G7 | MARSHALL (5-2) at DUQUESNE (4-2)  
Wed., Dec. 5, 2018 • 7:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,390)

TELEVISION: AT&T SportsNet with Tim Benz (pxp) & Ellis Cannon (analyst)
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)
IN-GAME STATS: StatBroadcast http://duqstats.com
DUQUESNE GAME NOTES: Click here

Duquesne (4-2) continues a stretch of nine consecutive games within city limits, when it hosts Marshall (5-2) on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the Palumbo Center (AT&T SportsNet). The Thundering Herd, which advanced to the NCAA tournament second round last season (25-11), was picked to finish second in the 14-team Conference USA preseason poll. Marshall, which is averaging 87.0 ppg., is led by last year's top scoring duo in the nation in guards Jon Elmore (21.4 ppg.) and C.J. Burks (18.9 ppg.). This is the first meeting between DU and MU since Dec. 29, 1978.

The Dukes are coming off a 74-53 loss to Pitt at PPG Paints Arena on Friday. Six-eight center Michael Hughes posted his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. The point and rebound totals were both career highs for the first-year Akron transfer who went 9-of-11 from the field.

TRENDING

• Sophomore guard Tavian Dunn-Martin hails from Huntington, W.Va. (Huntington HS), home of the Marshall Thundering Herd. Tavian's father, Frank, hit 112 3-pointers, handed out 159 assists and added 70 steals in 61 games at Marshall from 1992-94 (9.6 ppg).
• First-year Akron transfer Michael Hughes has gone 17-of-21 (.810) from the field and averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in DU's past two games. He is coming off his first career double-double (20-10, both career highs) vs. Pitt.
• Six players have either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in DU's first six games.
• The Dukes, led by freshman Sincere Carry's 35 dishes, are averaging 15.2 assists per game. DU averaged 11.9 apg. last season. Carry began the week ranked 12th nationally by Kenpom.com in assist rate.
• Eric Williams Jr., who has a pair of double-doubles this season (18-11 vs, UIC and 14-10 vs. Radford), has led the Dukes in rebounding in four of six games.
• DU is 13-3 under Keith Dambrot when holding opponents under 70 points. The Dukes are also 13-2 when they are the first to reach the 70-point mark.
• Duquesne is 18-1 under Dambrot when leading with five minutes left.
• DU's 8.83 steals per game average is the most by a Dukes' team since Ron Everhart's 2011 squad - led by freshman guard T.J. McConnell - led the nation with 9.91 spg.

DUKES AND THUNDERING HERD
Series Record:  First meeting
Series Record:  Duquesne leads 3-1
At Pittsburgh:  Duquesne leads 2-0
At Huntington, W.Va.:  Marshall leads 1-0
Neutral Site:  Duquesne leads 1-0
Dambrot vs. Marshall:  7-0 (all at Akron)

SERIES MEETINGS

Dec. 5, 1969	H1	W	120-75
Jan. 23, 1974	A	L	75-78
Feb. 13, 1975	N	W	83-72
Dec. 29, 1978	N1	W	88-83

H1 - Steel Bowl, Pittsburgh Civic Arena
N1 - West Virginia Classic, Morgantown, W.Va.

SERIES QUICK NOTES

• Marshall was picked to finish second in Conference USA. The Herd, coming off an NCAA tournament second round appearance, received five first place votes, four fewer than top pick Western Kentucky.
• This is the first meeting between the Dukes and Thundering Herd since an 88-83 Duquesne win in the first round of the West Virginia Classic in Morgantown, W.Va. on Dec. 29, 1978. DU's junior guard B.B. Flenory scored 41 in that game (see box score in PDF game notes). Duquesne leads 2-0 in games at Pittsburgh.
• Marshall is coming off a 25-11 NCAA second round appearance. It was Marshall's first NCAA appearance in 31 years. The Herd's 81-75 first round upset of No. 4 seed Wichita State was the first NCAA Tournament win in school history.
• Marshall ranked among the nation's top 10 in scoring (10th at 83.8 ppg.), total blocks (5th, 209), 3-point attempts (5th, 1,012) and assists (6th, 615) last season. Three juniors, Jon Elmore (22.7 ppg., 98 3-pointers), C.J. Burks (20.1 ppg., 86 3-pointers) and Ajdin Penava (15.6, 8.5, 3.8 bpg.) tested the NBA waters this spring, with Penava signing with an agent and not returning. Elmore (816) and Burks (702), the top scoring duo in the nation last season, formed the first tandem since Duke's Jon Scheyer (728) and Kyle Singler (707) in 2010 to top 700 points in a season.
• Marshall is in its fifth season under head coach Dan D'Antoni who has won 11, 17, 20 and 25 games in his first four seasons.
• Duquesne's Keith Dambrot is 7-0 all time vs. Marshall, with all seven wins coming when he was at Akron.

NOTING THE DUKES

• Duquesne's three Gotham Classic wins came over opponents who averaged 20.7 wins last season: William & Mary (19-12), UIC (20-16, CIT) & Radford (23-13, NCAA). The Dukes led at Notre Dame (21-15, NIT last year) 52-51 with 6:31 left in their fourth Gotham Classic game.
• Second-year head coach Keith Dambrot's 16 wins in 2017-18 were the most by a DU first-year coach since Dudey Moore went 17-5 in 1948-49. Moore coached Keith's father, Sid, from 1952-54 during his highly-successful 10 seasons on the Bluff. There were 10 coaches between Moore and Dambrot. Dambrot engineered the seventh-best single-season improvement in school history in 2018 (+6.0, from 10-22 in 2016-17 to 16-16 last year).
• Dambrot is 7-0 all time vs. Marshall with all seven victories coming during his 13 seasons at Akron.
• DU has a roster that features 11 newcomers, including four eligible Division I transfers. The 11 newcomers are tied for third-most of any NCAA Division I program.
• The Dukes have seven freshmen and five sophomores on the 2018-19 roster. Of the 11 newcomers, 10 have seen action so far this season.
• Forward Kellon Taylor, a two-sport athlete who plays receiver for DU's FCS football team, is expected to join the basketball team this week. Taylor, a starter, caught a team-high five passes for a team-best 97 yards in the Dukes' second round FCS Playoff loss at South Dakota State on Saturday. It was the first time DU advanced to the second round of the FCS Playoffs. Taylor, who finished second on the team with 44 catches for 576 yards and two TDs, played in 29 consecutive basketball games last season after the joining the team for the Nov. 19 game vs. Robert Morris.
• Freshman guard Sincere Carry had an eye-opening debut. The 6-1 point guard opened with seven points and nine assists (without a turnover) vs. William & Mary, and followed that with 32 points and eight more assists vs. UIC. The nine assists tied the sixth-most by a DU freshman, while the 32 points tied the second-highest total by a Dukes freshman (see p.11). Carry, who added nine more assists vs. UMass Lowell, has 35 assists and 13 steals in six games.
• Six-ten freshman forward Austin Rotroff was named A-10 co-Rookie of the Week on Nov. 12 following his opening game 17-point, seven-rebound outing vs. William & Mary. Rotroff went 6-of-7 from the field (3-of-3 from 3-point) vs. the Tribe.
• Sophomore Eric Williams Jr., who was named second team preseason All-Atlantic 10, has picked up where he left off last year, with team-high scoring (14.2) and rebounding (7.8) averages. The A-10 All-Rookie Team pick set DU single-game freshman records for points (34 vs. George Mason) and rebounds (16 vs. Stetson) in a game last season. He also broke the school record for 3-pointers in a game with nine vs. George Mason. Williams Jr. has two double-doubles in six games this season.
• DU has added four Division I transfers, all of whom practiced with the team while sitting out in 2017-18: 5-8 So. G Tavian Dunn-Martin (Akron), 6-4 So. G Frankie Hughes (Missouri), 6-8 So. C Michael Hughes (Akron) and 6-5 So. F Marcus Weathers (Miami, Ohio). Michael Hughes and Weathers have started all five games, while Frankie Hughes and Dunn-Martin have seen significant action in all five games off the bench.
• Dambrot and his staff assembled the tallest recruiting class in school history. The seven-man group includes 6-11 Gavin Bizeau (Plainfield, Ind.), 6-11 Dylan Swingle (Chillicothe, Ohio), 6-10 Austin Rotroff (Wauseon, Ohio), 6-9 Amari Kelly (Long Island, N.Y.), 6-3 Lamar Norman Jr. (Grand Rapids, Mich.), 6-2 Brandon Wade (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and 6-1 Sincere Carry (Solon, Ohio). An eighth recruit - 6-11 James Ellis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) - is sitting out in 2018-19. Duquesne had never had a recruiting class with more than two players 6-9 or taller.
• Duquesne was picked to finish 11th in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll of conference coaches and media released on October 18. Eric Williams Jr. was named preseason second team All-A-10. He is the first Duke since Damian Saunders (2010-11) to earn preseason second team all-conference honors.
• Junior guard Mike Lewis II needs 54 points to become Duquesne's 39th 1,000-point scorer. Lewis II scored 452 points as a freshman and added 460 last season. He has scored in double digits in 52 of 70 career games.