PITTSBURGH – Duquesne will face seven teams coming off 20-win seasons as part of the 12-game 2019-20 men's basketball nonconference schedule released today.

The Dukes, who return seven of their top eight point producers - including four starters - from last year's 19-13 team, will play five games at home in addition to seven games at neutral sites in non-league play.

With renovation work on the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse - Duquesne's on campus home - currently underway, the Dukes will play portions of the 2019-20 home schedule at PPG Paints Arena - located one block from campus - and at nearby La Roche University, located in Pittsburgh's North Hills.

The Dukes, who are 16-4 in nonconference home games under third-year head coach Keith Dambrot, open the season on Nov. 5 versus perennial Ivy League contender Princeton at PPG Paints Arena. The Princeton game will be part of a doubleheader with the Duquesne women taking on Kent State in the nightcap.

Lamar, coming off a 20-13 season, visits to Pittsburgh to face DU at La Roche on Nov. 12, before Lipscomb, which won 29 games before falling to Texas in the championship game of the 2019 National Invitation Tournament, visits on Nov. 15. The Lipscomb game will also be played at La Roche.

Duquesne closes out the month of November at the Junkanoo Jam in Bimini, Bahamas. The Dukes will take on Indiana State on the 21st and Air Force on the 22nd before facing another 20-game winner in Loyola Marymount on Nov. 24.

The Dukes return home for games against VMI (Dec. 4) and Columbia (Dec. 9), both at La Roche, before heading to Akron for a neutral-site game vs. Radford. It marks the second consecutive season the Dukes and Highlanders will meet in Akron following DU's 69-64 win at St. Vincent-St. Mary's LeBron James Arena last year. This season's match-up will take place at Akron Firestone High School.

The Radford game begins a stretch of four in a row against 20-game winners, as the Dukes follow with a trip to St. Petersburg, Fla. for the St. Pete Shooutout where they will face Austin Peay (22-11 in 2019) and UAB (20-15 last year) on Dec. 21 & 22 respectively.

Duquesne completes the nonconference portion of the schedule at the Cleveland Classic where it will take on 2019 CIT champion Marshall (23-14) on Dec. 29 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Duquesne/Marshall game will be preceded by a game between Ohio State at West Virginia at noon.

The complete 2019-20 Atlantic 10 Conference schedule as well as game times will be released at a later date.

Fans may place season ticket deposits for the 14-game home schedule by calling the athletics ticket office at 412-232-DUKE (3853) or by clicking here. Season ticket pricing will be determined after the Atlantic 10 schedule is released.

Fan packages for the Junkanoo Jam (deadline Sept. 30) may be purchased here.




 
2019-20 SCHEDULE QUICK NOTES

• Due to renovation work being done to the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (phase I scheduled for completion prior to the 2020-21 season), the Dukes will play four nonconference games at La Roche University's Kerr Fitness Center (1,200) and one at PPG Paints Arena. La Roche is located 10 miles north of the Duquesne campus in the Town of McCandless in Pittsburgh.
• Seven of DU's 12 nonconference opponents won 20 or more games last season: Austin Peay (22-11), Lamar (20-13), Lipscomb (29-8, NIT finalist), Loyola Marymount (22-12, CBI semifinalist), Marshall (23-14, CIT Champion), Radford (22-11) and UAB (20-15, CBI). Lipscomb and Radford tied for first in regular season play in the Atlantic Sun and Big South conferences respectively.
• Duquesne will face teams from 10 conferences in non-league play: Atlantic Sun (Lipscomb), Big South (Radford), Conference USA (Marshall and UAB), Ivy League (Columbia and Princeton), Missouri Valley (Indiana State), Mountain West (Air Force), Ohio Valley (Austin Peay), Southern (VMI), Southland (Lamar) and West Coast (Loyola Marymount).
• DU will play a pair of first-time opponents in Austin Peay (St. Pete Shootout) and Lipscomb.
• Duquesne enters the 2019-20 season having won 16 of 20 nonconference home games under third-year head coach Keith Dambrot. Overall, the Dukes are 18-8 in non-league play under Dambrot.

2019-20 NONCONFERENCE OPPONENT CAPSULES

Princeton (Nov. 5) • Ivy League ... located in Princeton, N.J. ... DU leads the series 2-1 ... Princeton is one of two Ivy League schools on the 2019-20 schedule (joining Columbia) ... this will be the first meeting between the Dukes and Tigers in Pittsburgh ... Princeton as won the past two meetings, including a 66-51 CBI first round win at the Tigers' Jadwin Gym on Mar. 17, 2010 ... Princeton returns nearly two-thirds of its scoring from last year's 16-12, 8-6 Ivy League team ... the Tigers have four returnees who started at least 10 games last year, including 6-9 All-Ivy senior C Richmond Arirguzah (12.1, 6.4, .693 from field) ... Princeton is in its ninth season under head coach Mitch Henderson ... Henderson, the third-winningest head coach in program history, has guided the Tigers to four 20-win seasons and four postseason appearances (2017 NCAA, 2016 NIT and 2012 & 2014 CBI).
 
Lamar (Nov. 12) • Southland Conference ... located in Beaumont, Texas ... DU leads the series 1-0, including a 65-64 win in Pittsburgh on Dec. 19, 2017 as part of the Las Vegas Classic ... returns a pair of starters from last year's 20-13 team in senior G/F T.J. Atwood (10.9, 5.3) and 6-4 senior G V.J. Holmes (5.1, 3.0) ... finished strong with wins in 11 of its final 13 games (12-6, t3rd in Southland) ... it was Lamar's first 20-win season since 2011-12 ... Lamar has won 19, 19 & 20 games in its past three seasons, including CIT appearances in 2017 and 2018 ... head coach Tic Price is in his sixth season at Lamar and 15th season overall as a head coach ... Duquesne is 9-0 all-time against the schools that comprise the current Southland Conference, with all nine meetings coming since the 2009-10 season.
 
Lipscomb (Nov. 15) • Atlantic Sun Conference ... located in Nashville, Tenn. ... this is the first meeting between the Dukes and Bisons ... Lipscomb finished 29-8 last season in advancing to the NIT championship game ... return one starter in 6-3 senior G Michael Buckland (5.7, 2.8, 35 3-pointers, 83 assists, 28 steals) ... is in its first season under head coach Lennie Acuff, who came to Nashville after serving as the highly successful head coach at Alabama Huntsville for 22 seasons (437-214 overall) ... Acuff led UAH to 11 trips to the NCAA Division II tournament, where he advanced to the Elite Eight twice ... Acuff replaced Casey Alexander who accepted the head coaching position at Belmont ... Alexander led Lipscomb to the school's first NCAA tournament appearance in 2018 prior to the 2019 NIT run ... Duquesne is 7-3 all-time against the schools that comprise the current Atlantic Sun Conference ... head coach Keith Dambrot is 1-0 vs. Lipscomb with an 80-73 home win on Jan. 2, 2016 while at Akron.
 
vs. Indiana State (Nov. 21) • Junkanoo Jam opponent ... Missouri Valley Conference ... located in Terre Haute, Ind. ... the series is tied at 1-1 ... this is the first meeting since a Steel Bowl first round 90-84 loss to the Sycamores on Dec. 9, 1966 at the Civic Arena ... in the first meeting between the two, seventh-ranked Duquesne moved to 21-1 with a 55-54 home win over ISU on Feb. 20, 1950 ... Indiana State returns MVC leading scorer 6-2 junior guard Tyreke Key (17.4 ppg., .525 from field) and 5-11 All-MVC senior guard Jordan Barnes (14.6 ppg., 97 assists, 57 3-pointers) from last year's 15-16 team ... the Sycamores will have four Indiana high school All-Stars on the 2019-20 roster - its most since 1998-99 ... Greg Lansing is in his 10th season as Indiana State's head coach ... Duquesne is 22-15 all-time vs. schools that comprise the current Missouri Valley Conference.
 
vs. Air Force (Nov. 22) • Junkanoo Jam opponent ... Mountain West Conference ... located in Colorado Springs, Colo. ... this will be the second meeting between the Dukes and Falcons and first since a 64-52 Duquesne win in the first round of the Steel Bowl at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena on Dec. 8, 1967 ... DU head coach Keith Dambrot is 1-0 vs. Air Force with an 84-75 win over the Falcons on Nov. 25, 2016 at the Savannah Invitational in Savannah, Ga. ... Air Force returns 94 percent of its scoring and all five starters from a team that finished 14-18 overall and sixth in the Mountain West at 8-10 ... the eight conference wins and sixth place finish were the Academy's best since 2013 ... leading the returnees is 6-7 senior forward Lavelle Scottie ... the Fort Worth, Texas native led the team in scoring (15.3 ppg.) for the second-straight season ... a third team All-Mountain West pick, Scottie is the 26th 1,000-point scorer in Air Force history ... he is just the fourth Falcon to eclipse 1,000 points as a junior ... Air Force is in his eighth season under head coach Dave Pilipovich ... Pilipovich, a graduate of Thiel College in Greenville, Pa., began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at California, Pa. in 1986 ... he also spent four years as an assistant at Robert Morris (1996-00) under Jim Boone ... this is Pilipovich's 30th season in coaching ... Duquesne is 9-5 all-time vs. schools that comprise the current Mountain West ... DU's last - and only - game vs. a Mountain West team (the conference was formed in 1999) was an 82-74 loss at New Mexico on Nov. 14, 2004 in the NABC Classic championship game.
 
vs. Loyola Marymount (Nov. 24) • Junkanoo Jam opponent ... West Coast Conference ... located in Los Angeles, Calif. ... this is the second meeting between the Dukes and Lions ... DU won the previous meeting, 71-55, on Dec. 19, 1955 in Pittsburgh - the season after Duquesne's NIT championship ... LMU returns five players with 14 or more starts from last year's 22-12 CBI semifinal team including 7-3 senior C Mattias Markusson (10.2, 6.3, 29 blocks) - a native of Stockholm, Sweden - and 6-7 sophomore F Dameane Douglas (8.3, 4.9) ... the Lions received votes in the AP Top 25 enroute to a 11-1 start last season ... LMU ranked 13th nationally in scoring defense at 62.5 ppg. in 2019 ... veteran Mike Dunlap is in his sixth season as LMU's head coach ... Dunlap, who took his first head coaching job in 1989 at California Lutheran, guided the Lions to just their third postseason appearance since 1990 last season (CBI) ... Dunlap has been an assistant at Arizona, Oregon and St. John's ... in addition to Cal Lutheran, he was head coach of the Adelaide 36ers (Australia), Metro State (where he went 248-50 in nine seasons with a pair of D-II national championships) and the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats (2012-13).
 
VMI (Dec. 4) • Southern Conference ... located in Lexington, Va. ... this will be the third meeting between the Dukes and Keydets and second in the past three years ... DU defeated VMI, 77-61, in Keith Dambrot's second game at Duquesne on Nov. 14, 2017 ... the 2017 meeting was the first between the two since VMI's 73-66 win over DU in the first round of the NCAA East Regional at Raleigh, N.C. on Mar. 12, 1977 ... return five of six players who started 16 or more games for last year's 11-21 team led by senior G Garrett Gilkeson (10.9 ppg., 88 assists, 48 3-pointers, 52 steals) and junior G Myles Lewis (10.5 ppg.) ... 6-9 sophomore C Jake Stephens (7.0, 3.5, 41 3-pointers) and 6-10 senior C Tyler Creammer (5.5, 5.4) are also back ... Dan Earl, a former player at Penn State, is in his fifth season as head coach of the Keydets ... Earl came to VMI after serving as an assistant at both PSU and Navy.
 
Columbia (Dec. 9) • Ivy League ... located in New York City ... this will be the third meeting between the Dukes and Lions and first since an 88-63 DU win on Dec. 21, 1974 at the Big Sun Invitational in St. Petersburg, Fla. ... Duquesne also took the first meeting, 102-65, at home on Jan. 2, 1965 ... Columbia returns all five starters from last year's 10-18 team, including leading scorer 6-3 junior Gabe Stefanini (13.8 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 116 assists, 41 steals) ... Stefanini, a native of Bologna, Italy, was a second team All-Ivy pick after leading the conference in assists ... 6-10 senior Patrick Tape (11.3, 5.9, 35 blocks), an honorable mention All-Ivy pick last season, enters his final season as Columbia's all-time most accurate shooter at .613 ... the Lions finished strong with wins in four of their final six games including road wins at Penn, Brown and Yale ... Columbia is in its fourth season under head coach Jim Engles ... Engles came to Columbia after eight seasons at NJIT ... his 2014-15 Highlanders defeated Duquesne 84-81 at the Palumbo Center one week before pulling off an upset at No. 16 Michigan ... Duquesne is 10-8 all time vs. the Ivy League, including a 5-2 record at home ... this is Duquesne's first game against an Ivy opponent since Cornell defeated DU, 78-71, on Nov. 27, 2017 - in Keith Dambrot's fourth game at Duquesne.
 
vs. Radford (Dec. 14) • Big South Conference ... located in Radford, Va. ... DU leads the series 6-1 ... this will the second-straight season the two will meet in Akron ... the Dukes have won the past six meetings, including a 69-64 win in Akron last season ... Radford went 22-11 on its way to a tie for first (12-4) in the Big South ... the Highlanders have advanced to the Big South tournament championship game in each of the past two seasons, winning in 2018 and finishing second last year ... the 2018 Highlanders (23-13) defeated LIU Brooklyn in Dayton before falling to eventual national champion Villanova at Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena ... Radford is led by 2018 NABC District 3 Coach of the Year Mike Jones, who is in his ninth season ...  the Highlanders return three starters who finished first, third and fourth in scoring last year in 6-0 junior G Carlik Jones (15.7 ppg., 181 assists, 52 steals), senior G Travis Fields Jr. (10.8 ppg., 97 assists, 58 3-pointers) and senior G Donald Hicks (8.7 ppg., 68 3-pointers).
  
vs. Austin Peay (Dec. 21) • St. Pete Shootout opponent ... Ohio Valley Conference ... located in Clarksville, Tenn. ... this will be the first meeting between the Dukes and Governors ... leading scorer Terry Taylor (20.5 ppg.) is the lone returning starter from a team that finished third in the OVC with a 13-5 record (22-11 overall) ... the 6-5 junior, who was a first team All-OVC pick, also led the Govs in rebounding at 8.9 rpg. last season ... Taylor, the 2018 OVC Rookie of the Year, had a 42-point, 18-rebound game vs. Morehead State last season ... Matt Figger, the 2018 OVC Coach of the Year, is in his third season as head coach ... Figger is the first coach in school history to post double-digit conference wins in back-to-back seasons ... Nikita Johnson, who was on Scott Edgar's staff at Duquesne from 1996-98, is in his first season as an assistant at APSU ... Duquesne is 6-2 all-time against the schools that comprise the current Ohio Valley Conference, including an 85-84 overtime win last season over Eastern Kentucky at the Palumbo Center.

vs. UAB (Dec. 22) • St. Pete Shootout opponent ... Conference USA ... located in Birmingham, Ala. ... this is the fourth meeting between the Dukes and Blazers and first since to two met in a home-and-home series in 1995 (a 71-49 UAB win in Birmingham) & 1996 (a 92-72 Duquesne win in Pittsburgh) ... UAB went 20-15 last season on its way to a CBI postseason appearance ... return two starters including leading scorer junior G Zack Bryant (14.9, 134 assists, 62 steals) ... Bryant, a third team all-conference pick, also earned a spot on the C-USA All-Tournament team in helping the Blazers reach the semifinals for the first time since 2015 ... UAB led the conference with a 32.8 defensive rebounds per game average ... the Blazers ranked fourth in C-USA in scoring defense (67.7) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (.414) ... UAB was also the second-best shooting team in the conference (.452) last season ... fourth-year head coach Robert Ehsan has guided the Blazers to back-to-back 20-win seasons (20-13 in 2018 and 20-15 last year).
 
vs. Marshall (Dec. 29) • Second game of a Cleveland Classic doubleheader at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse ... Conference USA ... located in Huntington, W.Va. ... Duquesne leads the series 4-1 ... this is the second consecutive season the Dukes and Thundering Herd will meet ... the two combined for 175 points in a 93-82 Duquesne win at the Palumbo Center last year ... the Palumbo Center meeting was the first between the two schools since an 88-83 Duquesne win in the first round of the West Virginia Classic in Morgantown, W.Va. on Dec. 29, 1978 ... Marshall went on to finish last season 23-14 in winning the CIT championship ... the Herd return two of their top defensive players in 5-11 junior Jarrod West (5.6 ppg., 61 assists), who set a school record with 80 steals in 2019, and 6-9 junior F Jannson Williams (9.0, 5.1, 62 3-pointers) whose 101 career blocks in two years are on pace to break Hassan Whiteside's career record of 182 ... Marshall was one of seven schools to attempt over 1,000 3-pointers last season (1,058 attempts ranked fifth nationally) ... the Herd is in its sixth season under head coach Dan D'Antoni who has won 11, 17, 20, 25 & 23 games in his first five years ... he is the first Marshall coach to post three-straight 20-win seasons since Cam Henderson in 1946, 1947 and 1948 ... Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot is 8-0 all time against Marshall, including a 7-0 mark during his 13 seasons at Akron.