Coming off a loss, Duquesne Basketball looks to get back on track against La Salle, who has won three straight. What do the Dukes need to do to win?
Having won 6 of the last 8 games, Duquesne Basketball looked to be on track for another win, up six at halftime against Fordham on the road last Friday. Yet a defensive collapse in the second half caused them to lose 79-67 to go to 6-8 in A-10 play. The good news is that the entire rest of the middle of the standings also lost this past weekend, causing no damage overall.
The bad news for the Dukes is that their next opponent is La Salle, a team who was at the bottom two weeks ago but has won its last three games, beating UMass, St. Bonaventure, and Rhode Island. So they've shown that they can beat the middle of the league. Here are the keys to Duquesne making sure they're not next.
1. Slow down the "Big 3"
They don't get as much attention in the league but La Salle has one of the top backcourts in the A-10, led by Khalil Brantley (15.4 ppg and 4.2 apg) and Jhamir Brickus (14.0 ppg and 4.9 apg). But a third has emerged in the past two weeks in Daeshon Shepherd (10.4 ppg and 5.6 rpg), a 6'5 guard/wing who has been the team's best player in the win streak.
Shepherd is averaging 18.4 ppg in the last three games, including a 23-point effort in the win over St. Bonaventure, making 4/8 from deep. With little frontcourt production, La Salle needs the guards to supply the majority of the offense. The Dukes will need to pay just as much attention to Shepherd as they will to the other two.
2. Force them into mistakes
The Explorers are one of the better-coached teams in the A-10, which isn't a surprise when Fran Dunphy is in charge. They're fundamentally sound, ranking near the top in passing, as well as near the bottom in turnovers. That sets up an interesting matchup with Jimmy Clark, who leads the A-10 in steals at 2.3 a game and can disrupt the offensive flow, something La Salle can't afford if they want to win.
At the same time, even if Clark shuts either Brickus or Brantley down, the other can simply run the offense. Plus, he could get into foul trouble. Duquesne will want to slow them down but the Explorers won't be easy to disrupt.
3. Take advantage of frontcourt depth
One major weakness La Salle has is not having too much frontcourt depth. They've used mostly four-guard lineups in the first half of the season but recently inserted 6'8 freshman Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi (6.3 ppg) to the lineup. He has a pair of 10-point games himself so he won't be a pushover for the Dukes. Still. 6'10 center Rokas Jocius (8.4 ppg and 5.5 rpg) is the only true "big" in the rotation and while he did go for 20 points in the last game against Rhode Island, he can be foul-prone, with 10 games with at least four fouls.
If something happens with Jocius, La Salle will be in trouble against the Dukes, especially on the boards. It could be a big game for bigs Tre Williams and David Dixon, if they themselves can avoid foul trouble.