G21 | RHODE ISLAND (11-8, 4-3) at DUQUESNE (14-6, 5-2)
Wed., Jan. 30, 2019 • 7:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,390)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Tim Benz (pxp) & Ellis Cannon (analyst)
RADIO: 94.5 FM 3WS / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)
IN-GAME STATS: StatBroadcast
DUQUESNE GAME NOTES: Click here

Duquesne (14-6, 5-2), which saw its five-game win streak snapped in an 80-74 loss to VCU on Saturday, will attempt to get back on the winning track when it hosts Rhode Island (11-8, 4-3) on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+). The Dukes, who are 11-3 at home, will be looking to post their first Palumbo Center win over the Rams since Jan. 10, 2001 (a span of eight games). Rhode Island, picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, is  3-5 on the road, including a 77-70 loss at UMass on Sunday. The Dukes, who are averaging an A-10 best 74.9 points per game, will be taking on a Rhody team that ranks sixth in the conference in scoring defense (66.8 ppg.) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (.416).

TRENDING

• Duquesne saw its five-game Atlantic 10 win streak snapped on Saturday vs. VCU. The five game streak tied the second longest conference win streak in school history.
• DU is looking to go 6-2 in conference play for the first time since the 2010-11 team opened 8-0.
• Freshman guard Sincere Carry leads the A-10 in assist rate and is second in steal percentage according to KenPom. Carry ranks second in the A-10 in both assists (5.8) and steals (2.8) per game. Carry leads the Dukes in scoring in A-10 play at 14.2 ppg.
• First-year Akron transfer Tavian Dunn-Martin is coming off a career-high 21 point outing vs. VCU. He has a 2.4-to-1 assist/turnover ratio in A-10 play (26-11).
• First-year Missouri transfer Frankie Hughes scored a season-high 20 vs. VCU. Hughes leads DU with 41 3-pointers.
• Marcus Weathers, has scored in double-digits in six of seven A-10 games (12.1 ppg. on .519 shooting over that span).
• DU is 3-0 in overtime, 3-0 in one-point games and 6-1 in games decided by five or fewer points.
• DU is 17-4 under Keith Dambrot when holding opponents under 70 points. The Dukes are 20-2 when they are the first to reach 70 and 12-1 this season when scoring 70 or more.

DUKES AND RAMS
Series Record: Rhode Island leads 33-25
At Pittsburgh: Rhode Island leads 14-12
At Kingston: Rhode Island leads 19-11
Neutral Site: Duquesne leads 2-0
A-10 Regular Season: Rhode Island leads 30-21
A-10 Championship: Duquesne leads 2-1
Dambrot vs. Rhode Island: 0-3
Dambrot vs. Rhode Island at Duquesne: 0-1

• This is the 59th meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 13, 1966. Rhode Island, winner of 20 of the past 26, leads the all-time series 33-25. In games at Pittsburgh, Rhody holds an 14-12 edge.
• In an oddity of sorts, URI has won the past eight at Palumbo Center, while DU has won four of the past 10 at Ryan Center.
• Ten of the past 12 meetings between the two (nine URI wins) have been determined by eight or fewer points. The average score of the past dozen: Duquesne 71.2, Rhode Island 73.1 (854 points for DU to 877 points for URI).
• Duquesne's Keith Dambrot is 0-3 vs. the Rams with the first two meetings coming while Dambrot was at Akron. Jim Baron's Rams defeated the Zips at home, 79-50, on Jan. 3, 2009 and also won the next season in Akron, 68-63 on Jan. 5, 2010. Last year Duquesne led for nearly 30 minutes only to fall to the 24th-ranked Rams on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Sanford Robinson at Ryan Center.

LAST GAME
VCU 80, Duquesne 74 • Saturday, Jan. 26, Pittsburgh, Pa.

• DU saw its five-game win streak snapped in the defeat. It was the Dukes' first loss when scoring 70 or more this season (12-1).
• The Dukes, playing for the first time without starting point guard Sincere Carry (not in uniform with a sore knee), fell behind 16-5, before mounting a 16-0 run fueled by 8 points from freshman Gavin Bizeau. Bizeau entered the game averaging 1.5 ppg.
• DU, which led 41-39 at the half, was outscored 41-33 in the second 20 minutes.
• VCU shot 51.7 percent in the second half. Duquesne, which went 8-of-15 from 3-point in the first half, went 2-of-12 from the arc in the second.
• Tavian Dunn-Martin came off the bench to lead the Dukes with a career-high 21 points. First-year Missouri transfer Frankie Hughes added a Duquesne-high 20. The two were a combined 8-of-18 from the arc with four 3-pointers each.
• The Rams, who outrebounded the Dukes 45-29, had a 48-28 advantage in points in the paint. VCU also outscored DU 24-15 off turnovers.
• Duquesne's 14-of-25 performance from the foul line was its worst in two season under head coach Keith Dambrot.
• There were four ties and two lead changes … VCU's largest lead was 11 at 16-5 with 13:08 left in the first half …Duquesne's largest lead was nine at 38-29 with 2:36 to go in the first half … VCU took the lead for good on a Mike'L Simms layup with 9:48 left ... VCU led for 25:55 … Duquesne led for 10:45 … the game was tied for 3:20.

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. DU has seven freshmen and five sophomores on the 2018-19 roster.
• Ninety-five percent of the Dukes' points have come from underclassmen, including all but two points in A-10 play (99.6%), which is the second-highest rate in Division I. Of the 73 points scored by upperclassmen, 67 belonged to junior Mike Lewis II who transferred to Nevada in December. The other six came from Kellon Taylor, who was part of the active roster for one month before opting to concentrate on football and remain with the basketball team as a practice player.
• DU is ranked 348 of 353 schools in KenPom's listing of "most experienced" college teams. Only one member of the current roster - sophomore Eric Williams Jr. - entered conference play having seen action in an Atlantic 10 game.
• Four first-year Division I sophomore transfers are seeing significant action in 2018-19: 5-8 G Tavian Dunn-Martin (Akron), 6-4 G Frankie Hughes (Missouri), 6-8 C Michael Hughes (Akron) and 6-5 F Marcus Weathers (Miami, Ohio). All four practiced with the team while sitting out last season.
• 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).
• Two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week Sincere Carry  has solidified himself as one of the nation's top impact freshmen. The 6-1 point guard ranked seventh nationally - and first among freshmen - in steals per game (2.79) and tied for 28th nationally - sixth among freshmen - in assists per game (5.84) through Sunday's games.
• Sophomore Eric Williams Jr., who was named second team preseason All-Atlantic 10, leads the team in scoring (13.0) 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 six double-doubles this season (17 for his career).
• Six-eight sophomore center Michael Hughes is tied for second on the team with 11 double-digit scoring games, despite missing the Longwood, Maryland Eastern Shore and Maine games with a knee injury. Hughes, who is shooting .661, is on pace to shatter the school single-season field goal percentage record of .649 set by Fred Moon in 1979-80 (min. 200 points). The 250-pound center ranked among the nation's Top 10 field goal percentage leaders (.661) before dropping below the min. 5.0 FGM/g (he's at 4.7). Hughes, who has scored 20 or more three times, never topped six points in a game as a freshman while at Akron.  
• 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.
• The Dukes, who were 1-10 with trailing at the half last season, are 6-4 when trailing at the half in 2018-19.
• Duquesne has erased double-digit deficits in four of its wins: -18 vs. Longwood, -14 vs. UIC, -12 vs. Eastern Kentucky & -15 vs. Saint Joseph's. DU trailed by double digits in the second half in all but the SJU game (eight points in that one). The Dukes were down eight with 13:09 left in their Jan. 16 win at Richmond and trailed by five with 58 seconds left of the overtime win at George Washington. The Longwood comeback was the best by a Duquesne team since DU erased a 19-point deficit vs. Radford on Dec. 6, 1997 (a span of 21 years)
• Duquesne's 74-68 win at Richmond on Jan. 16 win was DU's first at UR since Dec. 20, 1993 (ending a streak of 10 consecutive defeats). It was also Duquesne's second win over the Spiders in 24 tries since Richmond joined the A-10 in 2001-02. The victory also ended an eight-game series losing streak. DU followed that with a 91-85 OT win at George Washington, marking the first time since 1989 & 1990 that a Duquesne team has won two in a row at GW.
• DU has matched its road win total from last season (2-7). The Dukes are 2-2 on the road this year.
• Duquesne has posted 10 home wins (11-3) for the second-straight season. It is the first time since 2010-11 & 2011-12 that the Dukes have won 10 or more home games in back-to-back years. DU's 13 home wins last year (13-6) - in addition to being a Palumbo Center record - were the most at home since 1981 (14-2).
• 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).
• Junior guard Mike Lewis II, who scored 979 points in 76 games (72 starts) at Duquesne (12.9 ppg), transferred to Nevada in December. 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. Junior forward Kellon Taylor, a two-sport athlete who dressed for eight games this season, has decided to concentrate on football. He is currently serving as a practice player. Taylor played in 47 career games.