It didn’t take long for the first March Madness upset.
No. 11-seeded Duquesne defeated No. 6 BYU, 71-67, Thursday afternoon at the CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, Neb. in what was just the second game of the first round.
BYU entered as 9.5-point favorites.
“We made them work for everything they got,”Dukes coach Keith Dambrot said.
But the Cougars struggled through brutal shooting woes, shooting a paltry 38.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from 3-point range.
They were the second-highest scoring team in the Big 12 this year, averaging 76.2 points per game, but that fell by the wayside on Thursday.
“Just a devastating day for us for sure,” BYU coach Mark Pope said, “and it’s devastating because we lost, devastating because we won’t move on, and most devastating because we won’t get in the gym together again.”
Duquesne saw a 14-point lead shrink to a tie game with just under two minutes left, but the Dukes were able to rally and squeak out the upset.
Dae Dae Grant led Duquesne in scoring with 19 points, while Jakub Necas added 10 in what was a very well-balanced scoring effort from the Dukes.
BYU’s Jaxson Robinson led all scorers with 25 points, while Spencer Johnson added 11.
It marked the perfect start for the Dukes and Dambrot, who announced that he is retiring following the NCAA Tournament after leading Duquesne for the last seven years and being a head coach for 26 years.
“They just don’t want me to retire I guess,” Dambrot said in a television interview after the game. “I’m trying to get to the promised land and they’re making me keep coaching. Our guys played exactly what they had to do in order to win the game.”
Duquesne is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977 after winning the Atlantic 10 conference tournament.
Thursday’s victory also marked Duquesne’s first NCAA tournament win since 1969.
The Dukes, who will face the winner of the Illinois-Morehead State game on Saturday, likely would not have received an at-large bid otherwise, and have been considered one of this year’s whopping five “bid-stealers.”
Now, they stole BYU’s hope of making a tournament run.
