G28 | DUQUESNE (18-9, 8-6) at LA SALLE (13-14, 7-7)
Wed., Feb. 22, 2023 • 7:00 pm ET • Philadelphia, Pa. • Tom Gola Arena (3,400)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ with Kale Beers & Rich Tarr
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey

Duquesne (18-9, 8-6), which saw its four-game win streak snapped on Saturday at Saint Louis (L, 85-90), completes a two-game road trip at La Salle (13-14, 7-7) on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN+).

The Explorers, who saw their five-game win streak ended Saturday at George Mason (L, 66-70), have won their past three in a row at home.

Wednesday's matchup features the two winningest coaches in the Atlantic 10 in La Salle's Fran Dunphy (593 wins in 31 seasons) and Duquesne's Keith Dambrot (502 wins in 25 seasons).

Duquesne, which 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, is 2-6 on the road with A-10 wins at Saint Joseph's and GW.

DU, picked to finish last in the A-10 preseason poll, entered the week fifth in the conference standings, one game behind fourth-place Fordham. La Salle, picked 14th in the preseason, is in a tie for seventh.

The Dukes had the fourth-highest NET ranking among A-10 schools (110) through Sunday.

TRENDING

• DU, which tripled last season's win total (6-24) with its Feb. 15 victory over Saint Joseph's, is on pace for the biggest one season turnaround in school history (see page 12 of the PDF notes).
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 74.7 ppg. (up +9.5 ppg.). The Dukes have topped the 90-point mark five times and are 16-4 when scoring 70 or more.
• Duquesne, which has the fourth-highest scoring average in conference games only (73.1 ppg.), does not have a player ranked among the top 19 in individual scoring in A-10 games only. (Grant is 20th at 13.4 ppg.)
• DU's assists per game average is up +5.3/g. from last year (from 10.0 to 15.3).
• DU's .373 3-point percentage leads the A-10 and is its best under Keith Dambrot (current best is .350 in 2017-18). The school record is .375 set in 1990. The Dukes are averaging an A-10 best 9.1 3-pointers/g.
• G Jimmy Clark III, who has emerged as one of the most disruptive defenders in the A-10, leads the conference in steals (64) and is second in steals/g. (2.4). His 2.37 spg. ranked 12th nationally (thru Sun.).
• G Dae Dae Grant, who has scored in double digits 23 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, scored a team-high 22 at SLU.
• Tevin Brewer is 7-of-9 from 3-point in his past two games. Brewer leads the A-10 at .472 from the arc.
• Brewer (.472) and Grant (.406) rank 1st and 4th in the A-10 in 3-point percentage through Sunday.
• Tre Williams is tied for the A-10 lead in blocks/g. in conference games only at 1.5.

A PROVEN WINNER
Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot reached the 500 career victory mark on Feb. 8 vs. George Mason (75-52). Dambrot is the 27th active Division I coach to reach the 500-win mark. Of the 27, only eight have never coached at a Power 5/Big East school: Mark Few (Gonzaga), Greg Kampe (Oakland), Lennie Acuff (Bellhaven, Berry, Alabama Huntsville, Lipscomb), Fran Dunphy (Penn, Temple, La Salle), Scott Nagy (South Dakota State, Wright State), Ron Cottrell (Houston Christian) and Randy Bennett (Saint Mary's, Calif.) are the others.

A-10 COACHES BY CAREER WINS
thru games of Dec. 19

Wins	Coach	Season	School
593	Fran Dunphy	31st	La Salle
502	KEITH DAMBROT	25th	Duquesne
466	Travis Ford	26th	Saint Louis
367	Chris Mooney	21st	Richmond
366	Mike Rhoades	19th	VCU
363	Mark Schmidt	22nd	St. Bonaventure

DUKES AND EXPLORERS
Series Record: La Salle leads 46-33
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 21-15
At Philadelphia: La Salle leads 28-10
Neutral Site: La Salle leads 3-2
A-10 Regular Season: La Salle leads 25-16
A-10 Championship: La Salle leads 2-0
MCC Regular Season: La Salle led 2-0
Dambrot vs. La Salle: 2-3

• This is the 80th meeting in a series that dates to Feb. 10, 1940. La Salle leads 46-33, including a 25-16 advantage in Atlantic 10 regular season games. The Explorers, who have won 10 of the past 13, hold a 28-10 lead in games played in Philadelphia.
• La Salle has outscored Duquesne by just 28 points in the past 20 meetings (1,610-1,582 dating back to 2006-07). The Dukes have won eight and the Explorers 12 over that span. The average score in those 20 games is 80.5-79.1 in La Salle's favor.
• Keith Dambrot (25th season) is 1-1 all time vs. La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy (31st season), with both meetings coming when Dambrot was at Akron and Dunphy at Temple: a 67-65 win at Akron on 11/26/07 & a 47-82 defeat at Temple on 12/12/10.

LAST GAME: SAINT LOUIS 90, DUQUESNE 85
Feb. 18, 2023 • Chaifetz Arena • St. Louis, Mo.

• Saint Louis scored an opponent season-high 90 points in snapping DU's four-game win streak.
• SLU outscored DU 70-20 in the paint, while the Dukes outscored the Billikens 45-3 from 3-point.
• Dae Dae Grant led five Dukes in double figures with 22 points. Joe Reece had 15 and Tevin Brewer and Jimmy Clark III scored 12 each. R.J. Gunn Jr. finished with 11.
• The Dukes hit their first seven 3-point attempts in jumping out to a 31-16 lead. DU finished 15-of-29 from the arc.
• SLU came back to take an 80-66 lead with just over five minutes left. DU cut it to three, three times - the last of which with :16 left, but couldn't close the gap.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 15, at 31-16, with 9:00 left in the first half ... Saint Louis's largest lead was 14, at 80-66, with 5:11 left  ... there were four ties and six lead changes in the game ... Saint Louis took the lead for good on a Gibson Jimerson 3-pointer that made that made it 57-54 with 13:19 left ... Saint Louis led for 20:52 ... Duquesne led for 17:14.

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 just the fifth time since Duquesne began conference play (1976-77) that a DU team has 18 wins through its first 27 games - three have come under Keith Dambrot: (18-9 in 2019, 19-8 in 2020 & 18-9 this year).
• DU opened the month of February with four-straight wins for the first time since the 1970-71 NCAA Tournament team (21-4, No. 15 AP), started February with seven wins in a row.
• 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). The Dukes have two home games remaining.
• 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).
• 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.