2020-21 DUQUESNE DUKES

2019-20 Record: 21-9
Atlantic 10: 11-7/T5th
Non-Conference: 10-2
Home: 10-4;  Away: 6-3;  Neutral: 5-2
Head Coach: Keith Dambrot
Overall: 469-247 (22 seasons)
At Duquesne: 56-38 (3 seasons)

2020 LEADERS (all returning)
Points: Marcus Weathers (14.3)
Rebounds: Marcus Weathers (8.1)
Assists: Sincere Carry (158 / 5.3)
Steals: Michael Hughes (44 / 1.5)
Blocks: Michael Hughes (82 / 2.7)
3-Pointers: Tavian Dunn-Martin (71 / 2.4)

2020 TEAM
Points / Margin: 71.5 / +5.1
Rebounds / Margin: 35.0 / -0.2
Turnovers / Margin: 12.6 / +1.2

ATLANTIC 10 HONORS EARNED BY RETURNEES
Marcus Weathers - 2020 Second Team All A-10
Tavian Dunn-Martin - 2019 Sixth Man of the Year
Sincere Carry - 2019 All-Rookie Team


2020-21 QUICK HITS

• The Dukes have increased their win total in each of their first three seasons under 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). Last year, DU 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.
   
• This is the first time since 1971 & 1972 that DU has had 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons.
   
• 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 (tie) finish. The 2018 team, picked last, ended up tied for 10th. In 2019 DU, picked 11th, ended up tied for sixth.
   
•  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.

THE TEAM

• Duquesne returns all five starters - and seven of its top eight scorers - from last year's 21-9 team. Leading the way 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 enters the season with 1,048 career points, led the Dukes in scoring and rebounding while the Hughes, who led the Dukes in steals with 44, finished the season ranked eighth nationally in blocked shots/g.  at 2.7. Point guard 6-1 Jr. Sincere Carry (12.2, 3.9, 158 assists), one of the top defensive players in the conference, is entering his third year as a starter. Carry, a member of the 2019 A-10 All-Rookie Team, has handed out 319 assists with a 1.9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in his first two 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), contributed 43 3-pointers in starting 18 times last season. Swingman 6-5 So. G Maceo Austin (7.0, 4.0) rounds 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 118 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. Rotroff came off an ACL injury to emerge as a late-season contributor, scoring 20 of his 30 points in the Dukes' last four games. Kelly, who also 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. Sharpshooting 6-4 G Jett Roesing (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who converted nearly 48 percent of his 3-point attempts for Washington, Pa. First Love Academy and 6-7, 225-pound F Andre Harris (Mesa, Ariz.), who was a near double-double performer for national prep power Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix. A pair of athletic forwards - 6-7 Toby Okani (Orange, N.J.), from Cushing (Mass.) Academy and Chad Baker (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) who attended SPIRE (Ohio) Academy - along with 6-1 G Mike Bekelja (Solon, Ohio), who teamed with his brother, Sincere Carry, at Ohio's Solon High School and 6-11 C Mounir Hima (Short Hills, N.J.) from St. Benedict's (N.J.) Prep round out the recruiting class.
   

NOTING THE DUKES

NOMADS
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) last season. DU was displaced by season-long renovation work being done to the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. In all, 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). The experience will come in handy as construction on the new facility was halted for seven weeks over the summer due to the coronavirus, leaving the 2020-21 opening date to be announced. 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.

VETS
DU returns three fifth-year seniors in Marcus Weathers (third-year Miami, Ohio transfer), Michael Hughes and Tavian Dunn-Martin (both third-year Akron transfers).

AGAINST THE A-10'S BEST
Duquesne (5-4), Richmond (5-4) and Dayton (11-0) were the only Atlantic 10 schools with 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.

WEATHERS REPORT
Senior Marcus Weathers was also at his best against the A-10's best. In six total games vs. the league's top four finishers (Dayton, Richmond, Rhode Island & Saint Louis) the 6-5 forward averaged 19.2 points and 8.0 rebounds/g. Weathers shot .625 (40-of-64) in the six games.

STRAIGHT SHOOTERS
Michael Hughes (.581) and Marcus Weathers (.527) enter the season ranked first and sixth on Duquesne's career field goal percentage list.

DONE WITH DEFENSE
The Dukes held opponents to 66.4 points per game last season. It was the lowest opponent average in 38 years. DU ranked 9th nationally - and first in the A-10 - in blocked shots/g. at 5.37. Duquesne returns players who accounted for all but 20 of last year's 161 rejections.

• Sincere Carry's 319 career assists (58g.) are the second-most ever by a DU player through his sophomore season. 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. as a freshman and sophomore in 2011 & 2012 prior to transferring to Arizona).

• Center Michael Hughes - the only A-10 player to lead his team in blocks and steals last year - 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).


HEAD COACH KEITH DAMBROT
Keith Dambrot's 56 wins are tied with all-time great Dudey Moore - the man who coached Dambrot's father, Sid - for the most by a Duquesne coach in his first three seasons. Only Moore, who coached six NIT and one NCAA Duquesne team from 1949-58 and Chick Davies, who led the Dukes to three NIT and one NCAA appearance (1925-43; '47-48) reached the 50-win mark in fewer games.
    Dambrot, who inherited a 10-22 team (3-15 in the A-10) in 2017-18, has posted 16, 19 & 21 wins in his first three seasons. In the process, the Dukes have exceeded their Atlantic 10 preseason pick every year: 2018 picked 14th, finished t10th (7-11); 2019 picked 11th finished t6th (10-8); 2020 picked 8th finished t5th (11-7).

DAMBROT'S 2019-20 DUQUESNE HIGHLIGHTS

• Playing without a home court due to renovation work at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, Dambrot guided the Dukes to 20 wins (21-9) for just the third time in 48 seasons. It was the first time since 1971 (21-4) & 1972 (20-5) that DU had 19 or more wins in back-to-back years.
   
• Duquesne received votes in the AP Top 25 in four separate weeks in 2019-20. It was the first time since 2011 that a DU team received votes.
   
• Duquesne broke the school record - which was tied in 2018-19 - with 11 Atlantic 10 Conference wins (11-7). It marked the first time in school history that Duquesne posted double-digit wins in back-to-back A-10 seasons.
   
• Duquesne's fifth-place Atlantic 10 finish was the program's best since 2011 and tied the school's second-best finish in a 14-team A-10.
   
• The Dukes opened the season with 10 consecutive wins, marking the school's best start since 1953-54 (22-0). DU, which eventually moved to 15-2, was one of the last four teams in the nation without a loss in 2019-20.
   
• Posted the program's first Atlantic 10 wins over both Davidson and VCU, giving Dambrot wins over every A-10 opponent in his first three seasons.
   
• Put together Duquesne's second five-game A-10 win streak in as many years. In the process DU set a new school record with six conference road wins.