G18 | #9 DUQUESNE (9-8) vs #1 ST. BONAVENTURE (13-4)  
Fri., Mar. 5, 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 (9-8), which posted just its fourth A-10 Championship opening round win in 26 years yesterday over No. 8 Richmond (67-62), faces top-seeded St. Bonaventure (13-4) at 11:00 a.m. Friday (NBCSN). SBU swept the regular-season series between the two. 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 game 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, 65-61.

DU is looking to win multiple A-10 Championship games for the first time since its run to the title game in 2009 as a No. 7 seed. Duquesne has won multiple tournament games four times: 1977 (3-0, Champions), 1981 (2-1, finalist), 1985 (2-1, semifinalist), & 2009 (3-1, finalist).

THE SERIES
Series Record: St. Bonaventure leads 66-60
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 40-21
At Olean/Buffalo: St. Bonaventure leads 42-19
Neutral Site: St. Bonaventure leads 3-1
A-10 Regular Season: St. Bonaventure leads 40-32
A-10 Championship: St. Bonaventure leads 3-2
Dambrot vs. St. Bonaventure: 1-7

• This is the 127th meeting in a series that dates to Feb. 13, 1920 ... St. Bonaventure is Duquesne's most frequent all-time opponent ... the average score in the first 126 meetings?: DU 72.4, SBU 71.0 (9,117 to 8,945 points) ... this is the 70th consecutive season the two are meeting and 16th straight year the two are met home-and-home ... DU owns more conference wins over SBU (32) than any other A-10 school.
• St. Bonaventure, which has won 16 the past 19, leads the series 66-60, including a 40-32 advantage in A-10 regular season games and 3-2 edge in A-10 Championship meetings.
• The Bonnies have won 13 of the past 16, but it hasn't been easy as 10 of the 16 have been decided by four or fewer points, including three of the past four meetings.
• Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot is 1-7 vs. St. Bonaventure.

TRENDING

• DU's regular season-ending 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, which held Richmond to 5-of-18 from the arc yesterday, ranked 11th nationally in 3-point pct. defense (.285) entering the Championship (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 17 games, has scored in double digits 16 times, including the last 11 games in a row. He is coming of a 12-10 double-double vs. Richmond yesterday. It was his fifth double-double this season and 16th of his career.
• Weathers, who has 1,318 career points, went over the 1,000-point mark in his three-year Duquesne career with his fourth point yesterday. Weathers has 1,008 points in 78 games at DU (12.9 ppg.).
• Michael Hughes posted his sixth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds vs. Richmond. The 6-8 Hughes, added a career high-tying five steals, a team-high four assists and two blocks in 33 minutes. Hughes, who has emerged as one of the better passing big men in the A-10, ranks second on the team with 38 assists. He leads the team with 26 blocks. His 174 blocks rank fourth on DU's all-time list.
• Hughes' .563 career field goal percentage is on pace to break the school career mark of .561 set by former second round NBA Draft pick Derrick Alston (1991-94)
• Tavian Dunn-Martin, who has six 3-pointers in DU's past two games, ranks 8th on DU's career 3-pointers list with 149. He needs 16 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 went 7-of-11 from the field in scoring 16 points vs. Richmond yesterday.
• Baker's .424 overall 3-point percentage is on pace to challenge the DU freshman record of .426 set by Tony Petrarca in 1987 (min. 50 att.).
• Freshman Tyson Acuff, came off the bench to score nine points in 25 minutes vs. Richmond. The point total was two shy of his season high set at Fordham. The 25 minutes were his most since a season-high 26 at St. Bonaventure on Jan. 15.

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 entered 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 now 2-3 all-time as a No. 9 seed.

DU VS. NO. 1
The Dukes are 1-5 all time vs. the No. 1 seed. In its last meeting vs. a No. 1, eighth-seeded Duquesne lost No. 1 UMass, 53-79, in the semifinal of the 1995 Championship at The Palestra. DU's win over a No. 1 came in 1985 when No. 8 Duquesne defeated No. 1 West Virginia, 70-66 in a second round game in Piscataway, N.J.

THE SIXTH MEETING
This is DU's sixth Atlantic 10 Championship meeting with SBU. No. 5 Duquesne defeated No. 4 St. Bonaventure, 71-67, in a second round game in Olean, N.Y. in 1986. The Dukes won again in a 1987 first round game at Pittsburgh Civic Arena (82-65, as a No. 7 seed over a No. 10). SBU has taken the past three: 75-62 in a 1998 first round game at Philadelphia's Spectrum, 81-66 in a first round game at the Spectrum in 2002 and 83-71 in a first round game at SBU's Reilly Center in 2010 (SBU was a #8 seed, DU was a #9 in 2010).

THE BRACKET
DU is 0-2 against the teams remaining on its side of the bracket: did not play No. 5 UMass, did not play No. 4 Saint Louis and 0-2 vs. No. 1 St. Bonaventure.

AN INTERESTING FACT
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).

AND ANOTHER
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).