G16 | VCU (10-4, 1-0) at DUQUESNE (11-4, 1-1)       
Wed., Jan. 4, 2023 • 7:00 pm ET • Pittsburgh, Pa. • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Alex Panormios & Ellis Cannon
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58), Jarrett Durham ('71) & Tad Maurey

Duquesne (11-4, 1-1), which got back on the winning track with a 72-61 New Year's Eve win over Rhode Island, completes a two-game homestand vs. VCU (10-4, 1-0) on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

The Dukes, who snapped a 17-game regular-season Atlantic 10 losing streak vs. Rhody, also ended an inherited eight-game home A-10 skid with Saturday's win.

VCU, which defeated La Salle, 80-67, at Siegel Center in its A-10 opener on Saturday, comes to Pittsburgh riding a five-game win streak.

This is the Rams' first road game since Dec. 3 (L, 73-83 at Temple). Duquesne used a 16-2 second-half run to pull away from Rhode Island.

Joe Reece led three Dukes in double figures with a season-high 18 points. Dae Dae Grant had 14 and Jimmy Clark III, who began his collegiate career at VCU, added 13 points in his first game off the bench.

Duquesne, which is 22-21 in Atlantic 10 home games under Keith Dambrot, is 0-4 vs. VCU at home.

TRENDING

• The return of R.J. Gunn (missed 10g), Tevin Brewer (3g) and Kareem Rozier (1g) at Dayton marked the first time the Dukes had their complete roster available this season.
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 74.9 ppg. (+9.7 ppg.). The Dukes have topped the 90-point mark three times and are 5-0 when scoring 80 or more.
• DU's assists per game average is up +5.3/g. from last year (from 10.0 to 15.3).
• DU's .366 3-point pct. is its best under Keith Dambrot (current best is .350 in 2017-18).
• Guard Dae Dae Grant, who has scored in double digits in 13 of 15 games, is shooting .431 from 3-point (47-of-109). Grant, who has four games with five or more 3-pointers, ranked T21st nationally in 3-pointers/g. (3.13) and T9th in 3-point FGs (47) thru Dec. 31. Grant, who went over the 1,400-point career mark vs. Winthrop, is expected to make his 100th career start vs. VCU.
• Guard Jimmy Clark III, who scored 130 points in 33g as a freshman & sophomore at VCU, has scored 175 points in 15g at Duquesne. Clark III, who has scored in double digits in DU's past eight games, entered the season having never scored more than nine points in a D-I game.
• Tevin Brewer has handed out a team-high 38 assists despite missing four games due to injuries (3.8 assist/turnover ratio).
• Freshman Kareem Rozier has come off the bench to lead, or tie for the team lead, in assists four times. Rozier has 28 assists and nine turnovers this season (3.1-to-1 ratio).
• 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 Dec. 31.
• Bowling Green transfer Joe Reece is coming off a season-high 18-point game vs. Rhode Island.
• Grad student R.J. Gunn, who missed 10 games with a foot injury, scored seven points in 22 minutes off the bench at Dayton. It was his first appearance since Nov. 14. He followed that by going 3-of-6 from 3pt in his first start as a Duke on Sat. vs. Rhode Island.

DUKES AND RAMS
Series Record: VCU leads 8-1
At Pittsburgh: VCU leads 4-0
At Richmond: VCU leads 4-1
Neutral Site: Never met
A-10 Regular Season: VCU leads 8-1
A-10 Championship: Never met
Dambrot vs. VCU/at Duquesne: 1-8/1-3

• This is the tenth meeting between Duquesne and 11th-year A-10 member VCU. VCU leads the series 8-1. DU posted its first series win, 80-77 in OT, in Richmond on Mar. 3, 2020.
• This is the fifth meeting in Pittsburgh and third time the two will be meeting on campus (the first two matchups were a PPG Paints Arena).
• VCU, picked to finish third in the conference's preseason poll, is in its sixth season under head coach Mike Rhoades.
• Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot is 1-8 vs. VCU, with the first five meetings coming when Dambrot was at Akron. The last three losses while at UA came against his former Akron assistant, Shaka Smart. Dambrot's Zips lost to the Rams in overtime, 76-75, at Akron on Dec. 29, 2011. Dambrot's Akron team also fell to Anthony Grant's VCU team, 73-69 at Siegel Center on Dec. 17, 2008.
• VCU is 0-2 on the road with losses at Memphis (47-62) and Temple (73-83). The Rams own a neutral-site win over Pitt (71-67 in Brooklyn). This is VCU's first road game since at Temple on Dec. 3. The Rams are led by preseason first team all-A10 guard Ace Baldwin (13.0 ppg. 6.6 apg.).

WORTH NOTING

• It took the 2022-23 Dukes - with a roster that features 10 newcomers (five transfers and five freshmen) - just eight games to exceed last year's win total (6-24).
• Duquesne, picked to finish 15th of 15 teams in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, tied the school record for November wins set in 2008 and matched in 2020 (both 6-0). DU went 6-1 in November, with the lone loss coming at No. 4 (AP) Kentucky.
• This was just the fourth time in program history - and second time under Keith Dambrot - that the Dukes entered Atlantic 10 play with 10 wins (10-3). The others: 2007-08 (10-3), 2015-16 (10-3) & 2019-20 (10-2).
• Duquesne's 66-55 win over DePaul on Dec. 14 was the program's first over a Big East school since an 86-82 victory over West Virginia on Nov. 25, 2002 at A.J. Palumbo Center. The margin of victory was DU's largest over a Power 6 school since a 78-52 win over Penn State (Big Ten) at CONSOL Energy Center on Nov. 20, 2015 (under Jim Ferry).
• Ten Dukes (Brewer, Clark III, Dixon, Grant, Hronsky, McGriff, Reece, Rotroff, Rozier & Williams) posted double-digit scoring games in non-league play.
• DU has erased first half deficits of 14 (vs. Ball State, down 18-4) and 16 points (vs. Indiana State, down 20-4) to win this season. The Dukes have 19 double-digit comeback wins under Keith Dambrot (all have come in the past four seasons).
• The 2022-23 Dukes, who inherited a 16-game Atlantic 10 losing streak, put an end to that streak in their second conference game (a 72-61 New Year's Eve win over Rhode Island). The Rhody win also snapped an eight-game A-10 home skid.

LAST GAME: DUQUESNE 72, RHODE ISLAND 61
Dec. 31, 2022 • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse • Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Joe Reece led three Dukes in double figures with a season-high 18 points as Duquesne used a 16-2 second-half run to pull away from Rhode Island. Dae Dae Grant scored 14 and Jimmy Clark III added 13 points for the Dukes.
• Duquesne, which held URI to .356 from the field, shot .379. DU, led by three 3-pointers from R.J. Gunn, finished 9-of-20 (9-of-20) from the arc, while Rhody went 6-of-20 from deep.
• The Dukes, who assisted on 18 of 25 field goals, turned it over just six times.
• Tevin Brewer led the way with a game-high six assists in 25 turnover-free minutes.
• The win snapped a 17-game regular season Atlantic 10 losing streak for Duquesne. The 2022-23 Dukes inherited a 16-game streak. DU's previous A-10 win was at UMass on Jan. 8, 2022 (78-74). The win also halted an eight-game home conference skid.
• The fivesome of Williams, Reece, Gunn, Grant and Brewer was DU's fourth starting lineup combination this year.
• DU outscored URI 15-4 off turnovers and 16-6 in second chance points.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 13, at 61-48, with 9:08 left ... Rhode Island's largest lead was 16, at 28-22, with 5:07 left in the first half ... there were 10 ties and 13 lead changes in the game ... Duquesne took the lead for good on Austin Rotroff's layup that made that made it 47-46 with 13:31 left ... Rhode Island led for 7:58 ... Duquesne led for 26:41.