G28 | DUQUESNE (6-21, 1-14) at GW (11-16, 7-8)
Wed., Mar. 2, 2022 • 7:00 pm ET • Washington, D.C. • Smith Center (5,000)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Byron Kerr & Dave Earl
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)

Duquesne (6-21, 1-14) heads to Washington, D.C. for its final road game of the 2021-22 season when it takes on George Washington (11-16, 7-8) on Wednesday, Mar. 2 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

This is the second meeting in two weeks between the Dukes and Colonials who played in Pittsburgh on Feb. 16 (73-52 GW win).

The Dukes, who are coming off a 70-54 defeat at Rhode Island on Saturday, are looking to snap a 14-game losing streak against a GW team that is 7-5 at home this season.

GW is looking to get back on the winning track following back-to-back losses to Richmond (84-71) and at George Mason (69-62 on Sunday afternoon).

Kevin Easley Jr. and Jackie Johnson III led the Dukes with 13 and 10 points respectively at URI. Toby Okani added a career-high 11 rebounds in Saturday's game. DU, playing its first game without starting center Tre Williams (10.8, 5.7, 54 blocks, team-high 31.4 min./g.), was outscored 40-16 in the paint.

TRENDING

• Duquesne, which opened A-10 play with a 78-74 win at UMass and followed that with a 72-71 last-second defeat at Fordham, has scored 62 or fewer points in its past 13 games (721 points/55.5 ppg. over that span).
• DU is averaging 58.0 ppg. on .380 shooting in conference play.
• Duquesne ranks fourth nationally in fewest fouls per game (13.5). Only four schools committed fewer total fouls than DU's 364 thru Sunday.
• Duquesne's 11.8 turnovers/g. are the third-fewest in school history. The school record low of 11.0 was set in 2013-14.
• 6-11 redshirt freshman C Mounir Hima, who is only in his fourth season of organized basketball, is averaging 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds with six blocks in his past four games. His nine points at St. Bonaventure (on 3-of-3 shooting) were a career high, as were his 10 rebounds in his first career start vs. Davidson on Feb. 23.
• Second-year freshman Tyson Acuff, who leads the Dukes with a .443 (27-of-61) 3-point pct, shot 294 (10-of-34) from the arc last season. He is averaging 9.3 ppg. in his past four games.
• First-year TCU transfer Kevin Easley Jr.'s 16 points vs. Davidson were his most since he had 18 vs. Bowling Green on Dec. 1. Easley Jr. added a career-high five assists vs. the Wildcats. He followed that with a team-high 13 points at Rhode Island.
• Second-year freshman Toby Okani, grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and tied his career-best with three steals at Rhode Island. Okani scored at career-high 14 points at GW last year (the Jan. 2 game).
• DU's 14 assists vs. Davidson were its most since a season-high 15 in the opener vs. Rider. The Dukes followed that by assisting on 11 of 18 field goals at URI.
• The balanced Dukes' top four scorers are averaging within 0.8 points of each other: Primo Spears (10.8), Tre Williams (10.8), Kevin Easley Jr. (10.4) and Leon Ayers III (10.0). Spears (five times), Ayers III (four times) & and Jackie Johnson III (8.4 ppg.) (twice) have scored 20 or more this season. Eight Dukes have posted double-digit scoring games this year.
• The Dukes have used 12 starting lineups, including five in Atlantic 10 play. Ten players have started at least once. Tre Williams, who was injured on Feb. 23 vs. Davidson, was the only player to start every game this season at the time of his injury. DU has used six different starting lineups in its past six games.
• The depleted DU frontcourt took another hit on Feb. 23 when Tre Williams (10.8, 5.7, 54 blocks, team-high 31.4 min/g.), was forced to leave the Davidson game with a knee injury with just over one minute left in the first half. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks following Feb. 28 arthroscopic meniscus surgery. The Dukes are already without 6-10 veteran big man Austin Rotroff (foot, out 4-6 weeks) and grad transfer forward R.J. Gunn (preseason ankle injury).

A DIFFICULT PATH
According to Kenpom.com (through Sunday), DU has the toughest conference strength of schedule among A-10 teams by a wide margin. The Dukes have faced three of the top four teams in the current standings twice (Davidson, Dayton and St. Bonaventure). Here's a look at the top seven:
 

SCHOOL	TOUGHEST A-10 SOS
1.  DUQUESNE	+7.14
2.  Saint Joseph's	+5.58
3.  La Salle	+5.47
4.  George Washington	+5.18
5.  VCU	+4.63
6.  Massachusetts	+4.47
7.  George Mason	+4.18

DUKES AND COLONIALS
Series Record: GW leads 54-34
At Pittsburgh: Tied 21-21
At Washington, DC: GW leads 29-11
Neutral Site: GW leads 4-2
A-10 Regular Season: GW leads 47-29
A-10 Championship: GW leads 4-2
Dambrot vs. GW/at Duquesne: 6-4/6-3
Current Streak: GW won two

• This is the 89th meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 21, 1932 ... GW leads the series 54-34, including a 47-29 advantage in Atlantic 10 regular season play ... in games played in D.C., GW leads 29-11 ... the Dukes have won six of the nine meetings between the two under Keith Dambrot ... the Colonials took the first meeting between the two this season by a 73-52 score in Pittsburgh on Feb. 16.
• GW (89th meeting) is Duquesne's second most-frequent all-time opponent, trailing only St. Bonaventure (129 games) on the all-time list.
• Last year, the Dukes and Colonials met on consecutive days (Jan. 2 & 3) in Washington, D.C. in a pandemic-related scheduled change, with the Dukes winning the first game (75-63) and dropping the second (73-75). It was the first time in the then 105-year history of the program that Duquesne played the same team on back-to-back days. Only three members of the 2021-22 Dukes - Toby Okani, Tyson Acuff & Austin Rotroff - saw action in the two games.

LAST GAME
Rhode Island 70, Duquesne 54
Feb. 26, 2022 • Ryan Center • Kingston, R.I.
Game 27 Recap

• Kevin Easley Jr. (13 points) and Jackie Johnson III (10 points) were the lone Dukes in double figures in the loss.
• Toby Okani pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds for the Dukes, who were outscored 40-16 in the paint in their first game without injured center Tre Williams.
• The Rams outshot the Dukes 47 percent to 33 percent.
• Duquesne assisted on 11 of its 18 field goals.
• Rhode Island's largest lead was +21 at 44-23 with 18:22 remaining ... Duquesne's largest lead came at 2-0 .... there were three lead changes before Ishmael El-Amin gave URI the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 16:44 left in the first half ... Rhode Island led for 37:26 ... Duquesne led for 1:30.