Following Duquesne’s 72-58 comeback win over Loyola Chicago on Wednesday evening at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, coach Keith Dambrot and his players might have to give credit to an unlikely source for sparking their rally.
With 16:10 to play during the second half between the Dukes and Ramblers, officials stopped play for a handful of seconds as a man in a yellow hoodie stepped onto the court, coming within inches of Loyola Chicago’s Philip Alston, who was defended by Tre Williams at the 3-point line.
TribLive’s Tim Benz, who does play-by-play for Duquesne football and men’s basketball, was on the call. He and color commentator Ellis Cannon captured the hilarious moment perfectly:
Stoppage in Play. Uber Eats delivery guy goes on court with food delivery in the middle of the Duquesne game. pic.twitter.com/rY4VFIsJnR
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) January 26, 2023
Benz: “We’ve got an official’s timeout … somebody came on the floor? On the far side. Is it an Uber Eats delivery or something? He’s carrying some McDonald’s. I’m — I’m actually not kidding!”
Cannon: “Was he going to deliver the McDonald’s to somebody on the court?! … Maybe I’ll put my hand up. I’m getting a little hungry. He can bring it over here!”
Following his on-court appearance, the man made the rounds of the arena, eventually appearing to hand off his bag of McDonald’s and accompanying beverage to someone near the Gilliand Pavillion.
The incident has predictably gone viral, with Uber Eats’ Twitter account chiming in.
the absolute most ???? https://t.co/IMJWI5KhUR
— Uber Eats (@UberEats) January 26, 2023
Did a delivery guy just walk on the court? ???????? pic.twitter.com/iBjTRXaw2X
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 26, 2023
Of all the things @TimBenzPGH will be known for. https://t.co/ce2xcvDX6m
— Robert Edward Healy, III (@blufftalk) January 26, 2023
This is true. He wandered around for 10 minutes but ultimately delivered the order https://t.co/lQAWz8BAwR pic.twitter.com/iW1PLB4akb
— connor newell (@cnewell15) January 26, 2023
A closer viral video of the delivery person has him clearing calling out, “DoorDash?” Yet there was nothing from the service’s social media addressing the incident.
After the game, Dambrot couldn’t resist beginning his postgame press conference on the topic, revealing that his players got a kick out of it once the game ended and their phones started ringing off the hook with people sending them videos.
“Only at Duquesne can a guy deliver food on the court during the game — craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.
It should be noted that a Duquesne official believed the entire situation staged, or in other words, a prank.
Austin Hansen, an assistant athletic director at Loyola Chicago specializing in content development and broadcast operations, captured much of the situation close-up, seeming to confirm that it was staged and not a legitimate attempted food delivery.
Everyone keeps asking me what happened with the door dash guy on the court at tonights game. Here was my angle.
A thread… pic.twitter.com/QMY3nmw2tq
— Austin Hansen (@AustinHansenTV) January 26, 2023
2. This kid was clearly doing a prank for Youtube/TikTok. You can see that he is wearing a microphone, and tons of students were filming him with their phones. pic.twitter.com/xd5xEMuloX
— Austin Hansen (@AustinHansenTV) January 26, 2023
