G16 | SAINT JOSEPH'S (7-8, 0-3) at DUQUESNE (10-5, 1-1)
Sat., Jan. 12, 2019 • 4:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,390)

TELEVISION: AT&T SportsNet with Josh Taylor (pxp) & Ellis Cannon (analyst)
LIVE STREAM: ESPN+
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)
IN-GAME STATS: StatBroadcast
DUQUESNE GAME NOTES: Click Here

Duquesne (10-5, 1-1), which evened its Atlantic 10 record at 1-1 with a 66-61 win over Fordham on Wednesday, looks to make it two in a row when it takes on Saint Joseph's (7-8, 0-3) at 4:00 p.m. Saturday at Palumbo Center (AT&T SportsNet Pittsbugh/ESPN+). The Hawks, the A-10 preseason pick to finish second, are coming off a 73-47 loss at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. SJU features the A-10's leading scorer in 6-7 sophomore Charlie Brown (19.6 ppg.). Duquesne (9-2 at home) is looking to post double-digit home wins for the second consecutive season (13-6 last year) against an SJU team that is 1-3 on the road. The last time DU posted 10 or more home wins in back-to-back seasons was 2010-11 and 2011-12.

TRENDING

• DU has held its first two A-10 opponents (Davidson and Fordham) to combined .368 shooting in the second half (21-of-57).
• Duquesne has erased double-digit deficits in three of its wins: -18 vs. Longwood, -14 vs. UIC and -12 vs. Eastern Kentucky. DU trailed by double digits in the second half in all three games.
• The Dukes are 4-4 when trailing at the half. Last year DU was 1-10 when down at intermission.
• Eight players have either led or tied for the team lead in scoring and 10 have posted a double-digit scoring game this season.
• Freshman guard Sincere Carry leads the A-10 in assist rate and steal percentage according to KenPom. Carry ranked first nationally among freshmen in steals per game (3.00) and seventh among freshmen in assists per game (5.60) through Wednesday.
• First-year Akron transfer Michael Hughes ranked among the nation's field goal percentage leaders (.671) before dropping below the min. 5.0 FGM/g. The 6-8 center has scored in double digits in nine of the 12 games he's played.
• DU is 16-4 under Keith Dambrot when holding opponents under 70 points. The Dukes are also 17-2 when they are the first to reach the 70-point mark.
• DU's 9.0 steals per game average, which ranks tied for 17th nationally, is the highest by a Dukes' team since Ron Everhart's 2011 squad - led by freshman guard T.J. McConnell - led the nation at 9.91 spg.

DUKES AND HAWKS:
 Series Record: Saint Joseph's leads 40-14
At Pittsburgh: Saint Joseph's leads 16-9
At Philadelphia: Saint Joseph's leads 21-3
Neutral Site: Saint Joseph's leads 3-2
A-10 Reg. Season: Saint Joseph's leads 35-12
A-10 Championship: Saint Joseph's leads 3-1
Dambrot vs. Saint Joseph's: 0-1

• This is the 55th game in a series that dates back to Feb. 25, 1938 ... Saint Joseph's leads the series 40-14, including a 16-9 advantage in games played in Pittsburgh ... the two have split the past two at A.J. Palumbo Center.
• What was once a lopsided series has tightened considerably over the past 11 years. The Dukes, who lost 16 of 17 to SJU from 1994 through 2007, have won five of the past 12 with three of the five losses coming in overtime. Duquesne has averaged 78.8 ppg. (946 points) to 78.3 ppg. (939 points) to Saint Joe's over that 12-game stretch.
• Saint Joseph's (7-8, 0-3) was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll of league coaches and media.
• Six-seven SJU sophomore forward Charlie Brown (19.6 ppg.) leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring. Brown, who has scored in double digits in every game this season, has scored 20 or more six times with a high of 37 vs. William & Mary.
• The Hawks rank tied for second nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 9.1. Duquesne ranks tied for 17th nationally in steals per game at 9.0.

LAST GAME
Duquesne 66, Fordham 61 • Wednesday, Jan. 9, Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Eric Williams Jr. scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to lead the Dukes to their first A-10 win. Williams Jr. added 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double this season (16th of his career).
• Marcus Weathers scored 12 points and freshman Amari Kelly added a career-high 11 (on 5-of-7 shooting) in 23 minutes off the bench for DU.
• Williams Jr., who finished with three dunks, scored five points in the final 1:34 to help the Dukes pull away.
• Fordham's 61 points were the third-fewest given up by the Dukes this season.
• DU held the Rams to .364 shooting. It was Duquesne's second-best defensive field goal percentage showing of the season (behind holding Maine to .360).
• The Dukes outscored the Rams 15-5 off turnovers and 16-2 from the foul line.
• It was the 14th consecutive game at least 11 players saw action for the Dukes.
• Tavian Dunn-Martin came off the bench to hand out a team-high five assists in 25 minutes. DU assisted on 13 of 22 field goals.
• There were four ties and three lead changes … Fordham's largest lead was two, the last of which came at 4-2 …Duquesne's largest lead was eight, the last of which came at the 14:16 mark of the second half … Duquesne took the lead for good on the second of three Tavian Dunn-Martin free throws with 9:26 left ... Fordham led for 6:11…Duquesne led for 32:14 … the game was tied for 1:35 ... DU led for all but 24 seconds in the second half.

NOTING THE DUKES

• Duquesne's roster features 11 newcomers, including four eligible Division I transfers. The 11 newcomers are tied for third-most of any NCAA Division I program. Of the 11 newcomers, 10 have seen action so far this season. The Dukes have seven freshmen and five sophomores on the 2018-19 roster.
• DU is ranked 349 of 353 schools in KenPom's listing of "most experienced" college teams. Only two members of the current roster - sophomore Eric Williams Jr. and junior Kellon Taylor - entered conference play having seen action in an Atlantic 10 game.
• 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). All four have seen significant action this season.
• Duquesne's three Gotham Classic wins came over opponents who averaged 20.7 wins last season in 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. Three of DU's nonconference losses came at the hands of Power 5 schools Notre Dame (ACC), Pitt (ACC) and Penn State (Big Ten).
• 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).
• Freshman point guard Sincere Carry had an eye-opening debut, with seven points and nine assists (without a turnover) vs. William & Mary. He 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. Through Wednesday, Carry ranked tied for third nationally - and first among freshmen - in steals per game (3.00) and tied for 39th nationally - 7th among freshmen - in assists per game (5.60).
• Sophomore Eric Williams Jr., who was named second team preseason All-Atlantic 10, leads the team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (7.8). The 2018 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., who earned A-10 co-Player of the Week honors on Dec. 24, has five double-doubles this season.
• Forward Kellon Taylor, a two-sport athlete who plays receiver for DU's FCS football team, was in uniform for the first time for the Dec. 5 Marshall game. Taylor caught a team-high five passes for a team-best 97 yards in the Dukes' second round FCS Playoff loss at South Dakota State Dec. 1. 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, has seen action in six games since rejoining the team.
• 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.
• Guard Mike Lewis II, who scored 979 points in 76 games (72 starts) at Duquesne (12.9 ppg), announced his plan to transfer on Dec. 27. Lewis II averaged 5.6 ppg. in 12 games this season. He scored in double digits 53 times (twice this season) and topped the 20-point mark 17 times as a Duke.