RICHMOND, VA - Images from Friday’s 2021 Atlantic 10 Mens Basketball Championships Game 7 #1 St. Bonaventure vs. #9 Duquesne, held at Siegel Center on the campus of VCU. Mandatory Credit: Keith Lucas/ Sideline Media
Keith Lucas/Atlantic 10 Conference

2020-21 SEASON REVIEW

Team Hughes Dambrot SBU

 

In a college basketball season like no other, Duquesne survived a number of starts and stops, cancellations and postponements - as well as an early-January overhaul of the starting lineup - to finish at 9-9, marking the first time since 2008-12 that Duquesne finished at .500 or better for four consecutive seasons.

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A GRAND OPENING

Duquesne opened UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse with a wire-to-wire ESPN2 televised
 win over Dayton on Feb. 2

"It’s the perfect size.  It’s well done.  It’s different. It’s not a cookie-cutter, NBA arena.  It’s really a great fan experience.  That’s what’s kind of unique about this building it’s not like any other building that any one has seen."   

– Head Coach KEITH DAMBROT

Dambrot URI

 

The Dukes who went 694 days without an on-campus home game due to renovation work to UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse, made their debut in the new building with a 69-64 win over Dayton on Feb. 2. DU went on to defeat Rhode Island on Feb. 27 to go 2-0 in their lone games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. 
 

UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse
Team Dayton UPMC
Weathers Team Dayton
Team Dambrot Dayton
Dunn-Martin URI
Hughes URI
Bekelja Dayton
toby okani
Misc fan
Hughes Dayton

 

Duquesne went 2-0 - and trailed for a grand total of 19 seconds - in its two games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

 

 

 

Playing in the midst of a pandemic, the Dukes, whose 18 games played were the program’s fewest since 1938-39, dealt with a two-week preseason quarantine, a month-long December pause and another nearly three-week shutdown in early February to battle back to win just the school’s fourth Atlantic 10 Championship opening round game in 26 years. 

Weathers A10 Richmond
Dunn-Martin A-10 Richmond
Acuff A-10 Richmond
Hughes Richmond A10
Okani A-10 Richmond

SEASON-ENDING TRENDS

misc ball
  • Duquesne finished the season ranked 5th nationally in 3-point pct. defense (.284). The Dukes led the A-10 in 3-pt defense (.279) and ranked second in FG% defense (.404) in league games only.
     
  • The Dukes also ranked among the Top 50 nationally in blocked shots per game (37th at 4.4).
     
  • Marcus Weathers, who became the first DU player since 2011 to earn All-Atlantic 10 honors in two-straight seasons, finished at Duquesne with 1,324 career points. Weathers went over the 1,000-point mark in his three-year Duquesne career with his fourth point in the A-10 Championship win over Richmond. Weathers had 1,014 points in 79 games at DU (12.8 ppg.).
     
  • Tavian Dunn-Martin ended the year 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.
  • Leading the way for the 2020-21 Dukes was 6-5 senior forward Marcus Weathers (15.3, 7.5) and 6-8 senior center Michael Hughes (10.8, 7.9, 29 blocks), who formed one of the top inside tandems in the A-10. 
     
  • Weathers, who finished with a team-high 1,324 career points (1,014 at Duquesne), scored in double digits in 16 of 18 games, while Hughes scored in double digits in 10 of his last 11 games in the red and blue. 
     
  • Hughes (.562) and Weathers (.514), who finished ranked first and ninth on Duquesne’s career field goal percentage list, combined for 11 double-doubles on the season (six for Hughes and five for Weathers).
     
  • Michael Hughes .56152 career field goal percentage barely broke the school career mark of .56136 set by former second round NBA Draft pick Derrick Alston (1991-94).
     

HONORS - SECOND TEAM ALL-ATLANTIC 10