Keith Dambrot and his Duquesne Dukes aren’t done dancing yet. With a 71-67 win over No. 6 seed BYU on Thursday for the first upset of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, it looks like the 11th-seeded squad is just getting started.
The stunning victory came three days after Dambrot, who has led the Dukes since 2017 and was LeBron James’ high school coach, announced his plans to retire at the end of the season.
“They just don’t want me to retire, I guess,” Dambrot said postgame. “I’m trying to get to the promised land, and they’re making me keep coaching.”
In his final season, Dambrot guided Duquesne to the Atlantic 10 championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 1977. The Dukes’ last tournament win came on March 15, 1969 over St. John’s in an East Regional third-place game. There were only 25 teams in the tournament in 1969, which ended with John Wooden winning his fifth title with UCLA.
Against the Cougars, Dae Dae Grant led Duquesne with 19 points while Fousseyni Drame paced the team with eight rebounds. Jakub Necas, who averages 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, had the game of his career, contributing 12 points off the bench.
The Dukes’ defense was suffocating, giving the Cougars virtually no space to shoot. The Cougars went 22-of-57 from field-goal range. Jaxson Robinson was BYU’s leading scorer with 25 points.
The Dukes go right back up 🔟#MarchMadness @DuqMBB pic.twitter.com/FlZ1sWnLQH
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2024
Duquesne started the game with a 17-7 run, and briefly held a 14-point advantage early in the second half. The Dukes maintained their lead throughout the game, except for a one-point BYU lead at 20-19 and a quick 60-all tie with 1:45 to play.
At least one No. 11 seed has won a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament every year since 2005. By eking out the win, Duquesne continues the streak.
The Dukes will next play the winner of No. 3 Illinois versus No. 14 Morehead State. That game is slated for Thursday at 3:10 p.m. ET.
How the Dukes pulled out the win
Duquesne has been one of the best defensive teams in college basketball during a nine-game winning streak that now has the Dukes on its way to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.
BYU missed its first eight shots and struggled with Duquesne’s constant pressure. It was a masterful defensive game plan from Dambrot. His team has embraced a defensive identity late in the season, and with BYU surging down the stretch, Duquesne’s Jimmy Clark III jumped into a passing lane and threw down a dunk to put the Dukes up four.
BYU went on a 4-0 run to tie the game, but Clark then went on his own 5-0 run. Clark, who was dismissed from VCU in 2021 for unclosed reasons, took over the game with his speed down the stretch. He finished with 11 points and four steals.
Anyone not named Jaxson Robinson struggled to make a perimeter shot for the Cougars. Robinson scored 25 points and made 5-of-11 3s, and the rest of the team was 3-of-13 from distance. Duquesne guarded the Cougars tight on the perimeter, getting body to body on on off-ball screening action and bumping cutters.
The Cougars finally figured out the solution was getting to the second and third side of the floor and drive the Dukes. They started scoring once they got to the paint, chipping away at a 14-point lead that Duquesne held early in the second half. But the Cougars missed too many shots in close, particularly center Foussey Traore, who was 4-of-12 from the field.
Duquesne made just enough shots down the stretch, with Clark’s steal and dunk coming at a perfect time when the offense was struggling to get any quality looks. — CJ Moore, college basketball staff writer
Required reading
(Photo: Jamie Squire/ Getty Images)
