G3 | DUQUESNE (1-1, 0-0) at (ARV) SAINT LOUIS (7-1, 0-0)  
Wed., Dec. 30 • 7:00 pm ET • St. Louis, Mo. • Chaifetz Arena (10,600)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Dan McLaughlin & Scott Highmark
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (1-1), which has been idle since Dec. 2, hits the road to open Atlantic 10 play at (ARV) Saint Louis (7-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Duquesne, which had games canceled on Dec., 4, 14 & 16 due to positive COVID-19 tests, did not have a full-team practice from Dec. 3 until Dec. 26 due to testing and contact tracing. DU, which also had a two-week, COVID-related program pause that ended October 29, has yet to play a home game, while SLU has played seven of its eight games at home. DU, which posted a pair of 14-point wins over SLU last year, is 4-2 vs. the Billikens under Keith Dambrot (1-2 at SLU). Duquesne has won 10 of the past 15 meetings between the two. Saint Louis had won three in a row at Chaifetz Arena prior to DU's 82-68 win last season. DU, which has won four of its past five A-10 road games, is looking to tie the school record for consecutive A-10 road wins (three) set in 2010-11.

TRENDING

• Tavian Dunn-Martin, Michael Hughes & Marcus Weathers graduated in December, giving the Dukes four players with degrees (grad transfer Ryan Murphy is the fourth).
• DU was picked to finish fifth in the A-10 preseason poll. It is the highest the Dukes have appeared in the poll since the 2010 team, which returned four starters from a group that advanced to the 2009 A-10 Championship game, was picked tied for fifth.
• This is also the first time since 2010 (Damian Saunders Second Team and Bill Clark Third Team) that Duquesne has had two players on the A-10 Preseason Team (Marcus Weathers Second Team & Sincere Carry Third Team).
• Weathers scored a career-high 26 points in each of DU's two meetings with Saint Louis last season. The 6-5 senior went 15-of-24 (.625) from the field in the two wins.
• Michael Hughes ranks 10th among active D-I players in career blocks (159) and 15th in blocks/g. (1.96). Hughes has 18 blocks in four career games vs. Saint Louis (4.5 bpg.).
• Sincere Carry's 5.47 assist/g. average is the 11th-best among active D-I players.
• Duquesne will play its first four home games at Division III La Roche University located 10 miles north of campus while renovation work to the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse is completed.
• DU's first home game is scheduled for Jan. 5 vs. Davidson, making it DU's latest home opener in 89 years (since Jan. 9, 1931 vs. West Virginia Wesleyan). Duquesne's latest post WWII home opener prior to this season was Dec. 13 in both 1948-49 (vs. Wake Forest) and 1949-50 (vs. New Mexico).  
• DU hasn't played a game on campus since Mar. 9, 2019 (vs. Dayton).

DUKES AND BILLIKENS
Series Record: Duquesne leads 17-15
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 10-5
At St. Louis: Saint Louis leads 8-5
Neutral Site: Tied 2-2
A-10 Regular Season: Tied 13-13
A-10 Championship: Saint Louis leads 2-1
Dambrot vs. Saint Louis: 4-2
Current Streak: Duquesne won two

• This is the 33rd game between Duquesne and Saint Louis, with the Dukes holding a 17-15 series lead ... in games at St. Louis, SLU leads 8-5 ... Duquesne has won the past six in Pittsburgh and Saint Louis has won three of the last four at Chaifetz Arena ... DU swept the series last season with a pair of 14-point wins (73-59 at Robert Morris' UPMC Events Center & 82-68 at SLU).
• Saint Louis had won seven of eight - including five in a row, before DU's upset win over the No. 10 (AP) Billikens at Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 27, 2014 ... the Dukes have won 10 of 15 since, including the 2014 upset win.
• This is the 12th time the Dukes and Billikens are playing home-and-home ... DU swept the series in 2016 & 2020 and SLU has swept twice (2010 & 2012) ... the two have split seven times (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019).
• SLU was picked to finish second in the conference's preseason poll - three spots ahead of Duquesne ... the Billikens opened the season with six-straight home wins before an eight-point Dec. 20 loss at Minnesota (90-82) ... SLU, which owns wins over LSU and NC State, defeated UMKC 62-46 at home on Dec. 23.

WORTH NOTING

• The Dukes have increased their win total in each of their first three seasons under fourth-year head coach Keith Dambrot. Dambrot, who inherited a 10-22 team (3-15 in the A-10) in 2017-18, posted a 16-16 record in 2018. He followed that by guiding a 2019 team - with a roster that saw 97 percent of its points coming from freshmen and sophomores - to 19 wins (19-13) and a 10-8 Atlantic 10 finish (T6th). DU returns five starters from a team that won a school-record 11 conference games (11-7) on the way to posting the school's third 20-win season (21-9) in the past 48 years in 2020.
• Duquesne returns all five starters - and seven of its top eight scorers - from last year's 21-9 team.
• This is the first time since 1971 & 1972 that DU has had 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons. The last time Duquesne had three-straight 19+-win seasons was in a four-year span from 1951-52 through 1954-55 (23-4 in 1952, 21-8 in 1953, 26-3 in 1954 and 22-4 in the NIT Championship season of 1955). Dambrot's father, Sid, was a member of the 1952, 1953 & 1954 teams.
• The Dukes, who were picked to finish fifth in the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 preseason poll, have exceeded their preseason A-10 pick in each of their first three seasons under Keith Dambrot:

Year	Pick	Finish
2017-18	14th	t10th (7-11)
2018-19	11th	t6th (10-8)
2019-20	8th	t5th (11-7)
2020-21	5th	TBD

 

• 2019-20 marked the first time Duquesne produced back-to-back seasons with nine or more Atlantic 10 wins (the Dukes were 10-8 in 2019). It was also just the second time in school history that DU posted back-to-back winning A-10 seasons (1980 & 1981 are the others). The 2020-21 Dukes will be attempting to post three-straight winning conference records for the first time in school history.
• Duquesne has won 17 in a row when holding its opponent under 70 points (1-0 this year). The last team to defeat the Dukes while scoring under 70 was St. Bonaventure, who posted a 68-47 win over DU at the Reilly Center in Olean, N.Y. on Feb. 27, 2019. The Dukes shot a Keith Dambrot Era low .283 (15-of-53) in that game.
• Leading the way for Duquesne are second team All-Atlantic 10 forward 6-5 Sr. Marcus Weathers (14.3, 8.1) and 6-8 Sr. center Michael Hughes (10.3, 6.8, 82 blocks), who form one of the top returning inside tandems in the A-10. Weathers, who entered the season with 1,048 career points, led the Dukes in scoring and rebounding last year while the Hughes, who led the Dukes in steals with 44, finished the season ranked eighth nationally in blocked shots/g. at 2.7. Hughes (.581) and Weathers (.527) entered the season ranked first and sixth on Duquesne's career field goal percentage list.
• Junior point guard 6-1 Sincere Carry (12.2, 3.9, 158 assists), one of the top defensive players in the A-10, is entering his third year as a starter. Carry, a member of the 2019 A-10 All-Rookie Team, has handed out 328 assists in his first two-plus seasons. His 5.5 assists/g. average is on pace to tie all-time great Norm Nixon's career mark.
• Shooting guard 6-3 Jr. Lamar Norman Jr. (6.1. 1.8), who contributed 43 3-pointers in starting 18 times last season and swingman 6-5 So. G Maceo Austin (7.0, 4.0) round out the returning starters.
• DU has the luxury of bringing one of the most explosive 3-point shooters in the A-10 off the bench in 5-8 Sr. G Tavian Dunn-Martin (10.2, 1.8, 74 assists, 71 3-pointers). Dunn-Martin, the 2019 A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, has 125 3-pointers as a Duke (1.9/g) and has hit five or more 3-pointers in a game six times.
• Depth in the frontcourt will be provided by 6-10 Jr. F Austin Rotroff (1.4, 1.1) and 6-9 redshirt So. F Amari Kelly. Kelly, who - like Rotroff - had a season-ending ACL injury in 2019, is back after sitting out last year.
• Newcomers include 6-4 PG Tyson Acuff (Detroit, Mich.), a finalist for 2020 Michigan Mr. Basketball, who led Cass Tech to three Detroit Public School League titles. Six-seven, 225-pound F Andre Harris (Mesa, Ariz.), who was a near double-double performer for national prep power Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix is joined in the frontcourt by a pair of athletic swingmen in 6-7 Toby Okani (Orange, N.J.), from Cushing (Mass.) Academy and Chad Baker (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) who attended SPIRE (Ohio) Academy. Mike Bekelja (Solon, Ohio), who teamed with his brother, Sincere Carry, at Ohio's Solon High School and sharpshooting 6-4 G Jett Roesing (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who converted nearly 48 percent of his 3-point attempts for Washington, Pa. First Love Academy are new to the backcourt. Six-eleven C Mounir Hima (Short Hills, N.J.) from St. Benedict's (N.J.) Prep - who is redshirting - round out the recruiting class. DU added Pitt grad transfer Ryan Murphy, who averaged 7.6 ppg. in 30 games (12 starts) with team-high 42 3-pointers last year, on Dec. 11.

A DU WIN WOULD ...

• Tie the school record for consecutive A-10 road wins at three (DU won its last two A-10 road games - at St. Bonaventure and at VCU - last year). It would also be DU's fifth road A-10 win in its last six tries.
• Be DU's third-straight over SLU.