How can Duquesne gain respect? 'Shock the world,' says center Michael Hughes

Keith Dambrot will tell anyone who will listen — mainly his players and reporters — Duquesne gets no respect.

“I don’t know if the rest of the league thinks we’re good or not,” Duquesne’s coach said Tuesday after practice. “I don’t think they have any fear of Duquesne.

“Why should they? Why should they believe after 100 years of not playing in the NCAA Tournament? Why should they think Duquesne’s not going to fold?”

Sounds a bit like a coach trying to motivate his team, and perhaps it’s working. Junior center Michael Hughes talks like his coach.

“Duquesne’s never been respected, never probably will,” Hughes said. “Shock the world. That’s the only way we can do it.”

The reality is the Dukes (15-2, 5-0) are tied for first place with No. 7 Dayton in the Atlantic 10, received 13 voting points in this week’s Associated Press poll and will take a five-game winning streak to Rhode Island (12-5, 4-1) on Wednesday. They will play at UMass (7-11, 1-4) on Saturday.

The Dukes have come a long way in three years under Dambrot, who has won nearly as many games in 2½ seasons (50) as Duquesne won in the four before he arrived (52).

Hughes is amazed at how the Dukes have evolved.

“My freshman year (2016-17) when I was at Akron, I knew nothing about Duquesne,” he said.

He remembers Duquesne guard Tavian Dunn-Martin, who also was at Akron at the time, telling him, ‘Dude, somebody went for 70 against Du-Qwees.’

“That’s the craziest thing,” Hughes said. “We go from not being able to pronounce it and now we go here.”

People who follow college basketball are noticing. Dambrot admitted as much.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people that I respect who think we’re a (physically) tough team,” he said.

Yet, that’s not enough, and Dambrot knows it.

“We have to be consistently mentally tough, which I don’t think we’ve achieved yet,” he said. “When we achieve consistent mental toughness, we’ll going to take the next step.”

In four categories that speak to physical achievement, Duquesne is performing well. They include shot-blocking and avoiding fouls, which leads to stingy defense.

The Dukes are tied with Duke for fifth in the nation and are first in the A-10 with 6.4 blocks per game (109 total). Hughes is second in the A-10 with 3.2 (54 total).

They aren’t giving away cheap points but are more than happy to accept easy ones. They average 14.5 fouls per game, tied for 13th best in the nation, and are 27th in free-throw percentage (76.5).

Defense has been the key element in conference play, where Duquesne’s opponents are averaging only 60 points. Dambrot said he feels the momentum building around his team, but he’s not overwhelmed by it.

“I know you’re only as good as your next game,” he said. “That sounds like coach-speak, but we also know that’s true.”

The Dukes have been off since last Wednesday, which gave everyone a chance to rest and heal. Nonetheless, Dambrot said, “I don’t really like any days off.”

“Young people today, it’s hard for them to get rejuvenated. You take a couple days off, and, all of a sudden, physically, you don’t feel so great. We all lay around when we get a day off. For me, I’d rather play.”

It has been a busy, sobering week for the Dukes. They practiced on four of the six days, keeping with NCAA regulations. Also, they traveled as a team to Sharon on Monday to support freshman Maceo Austin, whose sister, Sara, died last week.

Austin, who played against Fordham 24 hours after his sister died, rejoined the team Tuesday in time for the flight to Kingston, R.I.

There, the Dukes will face a rarely seen foe: a hostile crowd. The Dukes are 7-2 on the road, but only two games (both victories) were played on the opponent’s floor.

“The only thing we haven’t done is we haven’t played with big crowds against us,” Dambrot said.

After the game, the Dukes will travel 117 miles by bus to Amherst, Mass., to play the Minutemen.

“You’re better off just to stay out,” said Dambrot, who added academic personnel will accompany the team. “I do think there are fewer distractions on the road.

“All we’re going to do is basketball and then we may have a couple study halls. We’re going to have them under wraps.”