ball doesn’t go in the basket.”

After an historic 15-2 start, Duquesne lost two in a row last week during their road trip through New England (Rhode Island and Massachusetts). In the previous game, the Dukes needed overtime before escaping with a 58-56 win over Fordham (7-12, 1-6).

“We haven’t played great for two, three weeks,” Dambrot said. “It’s a long year. Everybody goes through it. You look at the best teams in the country, even they have issues when they’re not playing great.”

Duquesne’s other issue is what to do about Toppin, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound dunk artist from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Toppin is second in the A-10 in scoring (19.8 points per game) and has 150 career dunks in only 53 games. That includes three in the first five minutes of his first college game last season and another that he started between his legs.

Only a sophomore, he is the projected fourth overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft.

When Richmond fans — the school’s baseball team, actually — showed up Saturday flashing bare chests and taunts of “overrated,” Toppin took pictures of them with his phone. Then, he scored 24 points, including a windmill slam in front of the section where the jeers originated, in an 87-79 Dayton victory.

Earlier this season, Toppin dunked 10 times while scoring 31 points in a 77-59 victory against North Florida.

Asked to comment, North Florida coach Matt Driscoll, former coach at La Roche, had this piece of advice for the Dukes via text message:

“Block him out!!!”

Continued Driscoll, whose team is tied for first in the Atlantic Sun, “He reminds me exactly of (seven-year NBA veteran) Quincy Acy from Baylor (where Driscoll was an assistant for six seasons) and probably more apropos ‘The Greek Freak’ (reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo).”

Marcus Weathers, who is Duquesne’s leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, acknowledged Toppin’s ability but is not awestruck.

“Obi is a great player,” Weathers said. “We’re going to look forward to the challenge of guarding him. We want to treat this game like any other game. Just go out there and continue to attack (with) the principles we know how to do.”

Dayton (18-2, 7-0) is the toughest opponent on the Dukes’ schedule. The Flyers, whose only losses (Kansas and Colorado) were in overtime, are third in the nation in scoring (83.2 points per game) and No. 1 in assists (18.9).

“It’s quite obvious to me we’re not winning if the game’s in the 80s,” Dambrot said. “If it’s a fast game, they’re going to kick our butts.”

A victory, however, would vault the Dukes back into the race for first in the A-10.

“Obviously, any time you beat a good team, it helps your program, and we recruit Ohio hard, so it will help us,” he said. “We still probably couldn’t beat them on (any recruits) because of their 13,000 fan support they get every night.

“But you beat a top-10 team, then people will say, ‘Well, maybe they are pretty good.’ ”

Dambrot said his players appear to have recovered from the defeats.

“It rolls off them pretty good,” he said. “They play so many games in AAU, they take more of a pro approach.

“But when it’s your job, it takes me a little bit longer than that. One thing about me, you either put the white flag up or you fight like a dog and I’m always going to fight.

“I’m not going to let anybody rain on my parade.”