G17 | #9 DUQUESNE (8-8, 7-7) vs #8 RICHMOND (13-7, 6-5)  
Thurs., Mar. 4, 2021 • 11:00 am ET • Richmond, Pa. • VCU's Siegel Center

TV:  NBCSN with Jac Collinsworth (pxp) & Tim McCormick (analyst)
RADIO:  WJAS-AM 1320 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

No. 9 seed Duquesne (8-8, 7-7) opens Atlantic 10 Championship play against No. 8 Richmond  (13-7, 6-5) on Thursday, March 4 at 11:000 a.m. (NBCSN/Jac Collinsworth & Tim McCormick). The winner moves on to face No. 1 seed St. Bonaventure (13-4, 11-4) on Friday at 11:00 a.m. (NBCSN/same crew).

Duquesne, picked to finish 5th in the preseason poll of A-10 coaches and media, finished ninth in a disjointed regular season. DU managed to play 14 games while undergoing a pair of COVID pauses during conference play.

This is DU's third A-10 Championship appearance under head coach Keith Dambrot (0-2). Dambrot went 27-10 in 13 Mid-American Conference Tournament appearances while the head coach at Akron (2005-13). His Akron teams reached the MAC championship game nine times and won at least one game in all 13 appearances. Duquesne has posted just three opening game wins since 1995 (that's in 22 appearances, DU did not qualify in 2006 & 2013).

LEAGUE FINISH/NOTES
Duquesne (8-8, 7-7) was able to play a total of 14 conference games, split evenly with seven at home (5-2) and seven on the road (2-5). The Dukes managed to play four of their five scheduled home-and-home opponents twice in Dayton, Fordham, George Washington and St. Bonaventure. The exception was Davidson who DU played at home, but had the return matchup postponed. DU did not face four teams in A-10 play: George Mason, UMass, Saint Louis & VCU during the regular season.

RECORD SETTING SEASON
This was the 11th time in 44 A-10 seasons that DU finished at .500 or better in A-10 play (*1978, 1980, 1981, *1986, 1991, *1994, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2020 & *2021; *indicates .500). This is the first time in school history that Duquesne has finished .500 or better in three-straight conference seasons (10-8 in 2019 and 11-7 last year).

THE SEED
This is the first time since 2012 that Duquesne is entering the Championship as a No. 9 seed. The last two times DU was seeded No. 9 it had to play on the road, losing at UMass in 2012 (83-92) and at St. Bonaventure in 2010 (71-83). The last time DU played as a No. 9 seed on a neutral floor was in 1990 when the Dukes defeated No. 8 Saint Joseph's 96-70 at The Palestra. DU is 1-3 all-time as a No. 9 seed.

FAMILIAR FOE
Duquesne played its opening round opponent, Richmond, at Robins Center on Feb. 20. The Dukes, who were coming off a 17-day pause, rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to take a late lead, but couldn't hold on in a 79-72 defeat. Michael Hughes scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the comeback. Marcus Weathers and Chad Baker added 12 points each. DU is 0-2 vs. UR in A-10 Championship play. The two met in 2014 at Barclays Center (L, 64-76) and in 2018 at Captial One Arena in Washington, D.C. (L, 68-81) Richmond was a No. 7 seed and Duquesne a No. 10 in both meetings.

AWAITING THE WINNER
The Duquesne/Richmond winner will move on to face No. 1 seed St. Bonaventure (13-4, 11-4) at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Duquesne went 0-2 vs. the Bonnies this season. The first meeting, at Olean, N.Y., was moved up one day, forcing the Dukes - who were in their first week without three returning starters - to play at Reilly Center on a Friday following a Wednesday game at Dayton. SBU won the first meeting, 62-48. The return matchup was moved from its original Mar. 3 spot to Jan. 23 at La Roche University's Kerr Fitness Center (DU's temporary home court at the time). The Bonnies took that game by a 65-61 score.

THE BRACKET
DU went 1-4 against the teams on its side of the bracket: 1-0 vs. No. 13 Saint Joseph's, 0-1 vs. No. 12 La Salle, 0-1 vs. No. 8 Richmond, did not play No. 5 UMass, did not play No. 4 Saint Louis and 0-2 vs. No. 1 St. Bonaventure.

A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP NOTABLES
Only two of the past 14 regular season champions have gone on to win the postseason tournament (co-champ Temple in 2010 & Saint Louis in 2013).

Eight different schools have won the past 10 Championships played (includes former member Temple): Temple (2010), Richmond (2011), St. Bonaventure (2012), Saint Louis (2013 & 2019), Saint Joseph's (2014 & 2016), VCU (2015), Rhode Island (2017) and Davidson (2018).

TRENDING

• Saturday's win over Rhode Island clinched three-straight non-losing conference seasons for the Dukes for the first time in school history (10-8 in 2019, 11-7 in 2020 and 7-7 in 2021).
• DU ranked 10th nationally in 3-point pct. defense (.285) thru Monday's games (Kenpom). The Dukes led the A-10 in 3-pt defense (.279) and ranked second in FG% defense (.404)  in league games only.
• Marcus Weathers, the only Duke to start all 16 games, has scored in double digits 15 times, including the last 10 games in a row. He is coming of back-to-back 20-point outings: 23 at La Salle and a career high 28 vs. Rhode Island. He added a career high-tying 14 rebounds in the URI game.
• Weathers, who has 1,306 career points, enters the A-10 Championship with 996 points in his three seasons at Duquesne.
• Michael Hughes posted four double-doubles in A-10 play. 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 34 assists. He leads the team with 24 blocks.
• Tavian Dunn-Martin, who hit four 3-pointers in the season finale vs. Rhode Island (14 points), ranks 8th on DU's career 3-pointers list with 147. He needs 18 to pass Mike Lewis II (164) and take over the No. 7 spot.
• Freshman Chad Baker, who hit five or more 3-pointers twice in A-10 play (5-5 vs. URI & 7-11 at Fordham), went 24-of-55 from the arc (.436) in conference games. His 3-point pct. ranked 4th in A-10 games only.
• Baker's .429 overall 3-point percentage is on pace to challenge the DU freshman record of .426 set by Tony Petrarca in 1987 (min. 50 att.).
• Fellow freshman Andre Harris, has come off the bench to post a new season scoring high in two of DU's past three games (10 at Richmond and 11 at La Salle).

DUKES AND SPIDERS
Series Record: Richmond leads 24-10
At Pittsburgh: Richmond leads 11-4
At Richmond: Richmond leads 11-5
Neutral Site: Richmond leads 2-1
A-10 Regular Season: Richmond leads 22-2
A-10 Championship: Richmond leads 2-0
Dambrot vs. Richmond: 1-4

• This is the 35th 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 Richmond in 2019 ... in A-10 regular season games, the Spiders hold a 22-2 lead ... the Dukes are 0-2 vs. the Spiders in A-10 Championship play (0-1 under Keith Dambrot).
• Duquesne has topped the 70-point mark in five of 18 meetings (2-16) against Chris Mooney-coached Richmond teams ... each time DU has reached the 70-point plateau, it has been a tight game ... 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), the fourth was in 2019's 74-68 win at UR and the fifth was this year's game that was decided in the final minute ... DU has scored 70 or more just six 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.

FIRST MEETING
RICHMOND 79, DUQUESNE 72
Feb. 20, 2021 at Robins Center, Richmond, Va.

Game Recap

Duquesne, in its first game in nearly three weeks, rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to take a late lead, but couldn't hold on in a 79-72 defeat at Richmond (12-5, 5-3). Michael Hughes scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Dukes (7-7, 6-6). Marcus Weathers and Chad Baker added 12 points each for DU, which took a 70-69 lead on a Weathers bucket with 1:59 to go.