For a team facing the longest odds among eight underdogs in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament games, Duquesne doesn’t appear bothered.
It’s been the Dukes’ calling card all season.
“It’s all about staying the course, keeping steady, don’t let anything get you out of whack,” said the Dukes’ David Dixon. “If we do that and play the game we know how to play, we’ll be fine.”
No. 11 seed Duquesne (25-11) is facing likely its toughest test of the season in No. 3 seed Illinois when the teams meet in a second-round game Saturday night at CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, Neb.
Duquesne will be shooting for its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1969, the same year it last won an NCAA Tournament game before this season.
“I think we have a good chance of beating them as long as we play our game,” said Duquesne’s Kareem Rozier.
The Big Ten champion Fighting Illini (27-8) enter the game on a five-game winning streak after dispatching No. 14 seed Morehead State in the first round.
But these Dukes are a collection of players with a gritty, grind-it-out approach who have taken on their coach’s tenacious persona.
After overcoming an 0-5 start in the Atlantic 10 to eventually win the conference championship, they handled No. 6 seed BYU in an NCAA first-round victory.
“You’re getting one of the hottest teams in college basketball in Duquesne,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood. “We’ve got to match that nasty and that grit.”
Fresh off its first NCAA Tournament victory in 55 years, Duquesne has dismissed the noise surrounding its program — the historic first-round win over BYU, a 47-year absence from the tournament, coach Keith Dambrot’s impending retirement — and set its sights on a 10th straight victory in Round 2.
“Keith is the ultimate pro. He’s got that team cooking with gas,” said former Duquesne coach Ron Everhart.
The city of Pittsburgh is watching a surging Duquesne team that for decades has played in obscurity.
“The people I’m really, really happy for are the supporters, fans and administration,” said Everhart, who lives in Morgantown, W.Va., and spent the past 12 seasons as a West Virginia assistant coach.
Everhart is the last coach before Dambrot this season to take Duquesne to an A-10 championship game — the Dukes lost to Temple in 2009.
And like six coaches before him and one after, he never got Duquesne into an NCAA Tournament.
“These people have waited a long time for this,” Everhart said. “It’s just so cool that it’s happening.”
