GAME 7
UC Irvine (6-1) vs. Duquesne (4-2)
Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023 | 7:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
 
Stream: ESPN+ with Josh Taylor & Ellis Cannon
Radio: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)
 
Game Notes | Record Book | Media Center | TV/Radio Spotter Chart | Live Stats | Watch | Listen
 
Opening Tip
 
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team wraps up the first month of the 2023-24 season Wednesday, Nov. 29, with a 7:00 p.m. tip against UC Irvine at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
- The Dukes finished the Cornhusker Classic with a record of 2-1 (.667) after falling to host Nebraska in the final game of the tournament, 89-79, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Senior guard Dae Dae Grant led four players in double figures for Duquesne with a season-high 24 points, converting seven of his 16 shots from the floor while going a perfect 9-for-9 at the free-throw line.
 
- Sophomore guard Kareem Rozier added 16 for the Dukes at Nebraska, senior guard Jimmy Clark III tallied 15 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists and off the bench forward Fousseyni Drame contributed 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
- Senior guard Dae Dae Grant enters Wednesday's game ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in scoring with an average of 20.8 points per game, while senior guard Jimmy Clark III tops the conference in steals (16), an average of 2.67 per contest. 
 
- Forward Tre Williams is 61 points shy of 1,000 for his career and is one of four Dukes that could eclipse the plateau this season. Twins Fousseyni Drame and Hassan Drame own career totals of 952 and 728 career points, respectively, while forward Andrei Savrasov has scored 891 career points.
 
- Guard Dae Dae Grant looks to score 1,000 points in two seasons with the Dukes after pacing Duquesne last year with 511 points, an average of 15.5 per contest. Grant has scored 1,807 points at the NCAA Division I level. He is also 193 points shy of 2,000 for his career.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III scored 404 points in his first season at Duquesne last season and owns 638 career points entering Wednesday's game against UC Irvine. Clark III also needs 56 steals to crack the top 10 in program history for thefts, as Andy Sisinni (1981-84) currently ranks 10th with 148.
 
- When holding opponents to less than 70 points under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has posted a record of 58-16 (.784), including a 2-0 mark during the 2023-24 season.
 
- The Dukes take to the road after hosting the Anteaters, traveling to Huntington, W.Va., for a 7:00 p.m. tip against Marshall Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Cam Henderson Center.
 
Scouting the Anteaters – A member of the Big West, the two programs have met just once prior to Wednesday's game, with the Dukes earning a 76-54 victory over the Anteaters in a game that was played at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, Dec. 19, 2021 ... Leon Ayers III scored 19 of his career-high 24 points in the second half to pace Duquesne in its win over UC Irvine at Lebron James Arena ... Ayers III shot 7-for-15 from the floor and 8-for-8 at the free-throw line and also added six rebounds, four assists and a block ... Tyson Acuff contributed 16 points off the bench in the win over the Anteaters on the strength of a 4-for-5 performance from beyond the arc, while Kevin Easley, Jr., posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds ... UC Irvine is led by head coach Russell Turner (Hampden-Sydney '92), who is in his 14th season ... Turner has led the Anteaters to the postseason seven times, including the NCAA Tournament in 2015 and 2019 as well as three appearances in the NIT (2014, 2017, 2023) and two appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) (2013, 2016) ... UC Irvine has five players that average between 10.0 and 12.7 points per game ... Redshirt senior guard Justin Hohn paces the Anteaters in scoring at 12.7 ppg and also averages 4.1 rebounds per contest ... UC Irvine enters Wednesday's game winners of six consecutive games, including a 70-60 win over #16/20 USC Nov. 14, 2023. 
 
Head Coach Keith Dambrot (Seventh Year at Duquesne | 26th Year Overall) – Keith Dambrot, who built Akron into one of the most successful - and most respected - programs in the Mid-American Conference over 13 seasons, was named head men's basketball coach at Duquesne University on March 28, 2017. The veteran coach wasted no time making an impact on the DU program with 65 wins in his first four seasons. His 95 wins already rank fifth on the Dukes' all-time victory list and his two 20-win seasons - in just six years - are tied for the third-most in program history. Dambrot reached a significant career milestone on Feb. 8, 2023 when he posted his 500th career victory with a 75-52 triumph over George Mason.
 
Nebraska Leftovers – The finale of the Cornhusker Classic marked the first meeting between the two programs since 1971 ... The all-time series between Nebraska and Duquesne is tied, 2-2 ... The Dukes outrebounded the Cornhuskers, 37-29, including a 14-7 edge in offensive caroms ... Tied, 51-51, Nebraska used a 17-3 run in the second half to grab a 68-54 edge ... A 12-1 burst by the Dukes trimmed their deficit to 78-72 with 3:55 remaining, but the Cornhuskers got a jumper from Brice Williams and a three-pointer from Kensei Tominaga to push their advantage back to double digits ... The contest featured seven ties and nine lead changes.
 
Cornhusker Clippings – Duquesne finished with a 2-1 (.667) record in the Cornhusker Classic, averaging 80.3 points in the three contests while shooting 46.7 percent (86-for-184) from the field, including 37.5 percent (33-for-88) from beyond the arc ... Senior Dae Dae Grant led the Dukes in the Cornhusker Classic, averaging 22.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the three games ... Also averaging double figures in scoring over the three games of the Cornhusker Classic were guards Jimmy Clark III (17.7 ppg) and Kareem Rozier (11.0 ppg) and forward Fousseyni Drame (10.3 ppg) ... The Dukes averaged 7.3 blocks in the three games of the Cornhusker Classic, including a team-high seven from forward David Dixon.   
 
Concentration – Senior guard Dae Dae Grant has proven to be adept at the free-throw line during his career, and those numbers have only be amplified in his two seasons at Duquesne. En route to a season-high 24 points at Nebraska, Grant finished 9-for-9 at the charity stripe. He has now converted each of his last 30 attempts at the chalk since the 2023-24 season opener against Cleveland State, when he finished 8-for-11. The school record for the Dukes for consecutive free throws made is owned by Dave Ricketts (1954-57), who converted 42 straight during the 1956-57 season. In two seasons at Duquesne, Grant has converted 88.6 percent (124-for-140) of his attempts at the free-throw line.   
 
At The Rim – Duquesne has opened the 2023-24 season doing a terrific job of protecting the rim, as the Dukes have blocked 35 shots in six games, an average of 5.83 per contest that is tops in the Atlantic 10. Forward David Dixon paces Duquesne individually with 12 rejections in six games, while forward Halil Barre has tallied seven blocks in the last two games, including a career-high four in a 77-58 win over Rider. Dixon owns at least one block in each of Duquesne's six games this season as well as 36 in 33 career contests, an average of 1.09 per game.
 
Did You Know? Senior guard Dae Dae Grant has produced perfect shooting nights from the field (8-for-8), from beyond the arc (6-for-6) and at the free-throw line (9-for-9) in his two seasons at Duquesne, with each mark a high under seventh-year head coach Keith Dambrot. Grant was 8-for-8 from the floor and 6-for-6 from three in the 2022-23 season opener against Montana, a 91-63 win, and 9-for-9 at the free-throw line at Nebraska.
 
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