David Dixon makes something happen whenever he is in the game for Duquesne

A go-to hockey trope when discussing a young, playmaking, high-risk defenseman is: “When that guy is on the ice, a puck is going in one of the nets. We just don’t know which one.”

You may have heard Kris Letang described that way once or twice early in his career.

Maybe not just early in his career, come to think of it.

When it comes to describing Dukes forward David Dixon, Duquesne assistant coach Dru Joyce III has a similar assessment.

“The line on Dave is, when you put him in the game, something is going to happen. It may be bad. A lot of times, it’s good,” Joyce said during a recent taping of the “Duquesne Coach’s Show” on SportsNet Pittsburgh. “He is going to gamble. He is going to make some mistakes. He is still young. But the things you love about Dave are his energy and effort, even when he makes those mistakes. He is so quick-twitched; he is moving so fast that his mind is keeping up. He’ll make a mistake, then he’ll recover.”

Indeed, whenever Dixon gets into the game, things tend to happen immediately. And those things are often good for Duquesne. The 6-foot-9 post presence from Memphis certainly makes the most of his 17.8 minutes per game.

For example, look at his entry into the victory over Fordham on Saturday after the first media timeout. On the first defensive sequence, he got a steal and pushed the ball up for an assist. Then he made a jumper, made a layup, got a defensive rebound, helped force a turnover, and picked up a foul.

In a five-minute stretch upon his entry in the first half of a win over St. Bonaventure earlier in the week, Dixon had a steal, a layup and four rebounds.

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Now, for Dixon, the key is to harness his athletic ability and play within himself so he can stay on the court longer and avoid foul trouble. He fouled out of the last game against Fordham and picked up four fouls against the Bonnies over 44 total minutes of play between the two games.

“He competes. He doesn’t care if you bring him off the bench or start him,” head coach Keith Dambrot said during the show. “He doesn’t care if he gets post-touches. He has gotten better and better. He is like a greyhound. He is like a sprinter. He blows up quickly sometimes, and he has learned to play through fatigue much better than he did early in the season. I have a lot of respect for the guy. He’s a high-quality human being who cares for our team.”

In his past six games, Dixon has at least six rebounds and has scored in double digits three times. That’s over the course of 21 minutes per game. So he is packing a lot of productivity into roughly half a game’s amount of time.

In terms of ability and potential, it’d make perfect sense for Dambrot to start Dixon. But he doesn’t want the sophomore sidelined for extended stretches in the first half should he pick up an early foul or two.

“I come off the bench to provide a spark for the team,” Dixon said. “I want to be that guy where, if something is going wrong, I come in and change up the whole game. I have had plenty of those games. I take pride in that role.”

Figuring out the rotation, particularly with the big bodies up front, has been a challenge for Dambrot. The Dukes started 0-5 in Atlantic-10 play before winning their past two contests. But between Dixon, Dusan Mahorcic, Halil Barre, and, if necessry, Tre Wiliams at the five spot, Dambrot has seemed to find more of a rhythm the past few games, particularly defensively. The Dukes have kept their previous two opponents under 60 points.

“At first it was a little rocky, those first five (conference) games. Now we are starting to settle in, and we are winning games. Defense is really the reason,” Dixon said.

With his 33 blocks (seventh in the A-10) and 20 steals, Dixon is part of that defensive equation. Just further evidence of “something happening” whenever he is on the court at either end.

And to Joyce’s point, in this case, something good.