G3 | SOUTH CAROLINA STATE (0-2) at DUQUESNE (1-1)
Mon., Nov. 14, 2022 • 7:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)

TELEVISION: CBSSN with John Sadak & Michael O'Donnell
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (1-1) returns home to face South Carolina State (0-2) in its second game of the Tribute Classic presented by Kentucky Tourism on Monday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by CBSSN with John Sadak and Michael O'Donnell on the call.

DU played the first of its three games in the Tribute Classic on Friday at No. 4 (AP) Kentucky on Friday (L, 52-77).

Duquesne is a team in transition with 10 first-year players on the roster. Sixth-year DU head Coach Keith Dambrot who entered the season second among Atlantic 10 coaches with 484 wins, has seen nine players make their Duquesne debuts in the Dukes' first two games.

South Carolina State, in its first season under former West Virginia assistant Erik Martin, is coming off a 80-61 defeat at Tennessee State on Saturday. The Bulldogs put a scare into in-state rival South Carolina, dropping an 80-77 decision to the Gamecocks in Columbia on Nov. 8.

DU's final Tribute Classic game will be vs. North Florida on Nov. 21.

THE SERIES vs. SC STATE

• South Carlina State University, located in Orangeburg, S.C., competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
• This is the second meeting between the Dukes and Bulldogs, with DU owning an 83-68 home win on Dec. 16, 2015.
• South Carolina State has a retooled lineup under first year coach Erik Martin who came to the Bulldogs following a long assistant coaching stint at West Virginia.
• SC State was picked to finish tied for seventh in the MEAC preseason poll.
• 5-foot-11 junior guard Rashaan Edwards, who scored 13 points to along with seven rebounds and four assists in SC State's season-opening 80-77 loss at South Carolina, was a preseason Third Team All-MEAC pick. Five Bulldogs scored in double digits in the loss at South Carolina.
• SC State's first 11 games are on the road, with their first home game not until Dec. 13 vs. UNC-Asheville.
• Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot is 1-0 vs. the Bulldogs, with the lone meeting coming when Dambrot was at Akron.
• Duquesne is 17-3 all-time against the schools that comprise the current Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, including a 16-2 mark at home.

LAST GAME:  No. 4 (AP) KENTUCKY 77, DUQUESNE 52
Nov. 11, 2022 • Rupp Arena • Lexington, Ky.

• Duquesne, which shot .303, had a Dambrot Era high 11 shots blocked.
• DU got 3-pointers from six players (7-of-26, .269 overall).
• Kentucky, which shot 46 percent for the game, was 11-of-19 from deep. UK's .579 success rate from 3-point was the best by an opponent against a Dambrot-coached DU team.
• Jimmy Clark III's 11 points - all of which came in the first half - eclipsed his previous career high of nine set vs. James Madison while at VCU in 2020-21. Clark also tied his career high with four steals.
• Austin Rotroff's eight points off the bench were his most since his 10-point outing vs. New Hampshire on Dec. 11, 2021. Rotroff also added a team-high six rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
• Tevin Brewer played 15 minutes in his Duquesne debut. Andy Barba also saw his first game action.
• Duquesne's largest lead came at 3-0... Kentucky's largest lead was the 25-point final margin ... there was one tie and three lead changes before Ugonna Onyenso gave the Wildcats the lead for good on dunk with 14:03 left in the first half ... Kentucky led for 37:13 ... Duquesne led for 1:51.

NOTABLE

• DU, which will open the season with a pair of 1,000-point scorers in R.J. Gunn Jr. (1,183 at D-II Lenoir-Rhyne) and Dae Dae Grant (1,171 at Miami, Ohio), could finish the year with as many as five 1,000-point scorers as Kevin Easley Jr. (needs 144), Tevin Brewer (needs 238) and Tre Williams (needs 267) all have a realistic shot at reaching 1,000 in 2022-23. The last time DU had three players with 1,000 points on the floor at the same time was in 1998 (Kevin Price, Mike James and Nick Bosnic). Duquesne has never had four players with 1,000 points on the floor at the same time.
• Duquesne is facing 13 teams from 13 conferences in non-league play: Atlantic Sun (North Florida), Big East (DePaul), Big Sky (Montana), Big South (Winthrop), Big West (UC Santa Barbara), Conference USA (Marshall), Mid-American (Ball State), Mid-Eastern Athletic (South Carolina State), Missouri Valley (Indiana State), Patriot (Colgate), Southeastern (Kentucky), Southwestern Athletic (Alabama State) and Western Athletic (New Mexico State).
• DU is playing five first-time opponents in Alabama State, Ball State, North Florida, UC Santa Barbara and Winthrop.
• Six of DU's non-league foes finished last year ranked among the Top 150 in the final NET: Kentucky (9), New Mexico State (78), DePaul (103), Colgate (124), UC Santa Barbara (143) and Winthrop (147).
• Duquesne has won 25 of 32 nonconference home games under sixth-year head coach Keith Dambrot. Overall, the Dukes are 34-19 overall in regular season non-league play under Dambrot.
• Duquesne will play a school record 20 home games in 2022-23.