G5 | DAVIDSON (5-4, 1-1) at DUQUESNE (2-2, 1-1)
Tues., Dec. 5  • 7:00 pm ET • McCandless, Pa. • Kerr Fitness Center (1,200)

TELEVISION: CBSSN with Chris Hassel & Mike O'Donnell
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (2-2, 1-1), which played twice in the first five weeks of the season, will be playing its third game in four days when it hosts Davidson (5-4, 1-1) in the home opener on Tuesday, Jan. 5 at 7:00 p.m. (CBSSN) at La Roche University's Kerr Fitness Center. This is the latest home opener in 89 years for the Dukes who - in a program first - played back-to-back games at GW on Saturday & Sunday. Duquesne, which had five games either canceled or postponed in December, did not have a full-team practice from Dec. 3 until Dec. 26 due to positive tests within the program. The Dukes also had a two-week, COVID-related program pause that ended October 29. Davidson, which is 1-0 on the road, has been idle since Dec. 30 due to the postponement of its game at VCU on Jan. 2. This is the first of four "home" games scheduled for the Dukes at La Roche due to the ongoing renovation of the on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

TRENDING

• Duquesne is playing 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.
• This is DU's latest home opener in 89 years (since Jan. 9, 1932 vs. W.Va. 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).
• 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).
• Marcus Weathers and Tavian Dunn-Martin have scored in double digits in each of DU's first four games.
• Michael Hughes ranks 12th among active D-I players in career blocks (162) and 16th in blocks/g. (1.95).
• Sincere Carry's 5.45 assist/g. average is the 13th-best among active D-I players.
• This will be DU's third game in four days.
• DU saw streaks of 17 games when the first team to 70 points and 23 games when leading with 5:00 left snapped in Sunday's 75-73 loss at GW. The Dukes gave up a Feb. 24 home game to face the Colonials on back-to-back days in D.C. It was the first time in the 105-year history of the program that the Dukes played the same team on consecutive days.

ALL HANDS ON DECK
At least 11 players have seen action in each of DU's first four games, with a high of 13 taking the court in Sunday's game at George Washington:
 

Opponent	# of Players
Little Rock	12
UNCG	11
at George Washington (Sat.)	12
at George Washington (Sun.)	13

DUKES AND WILDCATS
Series Record: Davidson leads 7-1
At Pittsburgh: Davidson leads 3-1
At Davidson: Davidson leads 4-0
Neutral Site: 0-0
A-10 Regular Season: Davidson leads 7-1
A-10 Championship: 0-0
Dambrot vs. Davidson: 1-2

• This is the ninth meeting between Duquesne and seventh-year Atlantic 10 member Davidson ... the Wildcats - who were a home-and-home opponent of the Dukes in each of their first two A-10 seasons - won the first seven series meetings prior to DU's breakthrough 71-64 home win last year at Robert Morris' UPMC Events Center ... this is the first year since 2015-16 that the Dukes and Wildcats will play home-and-home.
• Last year, Sincere Carry scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 7:35 to help Duquesne to their first win in the eight-game all-time series. DU, which led by 10 with just over 17 minutes left saw Davidson, which hit eight of its 10 3-pointers in the second half, tie it on a Kellan Grady 3-pointer at the 10:15 mark before pulling away late.
• Davidson, which is 1-0 on the road, has been idle since an 80-74 home loss to Richmond on Dec. 30. The Wildcats, the preseason pick to finish seventh in the A-10, had Saturday's game at VCU postponed. The 'Cats are 1-1 in the A-10 with a 67-58 win at Rhode Island. Davidson head coach Bob McKillop enters Tuesday's game one win shy of 600 for his career (599-368). The backcourt of Hyunjung Lee (17.4 ppg.), Kellan Grady (16.7) and Carter Collins (14.2) is averaging a combined 48.3 ppg.
   

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:
• 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 18 in a row when holding its opponent under 70 points (2-0 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 (15.8, 7.0) and 6-8 Sr. center Michael Hughes (8.8, 6.3, 4 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 and Weathers entered the season ranked first and sixth on Duquesne's career field goal percentage list.
• Junior point guard 6-1 Sincere Carry (9.5, 4.8, 19 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 338 assists in his first three seasons. His 5.45 assists/g. average is on pace to tie all-time great Norm Nixon's career mark.
• Shooting guard 6-3 Jr. Lamar Norman Jr. (5.0 ppg.), who contributed 43 3-pointers in starting 18 times last season and swingman 6-5 So. G Maceo Austin (5.3, 4.3) 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 (13.5, 3.5, 10 3-pointers). Dunn-Martin, the 2019 A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, has 128 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 is provided by 6-10 Jr. F Austin Rotroff (4.8, 2.0) and 6-9 redshirt So. F Amari Kelly (3.3, 1.3). 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 HOME AWAY FROM HOME
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. Duquesne 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 one-way 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 11-7 in A-10 home games and 11-9 in conference road games over the past three years.