G27 | DUQUESNE (18-8, 8-5) at SAINT LOUIS (17-9, 9-4)
Sat., Feb. 18, 2023 • 8:00 pm ET • St. Louis, Mo. • Chaifetz Arena (10,600)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ / Bally Sports Midwest with Scott Warmann & Scott Highmark
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey

Duquesne (18-8, 8-5), winner of five of six, hits the road for the first time in two weeks when it heads to Missouri to take on Saint Louis (17-9, 9-4) on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN+). The Dukes and Billikens are in the thick of the battle for one of four Atlantic 10 Championship double byes.

Duquesne, which completed a three-game homestand with a 76-62 win over Saint Joseph's on Wednesday, has opened the month of February with four-straight wins for the first time since the 1970-71 NCAA Tournament team (No. 15 AP, 21-4) started 7-0.

DU is 2-4 on the road with A-10 wins at Saint Joseph's and GW. SLU is 12-3 at home, with the lone A-10 loss coming at the hands of VCU in a game that featured 11 ties and 16 lead changes.

The Dukes have turned up the defense in their past four games, holding their last four opponents to an average of 58.8 ppg. Duquesne has turned 78 opponent turnovers (19.5/g.) into 96 points (+42) over that span.

The Dukes had the fourth-highest NET ranking among A-10 schools (109) through Wednesday.

TRENDING

• DU, which tripled last season's win total (6-24) with Wednesday's victory over Saint Joe's, is on pace for the biggest one season turnaround in school history (see page 12 of PDF notes).
• DU's 15 home wins (15-3) are tied for third-most all time and one shy of the school record (16-0 in 1950 & 16-1 in 1972).
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 74.3 ppg. (up +9.1 ppg.). The Dukes have topped the 90-point mark five times and are 16-3 when scoring 70 or more.
• DU's assists per game average is up +5.4/g. from last year (from 10.0 to 15.4). The Dukes have assisted on 63 percent of their field goals (71 of 113) in their past four games.
• DU's .366 3-pt percentage is its best under Keith Dambrot (current best is .350 in 2017-18). The school record is .375 set in 1990.
• G Jimmy Clark III, leads DU with a 12.8 ppg. average in A-10 play. Clark III, who has emerged as one of the most disruptive defenders in the A-10, leads the conference in steals (63) and steals/g. (2.4). His 2.40 spg. ranks T8th nationally (thru Wed.).
• G Dae Dae Grant, who has scored in double digits 22 times (20+ eight times), has five games with five or more 3's. Grant, who went over the 1,500-pt. career mark on Jan. 28 at UMass, has played in a team-high 113 g.
• Tevin Brewer has handed out a team-high 76 assists despite missing four games due to injuries. His 2.81 assist/turnover ratio is  the 2nd best in the A-10 and ranked 19th nationally thru Wed. Brewer, who scored 16 vs. SJU, is second in A-10 3-pt percentage at .441.
• Brewer (.441) and Grant (.400) rank 2nd and 7th in the A-10 in 3-point percentage through Wednesday.

DUKES AND BILLIKENS
Series Record: Duquesne leads 17-16
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 10-6
At St. Louis: Saint Louis leads 8-5
Neutral Site: Tied 2-2
A-10 Regular Season: Saint Louis leads 14-13
A-10 Championship: Saint Louis leads 2-1
Dambrot vs. Saint Louis: 4-3

• This is the 34th game between Duquesne and Saint Louis, with the Dukes holding a 17-16 series lead. SLU leads 14-13 in Atlantic 10 regular season play. In games at St. Louis, SLU leads 8-5. The Dukes have won four of the past six in the series, including an 82-68 win in the last meeting at Chaifetz Arena (Feb. 5, 2020). The two met in Pittsburgh last season (a 77-53 Billikens win). The 2020-21 game was not played due to the pandemic.
• Austin Rotroff is the only member of the current DU roster who has played at Chaifetz Arena in a Duquesne uniform, logging 2:59 in 2020. Jimmy Clark III played at SLU as a freshman at VCU (2/21/20) and Tre Williams played at Chaifetz as a sophomore while at Indiana State (12/15/20).
• Saint Louis had won seven of eight - including five in a row, before DU's upset win over the No. 10 (AP) Billikens at Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 27, 2014. The Dukes have won nine of 15 since, including the upset win.
• SLU was picked to finish second in the A-10 preseason poll - 13 spots ahead of Duquesne.

WORTH NOTING

• It took the 2022-23 Dukes - with a roster that features 10 newcomers (five transfers & five freshmen) - eight games to exceed last year's win total (6-24). The Dukes opened 7-1.
• DU, which had its complete regular roster rotation intact for the first time on Dec. 28 at Dayton (game #14), has had all of its key rotation players available for just four games.
• 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 then 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).
• This is the third time since Duquesne began conference play (1976-77) that a DU team has 18 wins through its first 26 games - two have come under Keith Dambrot: 1981 (18-8) & 2020 (18-8) are the others.
• Duquesne's 66-55 win over DePaul on Dec. 14 was the program's first over a Big East school since an 86-82 home victory over West Virginia on Nov. 25, 2002.
• Duquesne's top seven scorers are transfers: Dae Dae Grant (Miami, Ohio), Jimmy Clark III (NW Fla. College), R.J. Gunn (Lenoir-Rhyne), Joe Reece (Bowling Green), Tre Williams (Indiana State), Tevin Brewer (FIU) and Quincy McGriff (Salt Lake CC).
• DU has erased three double-digit first half deficits to win this season: 14 vs. Ball State (down 18-4), 16 vs. Indiana State (down 20-4) and 11 vs. Loyola Chicago (down 26-15). The Dukes have 20 double-digit comeback wins under Keith Dambrot (all in the past four seasons).
• The Dukes did not trail in seven of their wins, including four times in A-10 play: South Carolina State, DePaul, Winthrop, VCU, at Saint Joseph's, at GW & vs. Saint Joe's.

LAST GAME: DUQUESNE 76, SAINT JOSEPH'S 62
Feb. 15, 2023 • UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse • Pittsburgh, Pa.

• Duquesne never trailed in posting a season sweep of the Hawks.
• Tevin Brewer led DU with 16 points. Tre Williams added 13 points and Dae Dae Grant finished with 10 for Duquesne which shot 50 percent. Jimmy Clark had eight points, six rebounds, three steals and a career-high nine assists.
• The Dukes outscored the Hawks 24-5 in bench points.
• DU forced 11 SJU turnovers in jumping out to a 39-24 halftime lead.
• It was the seventh wire-to-wire win for the Dukes (fourth in A-10 play with the others coming vs. VCU, at Saint Joe's & at GW).
• Jimmy Clark III's nine assists were four more than his previous career high. Clark III added three more steals to bring his Atlantic 10-leading total to 63.
• Tevin Brewer reached the 400 career assists mark on Jimmy Clark III 3-pointer at the 16:20 mark of the first half.
• The Duquesne lead reached 23 three times, the last of which came at 72-49 with under five minutes left. DU maintained a double-digit lead from the 9:19 mark of the first half on.