Jimmie Williams, one-half of Duquesne basketball’s dynamic backcourt duo, appears to have had enough.
Same for Tarence Guinyard, the other half.
Something, they agree, has got to change.
Never mind that Guinyard leads Duquesne at 16.9 points per game and was the second-leading scorer in the A-10 behind only Fordham’s DeJour Reaves (17.4).
Forget that Williams was ranked ninth in the conference in scoring at 15.1 and is on a scoring tear at home.
Though Duquesne’s free-wheeling offense (86.3 ppg.) sat at a lofty third in the A-10 and 41st among 365 Division I programs, the porous defense (79.1) was last in the conference and 308th nationally.
As the Dukes prepared to entertain perennial Atlantic 10 power Dayton on Tuesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, their electric, high-scoring guards were pondering what has been and what’s to come in their first season with a Duquesne team still searching for an identity two years after a long-awaited reappearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Even in the absence of John Hugley IV, the team’s second-leading scorer (15.4 ppg.) and rebounder (5.6 rpg.), for what has been explained only as a “coach’s decision,” Duquesne has been a threat each time out.
The Dukes missed on a chance to tie at the buzzer of a three-point loss at Nevada. They nearly doubled up Canisius and NAIA Cleary in back-to-back home games. They outlasted Davidson in a high-scoring, two-overtime affair on the road. They were down by a single point in the second half of a home loss to defending A-10 champion VCU. And they led Saint Joseph’s late in regulation only to lose in overtime.
In every instance but one, the Dukes scored at least 80 points.
“We know we can score,” Guinyard, last season an all-Ohio Valley Conference first-team selection, said. “Scoring’s not the problem.”
By now, it might be the worst-kept secret in the A-10: being scored upon is what’s wrecking the Dukes’ season.
In their latest endeavor Wednesday, they put up 90 points at Saint Joseph’s and still lost in overtime to fall to 9-7 overall, 1-2 in the A-10.
It marked the second consecutive game Duquesne had yielded more than 90 points and third time this season.
“That last game?” Williams said of the 97-90 defeat to Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia. “I’m beginning to think after that last game that we can’t just go out there and try to outscore teams.”
Guinyard raised an eyebrow while nodding in agreement.
Bingo! A light bulb was turned on.
But will it translate on the hardwood to a crackdown on opponents’ offenses? So far, there’s been no indication of that.
“There’s got to be a certain element of sustained defense if we’re going to get it right,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said. “You can’t just choose to play the way we do and not have a sense for the defensive side of the ball. At some point, you have to stop somebody.”
Joyce this season has preached pushing the tempo, increasing the pace. It’s an about-face in strategy from his first three seasons with the program.
No matter, with the concept in mind, he specifically targeted Tennessee-Martin’s Guinyard and South Florida’s Williams in the NCAA transfer portal.
He told them, “More possessions mean more scoring chances.”
But mostly, it works both ways, and that’s where Duquesne’s defense had better become relevant, starting Tuesday against Dayton (12-4, 3-0).
The Flyers, who have won three games in a row and five of their past six, are led by similar scoring threats to Duquesne’s.
Senior guard Javon Bennett leads the way at 16.8 points per game — third in the A-10, just behind Guinyard’s average — and junior guard De’Shayne Montgomery (14.9) is a smidge below Williams’ mark.
During Duquesne’s NCAA Tournament run, when Joyce was serving as associate head coach under former coach Keith Dambrot, the Dukes were waging their ugly rock fights, fueled by hard-nosed play on the defensive end.
They ranked just 13th in the A-10 in scoring offense (70.6 ppg.), ahead of only Fordham (70.5) and Davidson (70.1), and were fourth in scoring defense (66.7), just behind George Mason (65.9), Richmond (66.3) and Dayton (66.5).
Then, when Joyce took over the program last season upon Dambrot’s retirement, Duquesne wound up a respectable fourth in scoring defense (67.3 ppg.) but still struggled to avoid 20 losses, finishing with an overall 13-19 record.
It led to a profound change in philosophy, one that so far has shown little sign of succeeding.
“I’m not about to give up,” Williams said. “Far from it. We have another gear. We just have to put it together. With the players on this team, I still believe we can make a run at a championship.”
With a half-season gone by, Guinyard, a senior, and Williams, a junior, have drawn comparisons to the former Dukes guard tandem of Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III, who starred for the ’24 Dukes. That team returned the program to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 47 years.
Grant, a formidable scorer who was the A-10 Tournament MVP that season, managed to make the New York Knicks NBA Summer League team last year before being cut loose and settling on a professional career in Europe.
He currently plays for Trabzonspor of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi.
Clark, a two-time all-A-10 defensive team honoree and also a legitimate scoring threat, led the conference in steals during those two seasons. He’s playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League.
Guinyard this season is the first Duquesne player to hit 20 points in three consecutive games since Grant’s four straight during nonconference play in 2022-23. He’s averaging 19.5 points and shooting 52.6% in his past six games.
Williams, who is shooting 53.1%, enters the Dayton game having scored in double figures in 11 consecutive contests. In his previous six home games, Williams has averaged 18.8 points and shot 67.2%.
Duquesne has fallen short of scoring 80 points in a game just twice but has allowed at least 80 on 10 occasions.
“We’re capable of playing better,” Guinyard said. “We need to get it done now.”