Duquesne’s Jake DiMichele looks to turn the corner against a DePaul defender. The OLSH product is looking to rebound from a season cut short by injury. (Photo courtesy of Duquesne Athletics)
After experiencing the highs that came with a standout freshman season, Jake DiMichele suffered through the lows of a challenging injury-plagued sophomore campaign last year at Duquesne.
But now, the all-time leading scorer from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is back and recovered from a foot injury that cost him most of the 2024-25 season. And he’s ready to put that season in the past and play the brand of basketball that made him a key player in the Dukes’ NCAA tournament run in 2023-2024.
While at OLSH, DiMichele dominated the court, leading the Chargers to their first state championship in 2020-2021 – a season still significantly affected by COVID-19.
“There was so much uncertainty around different things,” DiMichele said recently. “We didn’t know that we were going to be able to play from one game to the next.”
DiMichele may have only been a junior, but that did not stop him from leading all scorers in the PIAA final with 21 points. He also pulled down 16 rebounds and blocked six shots.
“My dad won one, then my cousins won one, so it was something that I just hoped to some day achieve,” said DiMichele, whose father, Daren, played on Sto-Rox’s undefeated state title team in 1983. “Once I got to high school and won one, it reminded me of all the hard work I put in.”
The next year, DiMichele and Co. won its fourth consecutive WPIAL championship and second straight PIAA crown. He averaged 31.9 points per game during that senior season and wound up his high school career with 2,642 points – the second-most in WPIAL history at the time.
The Chargers won a staggering 68 straight games while DiMichele was there, tying the all-time state winning streak – a mark that OLSH would break the following season.
For his efforts, DiMichele collected Pennsylvania Class 2A Player of the Year honors twice and earned the WPIAL James Collins Scholar/Athlete Award in 2022.
Mike Rodriguez, who coached DiMichele at OLSH, had nothing but good things to say about him.
“Jake was a warrior,” he said. “He was a tireless worker. Every day, he’d have that weight vest on while doing his jumping drills. He was constantly shooting, working on his craft. We’ve been blessed with guys like Jake and (Dante Spadafora) and Cam (Johnson) and many others who’ve been tireless workers. But Jake was one of the hardest workers we’ve ever had.
“That permeates through the rest of your team. Teammates see that, and they buy in. He’s a great leader, a tremendous player and a great kid. And he’s extremely intelligent. It’s so wonderful to see the success he’s had because he works for it.”
DiMichele’s route to Duquesne was not a direct one, as he took his talents from McKees Rocks to First Love Christian Academy, a Washington, Pa., prep school. It was only after that season that he secured his shot at a Division I program, albeit as a walk-on.
“Coming out of high school, I had a couple of Division II schools that wanted me,” he recalled. “By the time my senior year was over, they all backed off or went a different way. I didn’t have too many options.”
Even after his year of prep school, DiMichele did not have many college programs competing for his services. Knowing his father played for the Dukes for a year and the school was only 20 minutes from home, the guard committed to Duquesne without a basketball scholarship.
“I’m a homebody,” DiMichele admitted. “After my year of prep school, I realized I wasn’t fit to live away from my home. I get to experience a lot more things with my family, and I’m grateful for that.”
While DiMichele and his family were known in high school circles, he took the college basketball world a little off-guard. The 6-foor-4 guard walked onto Duquesne’s team and had an incredibly successful freshman season.
Jake DiMichele, shown here in a game against Sto-Rox while playing for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, is primed and ready for what he hopes will be his second full season at Duquesne.
In his rookie year, DiMichele appeared in 30 games and started 21. As a freshman, he was showing up and playing alongside other competitors with years of experience and time in the gym. But he was not surprised at his own performance.
“I actually believed in myself,” DiMichele said. “I believed that I could play. I didn’t expect to start (21) games. I didn’t expect to start in the NCAA tournament. I just had a very high level of confidence about myself.
“Basketball is something that’s never made me nervous. It’s just something I’ve been doing for such a long time now.”
In the NCAA March Madness tournament, DiMichele scored eight points against BYU and contributed to the team moving on to the second round. It meant a great deal, given how important the NCAA Tournament had been to him while growing up.
“When I was younger, probably fifth through eighth grade, my parents let me stay home on the first days,” DiMichele recalled. “I just remember March Madness, to me as a kid and basketball player, was my favorite sporting event. It’s crazy because we’d be watching the games and my dad would always tell me, ‘You could do that one day.’ It put that idea in my mind and a goal to work toward.”
DiMichele added that the experience was “a dream come true.” It marked the first time a Duquesne team qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and there was a certain amount of pressure on the Dukes, particularly because they were playing one of the early games. With DiMichele’s help, Duquesne won its first game before losing the second.
DiMichele played a total of 715 minutes in the 2023-24 season, but in Duquesne’s first 12 games he amassed just 22 total minutes of playing time. He came on strong down the stretch and ultimately averaged 6.4 points and 2.5 points per game. In his 21 starts, his team went 15-6.
DiMichele’s twice scored 15 points in a game that season and averaged more than 8 points per game in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. His 12 points were crucial in the Dukes’ 70-60 win over St. Bonaventure in the tournament semifinals.
He acknowledged that he had plenty of help during that standout freshman season.
“I had great teammates,” he said. “For them, it’s not easy. Not only am I a freshman, but I’m a walk-on, and I’m taking minutes from some of these guys who have been in college for four or five years.
“The guys on that team really did a great job showing me the ropes. They taught me things that, in my third year, I’m still implementing.”
While it appeared DiMichele was on an upward trajectory following his breakout freshman season, that wasn’t the case.
After starting seven games last year, DiMichele suffered from non-contact plantar fasciitis, a condition that kept him off the court for the rest of the season. Because the foot injury caused him to miss 24 games, he received a medical redshirt and earned another year of eligibility.
The 2024-25 season was a rough one for the Dukes as a whole, as they went 13-19 overall and 8-10 in Atlantic 10 play. Likewise, DiMichele characterized the season as a tough one for him personally.
“I’d worked so hard to come back from the summer season off,” DiMichele said. “It got to the point where I couldn’t walk. That’s when I had to say something.”
Despite not being able to play, DiMichele learned not to take anything for granted, as this was his first major injury in his career. He added that he tried to make it to every practice and game and be the best teammate he could be.
In the seven games he played, DiMichele was off to a promising start, averaging 10.1 points and shooting 32% from 3-point range. In his highest-scoring game, he poured in 21 points.
Now, months after the foot injury derailed his season, DiMichele is back and looking forward to the 2025-26 campaign. In fact, at the end of May, Duquesne posted a photo of DiMichele with the words “RUN IT BACK” next to him. This promotion officially recognized his return to the court.
“I’m definitely ready,” said the confident DiMichele, who has been living at Duquesne all summer and preparing for next season. “Besides my senior year of high school, this is the most excited I’ve been for a basketball season in a very long time.”
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