2019-20 SEASON REVIEW

The resilient 2019-20 Duquesne Dukes (21-9, 11-7) continued their resurgence under third-year head coach Keith Dambrot, despite the unusual challenge of playing without a true home court. The nomadic Dukes, who hosted home games at La Roche University, Robert Morris University and PPG Paints Arena due to renovation work being done to the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, kept their bags packed as they played 30 games at 16 venues. Despite the logistical challenge, Dambrot's Dukes notched 21 wins - including a school-record 11 in Atlantic 10 Conference play - in posting the program's third 20-win season in 48 years.

The Dukes gained national attention with a 10-0 start - the school's best since 1953-54. DU, which moved to 15-2 on January 15, received AP poll votes on four occasions, marking the first time a Dukes team received an AP vote since 2011.

The Dukes shook off a three-game late January skid to post five February wins - the most since 1994 - and finish tied for fifth in the A-10, exceeding their preseason pick by three spots.

The balanced Dukes, who had five players average between 8.9 and 14.3 points per game, were led by second team All-Atlantic 10 pick junior forward Marcus Weathers (14.3, 8.1). Sophomore Sincere Carry (12.2, 3.9) averaged a team-high 5.3 assists/g. Junior Michael Hughes (10.3, 6.8), the only A-10 player to lead his team in blocks (82) and steals (44), finished eighth nationally in blocks/g, at 2.73. Sixth man junior Tavian Dunn-Martin (10.2, 1.8) paced the Dukes with 71 3-pointers. His 2.7 3-pointers/g. tied for the league lead in A-10 games only.

Six-eleven grad transfer Baylee Steele (8.9, 4.7) came off the bench to add 12 double-digit scoring games and sophomore Lamar Norman Jr. (6.1, 1.8) added 30 3-pointers in A-10 play. Maceo Austin averaged 7.0 points and 4.0 boards in 29 starts as a freshman.

The Dukes, who held opponents to 66.4 ppg. - the lowest opponent average in 38 years - ranked ninth nationally and first in the A-10 with 5.37 blocks/g.

Click here for an all-inclusive season review in PDF format.



NOTING THE DUKES

20 WINS: Duquesne, in its third season under head coach Keith Dambrot, posted 20 wins for the first time since 2009 (21-13 NIT) and just the third time in 48 years. It was the first time since 1971 (21-4) & 1972 (20-5) that Duquesne had 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons (DU was 19-13 in 2019).

A SCHOOL RECORD ATLANTIC 10 WINS: Duquesne (21-9, 11-7), picked to finish 8th in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, ended the regular season tied for fifth at 11-7. The 11 conference wins broke the school record set in 1981 (10-3) and matched in 1991 (10-8), 2011 (10-6) & 2019 (10-8). It was the seventh time in 43 A-10 seasons that DU posted a winning conference record (1980, 1981, 1991, 2009, 2011 & 2019 are the others). DU went 5-4 at home and 6-3 on the road in A-10 games. The six conference road wins broke the previous school record of four (accomplished four times, 2019 last). DU's five-game A-10 opening win streak (Saint Louis, Davidson, at Saint Joseph's, at George Washington and Fordham), tied the second-longest in school history. Third-year head coach Keith Dambrot also guided the Dukes to five-consecutive A-10 wins in 2019.

ANOTHER A-10 FIRST: 2019-20 marked the first time Duquesne produced back-to-back seasons with nine or more Atlantic 10 wins (the Dukes were 10-8 last year). 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).

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS, AGAIN: The Dukes, who were picked to finish eighth in the 2019-20 Atlantic 10 preseason poll, exceeded their preseason A-10 pick for the third time in three seasons under Dambrot, with a fifth-place finish. The 2018 team, picked last, ended up tied for 10th. In 2019 DU, picked 11th, ended up tied for sixth. The 2019 season 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.

STEADY IMPROVEMENT: 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.
 
FAST START: 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 also received votes on Jan. 13 (9) & Jan. 20 (13).

STREAKING: 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.

IT WAS DONE WITH DEFENSE: The Dukes held opponents to 66.4 points per game. It was the lowest opponent average in 38 years. DU ranked 9th nationally - and first in the A-10 - in blocks/g. at 5.37.

AGAINST THE A-10'S BEST: Duquesne (5-4), Richmond (5-4) and Dayton (11-0) were the only Atlantic 10 schools to have a winning record vs. the Top 8 finishers (Dayton, Richmond, Rhode Island, Saint Louis, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, Davidson & VCU) in the conference's regular season.

NOT STUCK IN NEUTRAL: Duquesne tied for fourth nationally with five neutral-site wins (5). Only Utah State (7), St. Mary's (6) and Liberty (6) had more. Dayton was the only Atlantic 10 school with more combined road and neutral-site wins (12) than Duquesne (11).

FIVE SEPARATED BY 5.4: The balanced Dukes finished with five players averaging between 8.9 and 14.3 points per game. Seven players either led, or tied for the team lead, in scoring and six scored 20 or more. The six 20-point scorers: Marcus Weathers (5), Sincere Carry (4) Tavian Dunn-Martin (4), Michael Hughes, Baylee Steele & Lamar Norman Jr.

DISPLACED DUKES: The Dukes won 10 of 14 home games while playing at three different venues (PPG Paints Arena, D-III La Roche University and Robert Morris University). DU was displaced by season-long renovation work being done to the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Duquesne had to board a bus for 24 of its 30 games in 2020 (La Roche is 10 miles from DU's downtown campus & Robert Morris is an 18-mile trip). Duquesne is 37-15 in home games under Dambrot, including a 24-9 mark over the past two seasons. The Dukes are 11-6 in A-10 home games over the past two years.

MILESTONE WIN FOR DAMBROT: DU's Nov. 12 win over Lamar was the 450th for DU coach Keith Dambrot, who just completed his third season at Duquesne and 22nd season overall.

FASTEST TO 50: Duquesne's 58-56 overtime win over Fordham on Jan. 15 was Dambrot's 50th at Duquesne. Only two DU coaches reached the 50-win mark in fewer games: Chick Davies who led the Dukes to three NIT and one NCAA appearance (1925-43; '47-48) and Donald "Dudey" Moore who coached six NIT and one NCAA team from 1949-58.

56 IN THREE: Dambrot's 56 wins are tied for the most by a Duquesne coach through his first three seasons. Dudey Moore, who won 191 games in 10 seasons (1949-58), is the only other DU coach to win as many.

A-10 STREAKS: Dambrot, in just this third season, has produced two of the five longest Atlantic 10 win streaks in school history (in bold): 8 in 2010-11, 5 in 2019-20, 2018-19, 2006-07 & 1980-81.

DOUBLE DIGITS DOWN, NO PROBLEM: Duquesne came back from double-digit deficits to win five times: -14 Princeton, -12 vs. Indiana State, vs. Loyola Marymount & at VCU and -11 vs. VMI. Dambrot's Dukes have erased a total of 13 double-digit deficits in the past two seasons.

NO FEBRUARY SWOON: Duquesne 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).

36: Lipscomb's 36 points in Duquesne's 58-36 Nov. 15 win, were the fewest by a DU opponent in 39 years (since a 34-33 NIT loss to Saint Peter's on 3/10/80). The Dukes held the Bisons without a 3-pointer (0-of-18) in the win.

ON THE ROAD: Duquesne is 12-16 in road games - including 12-15 in A-10 play - under Keith Dambrot. Duquesne posted a program record six A-10 road wins this season (6-3). It was just the fifth time Duquesne posted four or more A-10 road wins. The Dukes - who were the last Division I team to play a road game in 2020 - went 6-3 on the road, with all nine games coming in conference play.

JAMMIN': Duquesne went 3-0 in earning the Junkanoo Jam Championship on Nov. 21-24 in Bimini, Bahamas. It was DU's first in-season tournament title since the 2002 Florida International University New Years Classic on Dec. 27-28 at Miami when Danny Nee's Dukes defeated St. Francis, N.Y. (67-57) and Florida International (71-68 in OT). Sincere Carry was named Junkanoo Jam MVP with Michael Hughes joining Carry on the All-Tournament Team.

IT ALL STARTED IN THE BAHAMAS: Duquesne prepared for the season with a trip to Nassau, Bahamas August 5-11. It was the third-ever foreign tour for Duquesne which traveled to Toronto to play four games in three days over Labor Day weekend in 2007 and also went to Ireland for a four-game tour in August of 2015. DU was allowed 10 practices prior to departing.

MOST ALL-TIME WINS
DU's 21 victories in 2019-20 - the school's highest total since 2009 - tied for sixth-most in program history:
 

26-3*	1953-54
23-6	1949-50
23-4*	1951-52
22-4	1954-55
22-7	1961-62
21-9	2019-20
21-8*	1952-53
21-5	1968-69
21-4	1970-71
21-13	2008-09

* Keith Dambrot's father, Sid (1952-54) was a guard for three of the above teams


HIGHLIGHTS

• Sincere Carry's 319 career assists (58g.) are the second-most ever by a DU sophomore. Clayton Adams set the current mark of 322 in 61 g. in 1988 & 1989. Carry's total is eight more than former Duke - and current Indiana Pacer - T.J. McConnell had in 63 g. in 2011 & 2012).
• Junior Marcus Weathers, who went over the 1,000 career point mark on Feb. 22 at Dayton, finished with 18 traditional three-point plays - the most by a Duke since Aaron Jackson had 20 in 2009.
• Junior 6-8 center Michael Hughes - the only A-10 player to lead his team in blocks and steals - finished 8th nationally in blocks/g. (2.73). Hughes' 2.5 career blocks per game average is the second-best in DU history.
• Under Keith Dambrot, DU is: 43-3 when leading with 5:00 left ... 43-12 when scoring 70 or more (15-2 in 2020) ... 36-3 when the first to 70 points (12-0 in 2020) ... 35-7 when holding opponents under 70 (16-0 in 2020) and 8-1 in overtime (3-0 in 2020).

A-10 NOTABLES

• Duquesne's 73-59 win over Saint Louis on Jan. 2 was the Dukes' sixth in a row over the Billikens in Pittsburgh. DU completed a sweep of SLU with an 82-68 win at Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 5. The 14-point margin of victory was DU's largest on the road vs. the Billikens. It was also SLU's first home loss to an unranked team in 2020.
• DU's 71-64 home win over Davidson was DU's first series win, ending a streak of seven consecutive losses to the Wildcats.
• The 78-60 (+18) margin of victory at Saint Joseph's was DU's third-largest in the series and most since 1990.
• DU's 66-61 win at George Washington was its fifth-straight series win and program-best third consecutive win at GW.
• DU extended its Rose Hill win streak to five with its victory at Fordham. It is the first time in series history that either team has won five in a row on the opponent's court.
• DU's 81-77 OT win at St. Bonaventure not only set a new school record for A-10 road wins, it also ended an 11-game losing streak at Reilly Center and eight-game series skid.
• DU erased a 12-point second half deficit to post its first win in eight all-time games vs. VCU (80-77 in OT at Siegel Center).
• DU head coach Keith Dambrot has now defeated every A-10 school in his first three seasons on the Bluff.