G29 | DUQUESNE (20-8, 10-6) at VCU (18-11, 8-8)
Tues., Mar. 3 • 7:00 pm ET • Richmond, Va. • Siegel Center (7,637)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+/MASN with Scott Jackson & Rodney Ashby
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (20-8, 10-6), winner of two in a row, completes the road portion of the Atlantic 10 schedule at preseason conference favorite VCU (18-11, 8-8) on Tuesday, March 3 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+/MASN). The Dukes, who are battling for a potential top four seed at the Atlantic 10 Championship, head to Richmond looking for their first win in the series with the Rams (0-7). VCU is the lone A-10 team third-year head coach Keith Dambrot has yet to defeat. The Dukes, who have notched 20 wins for just the third time in the past 48 years, are in search of a school record 11th A-10 win. DU is also looking to add to its school record five A-10 road victories (5-3). No member of the current Duquesne roster has played in a game at VCU's Siegel Center.

TRENDING

• This is the first time since 1971 (21-4) & 1972 (20-5) that Duquesne has had 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons (DU was 19-13 last year).
• It is also the first time DU has produced back-to-back seasons with 9+ Atlantic 10 wins (10-8 last year).
• DU's 20-8 record is the school's best through 28 games since 1980-81.
• The Dukes are holding opponents to 65.8 points per game - the lowest opponent average in 51 years.
• The Dukes rank 9th nationally - and first in the A-10 - in blocks/g. at 5.57.
• Sophomore Sincere Carry is averaging 19.8 points and 6.5 assists in DU's past four g. DU is 15-4 when Carry, DU's assist leader at 5.2 apg., hands out five or more assists. Carry has a 2.1-to-1 assist/turnover ratio in A-10 play (94-44).
• Junior Marcus Weathers, who went over the 1,000 career point mark on Feb. 22 at Dayton, has 18 traditional three-point plays this season. It is the most by a Duke since Aaron Jackson converted 20 in 2009. Weathers leads DU with 136 free throw attempts.
• Junior center Michael Hughes ranks 8th nationally in blocks/g. (2.82). DU is 8-1 (4-1 in A-10 play) when Hughes blocks four or more shots. Hughes is one of eight D-I players 6'8" or taller who is averaging over 1.5 steals/g. He also has a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (46-37) through 28 games.
• Duquesne is 11-16 in road games - including 11-15 in A-10 play - under Keith Dambrot. Duquesne has posted a program record five A-10 road wins this season. This season marks just the fifth time Duquesne has posted four  or more A-10 road wins. The Dukes - who were the last Division I team to play a road game - are 5-3 on the road, with all five wins coming in conference play.
• DU had a winning February (5-3) for just the seventh time in 43 A-10 seasons. DU's last five-win February was in 1994 (6-3).
• Under Keith Dambrot, DU is: 43-3 when leading with 5:00 left ... 42-12 when scoring 70 or more points (14-2 this year) ... 36-3 when the first to 70 points in a game ... 35-7 when holding opponents under 70 (16-0 this year).

DUKES AND RAMS
Series Record: VCU leads 7-0
At Pittsburgh: VCU leads 4-0
At Richmond: VCU leads 3-0
Neutral Site: Never met
A-10 Regular Season: VCU leads 7-0
A-10 Championship: Never met
Dambrot vs. VCU: 0-7
Dambrot vs. VCU at Duquesne: 0-2

• This is the eighth meeting between Duquesne and eighth-year A-10 member VCU ... VCU leads the series 7-0 ... last year, the Rams defeated the shorthanded Dukes, 80-74, in Pittsburgh.
• This is the fourth meeting in Richmond, where VCU has won three times with all three victories coming by double-digit margins.
• VCU, picked to finish first in the conference's preseason poll, is in its third season under head coach Mike Rhoades.
• Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot is 0-7 vs. VCU, with the first five meetings coming when Dambrot was at Akron ... the last three losses while at UA came against his former Akron assistant, Shaka Smart ... Dambrot's Zips lost to the Rams in overtime, 76-75, at Akron on Dec. 29, 2011 ... Dambrot's Akron team also fell to Anthony Grant's VCU team, 73-69 at Siegel Center on Dec. 17, 2008.
• VCU (18-11, 8-8) is 14-3 at home with the three losses coming in conference play (to Rhode Island, George Mason & Dayton) ... the Rams snapped a five-game losing streak with a 75-51 home win over GW on Saturday.

A DU WIN WOULD ...

• Be Duquesne's school-record 11th in Atlantic 10 play.
• Be DU's first in eight games vs. VCU. VCU is the only A-10 school third-year Dukes coach Keith Dambrot has yet to defeat.
• Add to DU's school record for A-10 road wins (the Dukes enter the game at 5-3).

LAST GAME
Duquesne 81, George Mason 78 • Saturday, Feb. 29, Moon Township, Pa.

• Duquesne shot 56 percent in the win. The 56 percent effort was the third-best this season and best since a team season-high 58.5 percent vs. Columbia on Dec. 9.
• Duquesne scored 25 points off of 20 Mason turnovers.
• DU's 21 rebounds were a Dambrot Era low. GMU, which had 17 offensive boards, outrebounded the Dukes 40-21 and had a 26-4 advantage in second-chance points.
• Duquesne finished 19-of-33 from the foul line.
• Sincere Carry led DU with 23 points on an economical 10 shots (3-of-5 from 3-point and 10-of-15 from the foul line).
• Maceo Austin's 10 points were his most since an 11-point outing at Saint Joe's on Jan. 8.
• George Mason's largest lead was two, the last of which came at 26-24 with 6:15 left in the first half ... Duquesne's largest lead was eight  the last of which came at 60-52 with 7:35 left ... there were six ties and eight lead changes before Michael Hughes gave DU the lead for good at 62-61 with 4:21 left ... Mason led for 2:13 ... Duquesne led for 34:37.

WORTH NOTING

• The Dukes, in their third season under head coach Keith Dambrot, have posted 20 wins for the first time since 2009 (21-13 NIT) and just the third time in the past 48 years.
• Duquesne has tied the school record for A-10 wins (10) and clinched back-to-back winning A-10 seasons for just the second time in school history (1980 & 1981 are the others).  DU's 20 A-10 wins over the past two seasons are the most ever in back-to-back years.
• The Dukes, who were picked to finish eighth in the 2019-20 Atlantic 10 preseason poll, have exceeded their preseason A-10 pick in each of their first two seasons under Dambrot. The 2018 team, picked to finish last, ended up tied for 10th. Last year DU, picked 11th, ended up tied for sixth. Last year marked the first time since 2009 (picked 12th, finished tied for fifth) that a Duquesne team exceeded its preseason pick by five or more spots.
• 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 come from freshmen and sophomores - to 19 wins (19-13) and a 10-8 Atlantic 10 finish (T6th). This is the first time since 1971 & 1972 that DU has had 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons.
•  Duquesne opened the season with 10-straight wins - the school's best start since 1953-54 (22-0). Along the way, DU received a vote in both the Dec. 9 & 16 AP polls, marking the first time a Dukes team received an AP vote since Feb. 7, 2011. Duquesne has since received votes on Jan. 13 (9) and Jan. 20 (13). DU's last AP poll appearance was at No. 20 on Feb. 8, 1972 (15-2).
• DU's 10-0 start was the best since the 1953-54 team opened with 22-straight wins. Sid Dambrot, the father of DU head coach Keith Dambrot, was a senior guard on the '54 team which reached No. 1 in the AP & UPI polls. The 10-game win streak was the program's longest since Ron Everhart's Dukes reeled off 11 in a row from Dec. 31 to Feb. 2 in 2010-11. DU was one of the last four undefeated NCAA Division I teams this season.
• The balanced Dukes have five players averaging between 9.0 and 14.4 points per game.
• Seven players have either led, or tied for the team lead, in scoring and six have scored 20 or more. The six 20-point scorers: Marcus Weathers (5), Sincere Carry (4) Tavian Dunn-Martin (3), Michael Hughes, Baylee Steele & Lamar Norman Jr.
• DU had a winning February (5-3) for just the seventh time in 43 A-10 seasons. DU's last five-win February was in 1994 (6-3).