It's been a rough start to the Dru Joyce era at Duquesne Basketball, currently 0-3 on the season. The 84-58 setback at DePaul could have the Dukes in panic mode, heading into an important matchup with the Milwaukee Panthers. The Horizon League program is 1-2, coming off road losses to Northern Iowa and Longwood.
In a "must win" game for Duquesne Basketball, here are the three keys for them to winning this game.
1. Defending the starting backcourt
Last season, Milwaukee was led by star guard BJ Freeman, who averaged over 20 ppg. It's a more balanced effort in the backcourt this time around, with a trio of senior guards leading the team in scoring. AJ McKee (15.3 ppg) is a high-scoring transfer from Queens, while Kentrell Pullian (12.3 ppg) and Themus Fulks (11.7 ppg and 4.7 apg) have larger roles in the offense.
Duquesne's backcourt defense has been up and down but needs to lock down on all of the guards. If they combine for 45+ points, the Dukes will be in real trouble.
2. Stop being awful at defending the 3-pointer
There are 364 teams in D-I basketball. Duquesne ranks 362nd in 3-point defense at 47% allowed, which is good for 3rd worst in the country. You're just not going to win a lot of games doing that. The good news is that so far, Milwaukee is on the opposite end in terms of shooting ability, ranking 350th nationally at 25%, making just five a game. If the Dukes can't slow this kind of team down from deep, then they're going to have major problems winning games.
3. Get Tre Dinkins back going
Dinkins is a 6'2 guard from Canisius who averaged over 15 ppg last season and was an All-MAAC player. He had a great start with Duquesne, scoring a team-high 16 points in the team's opener against Lipscomb. But he's gone cold since, producing nine points on 3/15 shooting combined in the last two games.
Dinkins started for Jacob Necas in the last game and played 27 minutes. Assuming he gets the start against Milwaukee, the senior guard needs to have a better game to continue getting big minutes.