Duquesne guard Dae Dae Grant celebrating after their NCAA Tournament win. Mar 21, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Duquesne Dukes guard Dae Dae Grant (3) reacts after their win against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first round of the NCAA Tournament at CHI Health Center Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
By Reice Shipley on

Students at Duquesne University were gifted a treat on Thursday, with their basketball team coming away with a shocking upset victory over BYU in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament. And in celebratory fashion, one Duquesne professor decided to gift his students an added bonus.

Duquesne has had a pretty rough stretch of recent history when it comes to college basketball. In fact, the program hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1969, with their last NCAA Tournament appearance coming back in 1977

That all changed on Thursday with their win over BYU, making for a moment that certainly hasn’t come around all that often for the Duquesne faithful in attendance for the game.

Naturally, the vibes around Duquesne’s campus are at perhaps an all-time high at the moment. This led to Robert Edward Healy III, a Sports Information and Media professor at Duquesne, taking to social media to share an email he was sending to his students that he was canceling classes for the day.

“Go celebrate,” Healy wrote in the email.

Naturally, many college basketball fans praised this professor for allowing his students to enjoy the full college experience outside of the classroom with this big win.

Healy probably knew that given the circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have had that many students in class even if he hadn’t canceled. Personally, I know that I probably wouldn’t want to be sitting in class instead of celebrating my school’s awesome accomplishment.

At the end of the day, your relationship with your students as a professor is everything. And it is safe to say that this professor in particular gained a bit of respect from his students for this incredibly classy gesture.

[Robert Edward Healy III on Twitter/X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley