Dukes impressive in non-conference finale!

The Dukes traveled to Ohio (the nation’s taint) on New Year’s Eve and polished off their best non-conference start to a season in over a decade with a business-like victory over a tough Kent St. team.  The win was even more impressive considering it snapped a 15 game home winning streak for the Golden Flashes, a perennial tough out in the MAC.  Here’s the full story from JMU Sports.

Now for the scientific breakdown you’ve come to expect from JMUSB.  And by scientifc breakdown, I’m talking the kind of analysis that makes Dan Dierdorf, Jon Gruden, and Dickie V look like a breakout session at TED.  This game was low-scoring and not particularly pretty but it provided the most hope for big things to come this season for a bunch of reasons.  First, Kent St. took away Denzel Bowles by double-teaming hard in the first half.  This created a lot of open looks for the Dukes, but they couldn’t knock them down.  Still, they persisted in looking for alternatives and found the answer in Rayshawn Goins, who responded with a big double-double.

Little Big Man!

Second, the Dukes appeared to be gelling defensively and even, gasp, maxing out on the effort scale at that end of the court!  Hopefully Coach Brady’s work is beginning to pay off.  Semenov and Louis continue to provide great minutes on defense (is Semenov taking Well’s spot for good?), the Dukes are finally starting to limit their turnovers, and most importantly, they’re realizing they can discover ways to win even without heroic efforts from Denzel and Devon Moore.

Dukes open CAA play in earnest with Northeastern coming to the Convo on Monday.  The early conference slate is manageable and home-heavy so the Dukes need to turn this momentum into a quick start before they hit the ODU/GMU/VCU/Drexel portion later on.  Let’s Go Dukes!