G14 | DUQUESNE (7-6, 6-5) at RICHMOND (11-5, 4-3)
Sat., Feb. 20, 2021 • 4:30 pm ET • Richmond, Va. • Robins Center (7,201)

TELEVISION: NBCSN with Jac Collinsworth & Ron Thompson
RADIO: WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (7-6, 6-5), winner of three in a row, returns from a 17-day layoff to face Richmond (11-5, 4-3) on Sat., Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m. (NBCSN) at Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

The Dukes, whose last game was a 69-64 home win over Dayton on Feb. 2, have had their past four games postponed due to a combination of COVID-19-related reasons involving multiple teams. The Dukes, who had a positive Tier 1 test following the Dayton game, resumed full team practices on Feb. 12. Duquesne was also idle from Dec. 2 until Jan. 2 due to a series of positive tests within the program.

DU is 2-3 on the road with wins at George Washington and Fordham. The Dukes, who have won six of their past 10 Atlantic 10 road games (dating back to last season), are 1-10 at Richmond since the Spiders joined the conference.

As of Feb. 18, DU has played eight conference games as scheduled, had six A-10 games postponed and four league games rescheduled, including the Richmond game which was originally postponed on Dec. 19.

Richmond, coming off a 68-56 loss at VCU, is 4-3 at home.


TRENDING

• This is Duquesne's second return from an in-season pause. DU was idle for one month before returning to defeat GW on the road on Jan. 2.
• DU has led for 115:30 of a possible 120 minutes since freshman guard Mike Bekelja joined the starting lineup prior to the Jan. 27 game at Fordham.
• The Dukes have outscored their past three opponents (at Fordham, Saint Joseph's & Dayton) 90-66 in the paint.
• The Dukes, who have held nine A-10 foes under 70 points - including the last six in a row, rank 3rd in scoring defense in conference play (62.5 ppg.) thru Wednesday.
• DU ranked 2nd nationally in 3-point pct. defense (.268) and 18th in effective FG% defense thru Wednesday's games (Kenpom). The Dukes lead the A-10 in both categories in league games only.
• Marcus Weathers, the only Duke to start all 13 games, has scored in double digits 12 times. He has scored 24 (vs. Saint Joe's) & 20 (vs. Dayton) points in his past two games.
• Michael Hughes has posted double-doubles in four of DU's past five games: 15-10 vs. URI, 15-12 vs. St. Bonaventure, 13-11 at Fordham & 13-14 vs. Dayton. The 6-8 Hughes, who has emerged as one of the better passing big men in the A-10, ranks second on the team with 25 assists.
• Tavian Dunn-Martin ranks tied for 8th on DU's career 3-pointers list with 140. He needs 25 to pass Mike Lewis II (164) and take over the No. 7 spot.
• Freshman Chad Baker, who has hit five or more 3-pointers in two of DU's past five games (5-5 vs. URI & 7-11 at Fordham), is 19-of-42 from the arc (.452) with 15 assists & five turnovers in nine A-10 g. His 3-point pct. ranks 2nd in the A-10 (conference g. only).
   

DUKES AND SPIDERS
Series Record: Richmond leads 23-10
At Pittsburgh: Richmond leads 11-4
At Richmond: Richmond leads 10-5
Neutral Site: Richmond leads 2-1
A-10 Regular Season: Richmond leads 21-2
A-10 Championship: Richmond leads 2-0
Dambrot vs. Richmond: 1-3

• This is the 34th meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 12, 1937 ... DU led the series 8-0 when Richmond joined the Atlantic 10 in 2001-02 ... the Spiders promptly reeled off 14 consecutive wins before DU ended the streak with an 81-72 win at Palumbo Center in 2012 ... UR then won eight more in a row before DU halted that streak with a 74-68 win in its last trip to Richmond ... in A-10 regular season games, the Spiders hold a 21-2 lead ... DU is looking for back-to-back wins at UR for the first time since Feb. 1978 & Dec. 1993.
• Duquesne has topped the 70-point mark in four of 17 meetings (2-15) against Chris Mooney-coached Richmond teams ... the first was in DU's first win - 81-72 at the Palumbo Center on Feb. 4, 2012 - the second was in a 101-90 loss at Richmond in 2017, the third was in an OT loss in 2018 (77-73) and the fourth was in 2019's 74-68 win at UR ... DU has scored 70 or more just five times against UR since the Spiders joined the A-10 in 2001-02 ... the other was in a 72-71 loss at Richmond on Feb. 1, 2005 ... that game was decided when UR's Daon Merritt answered a Martin Osimani 3-pointer by racing the length of the court in the final six seconds to hit an acrobatic layup with :00.8 left.

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). Last year, the Dukes 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.
• Dambrot, who began the year with five returning starters, had to retool the lineup in early January when junior shooting guard Lamar Norman Jr. (61 career g. played/25 starts), decided to transfer prior to the Jan. 5 Davidson game and junior point guard Sincere Carry (63 career g. played/63 starts) left the team prior to the Jan. 9 Fordham game. A third returning starter, sophomore Maceo Austin, stepped away from the program for personal reasons prior to the Jan. 9 Fordham game and has yet to dress for a game since.
• In the absence of Carry, Norman Jr. and Austin, Dambrot has gone young and is getting significant contributions from five true freshmen in swingmen Chad Baker & Toby Okani, forward Andre Harris and guards Tyson Acuff & Mike Bekelja.
• Head coach Keith Dambrot has used at least nine  players in each of the Dukes' first 13 games (including 10 or more 10 times). Eight members of the current roster (10 total) have started at least once in 2020-21.

LAST GAME
DUQUESNE 69, DAYTON 64
Feb. 2, 2021 • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse • Pittsburgh, Pa.

Game 13 Recap

• Duquesne christened the new on-campus UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse with the win.
• The Dukes, in their first game on campus since March 9, 2019, hit their first six shots and never looked back in the wire-to-wire win.
• DU, which maintained a double-digit lead from the 13:19 mark of the first half until the game's final minute, got 20 points from Marcus Weathers and a 13-14 double-double from Michael Hughes in snapping a six-game series losing streak.
• The Dukes limited Dayton - which entered the game as the second-best 3-point shooting team in the A-10 (.366) - to 8-of-35 (.229) from the arc.
• DU outrebounded UD 38-31 in allowing just four second-chance points.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 22 at 55-33 with 9:16 left ... Dayton never led ... there were zero ties or lead changes ... Duquesne led for 39:19.