G11 | DEPAUL (6-4, 0-1) at DUQUESNE (7-3)
Wed., Dec. 14, 2022 • 7:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Tim Benz & Ellis Cannon
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (7-3) welcomes DePaul (6-4) to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1990 as the Blue Demons are set to visit UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Wed., Dec. 14 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

This is the 29th meeting in a series that dates back to 1939.

Last year, in the first meeting since 1991, DePaul defeated DU 87-67 in Chicago. Only three members of the current roster (Tre Williams, Austin Rotroff and Kevin Easley Jr.) saw action in that game.

This is the seventh of nine-straight home games for Duquesne, which is looking to bounce back from consecutive losses to Marshall (71-82) and New Mexico State (60-73).

DePaul, a member of the Big East Conference, is the first "Power Six" basketball school (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12 & Big EAST) to play the Dukes at home since West Virginia (then a Big East member) on Dec. 13, 2008.

Duquesne is 22-7 in non-conference home games (6-2 this year) - including wins at four different "home" venues - since 2018-19.

Duquesne is 91-91 all-time vs. schools that comprise the current Big East Conference.

TRENDING

• DePaul is just the fifth P5/Big East opponent, other than Pitt, Penn State or West Virginia, to face the Dukes on campus since 1988. The others are: Auburn (12/13/90, L 71-75), #10 (AP) Florida State (12/15/92, W 91-84), Villanova (3/21/94, L 66-82 NIT) and #13 (AP) Boston College (12/27/05, L 69-81).
• This is the seventh of nine-straight home games for the Dukes, who won't leave UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse until their Dec. 28 Atlantic 10 opener at Dayton.
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 76.3 ppg. through 10 games (+11.1 ppg.).
• DU's assists per game average is up +5.3/g. from last year (from 10.0 to 15.3).
• DU's .372 3-point percentage is the program's best under Keith Dambrot (current is .350 in 2017-18) and on school record pace (.375 in 1989-90).
• Guard Jimmy Clark III, who played as a freshman and sophomore at VCU, has scored 16, 19 & 16 points in DU's past three games. Clark's DI career-high entering the season was nine. He is 10-of-25 from the arc over that span. Prior to the Ball State game, Clark had never hit more than one 3-pointer in a DI game.
• Guard Dae Dae Grant is shooting .452 from 3-point (33-of-73). Grant, who has three games with five or more 3-pointers, ranked 15th nationally in 3-pointers/g. (3.30) and T15th in total 3-point field goals (33) thru Sunday.
• Austin Rotroff has come off the bench to lead the Dukes in rebounding in seven times. The 6-10 forward ranked first nationally in offensive rebound percentage (per KenPom) through Sunday.
• Tevin Brewer, who missed the opener (appendix), has handed out a team-high 27 assists in eight games. He is averaging 12.0 ppg. (8-of-12 from 3-point) in his past three games.
• Freshman Kareem Rozier has come off the bench to lead the team in assists three times. Rozier has 23 assists and three turnovers this season.
• Nine Dukes (Brewer, Clark III, Dixon, Grant, Hronsky, McGriff, Reece, Rotroff & Williams) have posted double-digit scoring games on the young season.

DUKES VS. BLUE DEMONS
Series Record:  DePaul leads 15-13
At Pittsburgh:  Duquesne leads 9-4
At Chicago, Ill.:  DePaul leads 11-4
Dambrot vs. DePaul:  0-1 (at Duquesne)

• DePaul leads the series 15-13, but Duquesne holds a 9-4 margin in Pittsburgh. This is the second meeting in a 2-for-1 series (DePaul won 87-67 in Chicago last year). The current series will conclude with a second game in Chicago in 2023-24. These are the first games between the two since a home-and-home series swept by DePaul in 1990 & 1991. This is Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot's second meeting with the Blue Demons.
• Duquesne and DePaul met five times in the 1950s, six times in the 1960s and nine times in the 1970s in the series that dates back to 1939.
• Duquesne is 91-91 all-time vs. schools that make up the current Big East. DU's last game vs. a Big East opponent prior to last year was Nov. 11, 2012 at Georgetown (L, 55-61 in Jim Ferry's second game as head coach). The Dukes faced both Butler and Xavier in 2013 when both were members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Duquesne's last win over any Big East team was over West Virginia (86-82) at A.J. Palumbo Center on Nov. 25, 2002 (Danny Nee vs. John Beilein).
• DePaul has won three of its last four, including a 78-72 OT win over first-year Atlantic 10 member Loyola Chicago on Dec. 3. The Blue Demons, who are coming off a 91-70 win over UTEP, are 2-1 on the road.

PAST 10 MEETINGS

DATE	SITE	W/L	SCORE	MARGIN
Jan. 30, 1973	H	W	85-71	+14
Feb. 27, 1974	A	L	85-94	-9
Feb. 16, 1975	H	W	66-64	+2
Feb. 3, 1976	A	L	75-89	-14
Feb. 3, 1977	H	W	84-72	+12
Feb. 7, 1978*	A	L	58-83	-25
Jan. 31, 1989	A	L	63-85	-22
Jan. 9, 1990	H	L	55-68	-13
Jan. 26, 1991	A	L	62-75	-13
Dec. 7, 2021	A	L	67-87	-20

* DePaul ranked No. #11 (AP) in 1978

LAST GAME: NEW MEXICO STATE 73, DUQUESNE 60
Dec. 11, 2022 • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse • Pittsburgh, Pa.

• DU, which trailed by 17 with under 12 minutes to left, cut the lead to single digits twice, but couldn't close the gap as a .327 shooting day (4-of-25 from 3-point) proved too much to overcome.
• Jimmy Clark III led DU with 16 points. Dae Dae Grant and Joe Reece added 12 points each. Austin Rotroff had eight rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.
• NMSU created separation with an 11-2 run to end the half (led 35-27 at intermission).
• The Dukes cut it to single digits on a Clark III three-point play that made it 62-53 at the 4:16 mark. DU pulled to within nine one last time at 64-55 on a pair of Reece free throws with 2:45 left, but could get no closer.
• New Mexico State, which shot .448, outscored Duquesne 34-22 in the paint.
• Duquesne went 1-of-11 from the arc in the first half and 3-of-14 from deep in the second half.
• Duquesne's largest lead was six, at 8-2, with 15:56 left in the first half ... New Mexico State's largest lead was 17, at 53-36, with 11:36 left ... there were six ties and five lead changes before NMSU took the lead for good on a Kyle Feit 3-pointer that made that made it 24-21 with 5:29 left in the first half ... New Mexico State led for 29:34 ... Duquesne led for 6:40.