Tim Benz: Duquesne players, staff rally around Keith Dambrot during his wife's cancer battle

Duquesne point guard Kareem Rozier said he could see the strain affecting his head coach after the team’s win Wednesday against Chicago State.

“Right after the game, you could tell he was hurt,” Rozier said. “He knew what he had going on the next couple of days with his wife. We didn’t see him for two days. But I made sure to reach out to him. I could hear in his voice how he felt.”

Those emotions for Dukes coach Keith Dambrot were internal conflict. Being torn between the two things to which he has dedicated the most time in his life: his family and his team. Constantly feeling like he was neglecting one whenever he was tending to the other.

In the middle of a season, that internal push-and-pull is present to some degree or another for every coach every year. For Dambrot, though, the 2023-24 schedule has been something different.

His wife, Donna, has been battling breast cancer. She was scheduled for a mastectomy at UPMC Shadyside on Thursday, a day after that Chicago State game and two days before a trip to play Rhode Island.

In an effort to be with her as much as possible during her treatments, Dambrot has had to lean on his assistants, his staff and his players to navigate moments of the season without him at times when he would normally be around the team.

“We have a good group of guys,” Dambrot said. “Like every family, we aren’t perfect, me included. But they are good people. So it doesn’t surprise me. It’s a true testament to their character, really.”

For Dambrot, the decision to stay at home with Donna for as long as necessary after the surgery was clear, even though the prospect of missing a game as the head coach of his program was eating him up. Mrs. Dambrot got through the procedure with no complications, so her husband allowed himself to consider making it out to New England for the game.

It’s something she wanted him to do.

“My wife’s attitude has been really good,” Dambrot said. “Her toughness level has been out of sight. She wants me to do my job. When you have someone who is that supportive, it’s not as difficult.

“I knew on Thursday she was feeling pretty good. She actually wanted me to take the team plane. But I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ Because it was too early. I wanted to make sure she was doing OK before I decided to go.”

More sports

• First Call: Art Rooney II leaves door open to a QB trade; Oilers fail to match Penguins' record win streak
• 'Urgent' care: Penguins show they understand reality of their situation coming out of break
• Pittsburgh Stadium Authority backs Steelers' bid to host NFL draft

Instead, Dambrot flew out on his own later Friday and was in Rhode Island to coach the team for its 12:30 p.m. Saturday tipoff against the Rams.

What followed was Duquesne’s most complete game of its Atlantic 10 season. They won in Kingston 85-71. It was the most points the Dukes had scored since 95 in their pre-conference finale against Cleary on Dec. 30.

“After the game, I was a little emotional,” Dambrot admitted. “You have a lot on your plate, and it just overflows sometimes. I’m just appreciative of how prepared they were and what a great job our staff did with them. They cared so much that they put everything they had into it.”

Leading scorer Dae Dae Grant had 31 points. He said that outcome was the result of how diligent the players and coaches were during practices in the week leading up to the trip in case Dambrot could not make the game.

“(The assistant coaches) did a great job,” Grant said. “They distributed their time unbelievably. It felt like the same practice (as) if Coach was there.

“The structure and the energy level and the positivity were still the same. We regrouped to make ourselves an even better team when Coach wasn’t present in those practices. Kudos to the other staff and all the other coaches. They did a great job game-planning and taking over the load and carrying things on their backs when Coach wasn’t there.”

Since Donna Dambrot pulled through the operation itself with no obvious side effects, Keith can breathe a little easier for the immediate future, including for Wednesday night’s home game against Davidson. As is the case with any cancer battle, though, her road could be a winding one. The family is waiting on her pathology report to determine future steps.

However, if Coach Dambrot needs to miss more time, his players understand.

“My grandmother beat cancer twice,” Rozier said. “I reached out to him multiple times to let him know that the way to go about it is to stay strong. Be positive. Pray. Moving forward is all about that extra strength and support for Coach D. This is the team that can do it. Everyone cares about him and loves him enough to know that he needs us. So we are going to continue to be there for him.”

From a basketball perspective for Dambrot, seeing his team replicate their effort from Rhode Island against Davidson on Wednesday would certainly help that cause.