G23 | DUQUESNE (14-8, 4-5) at GEORGE WASHINGTON (11-11, 5-4)
Sat., Feb. 4, 2023 • 2:00 pm ET • Washington, D.C. • Charles E. Smith Center (5,000)

LIVE STREAM: ESPN+/NBC Sports Washington with Byron Kerr & Jimmy Patsos
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey

Duquesne (14-8, 4-5) opens the month of February at George Washington (11-11, 5-4) on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

The Dukes, who have been idle since an 87-79 loss at Massachusetts last Saturday, are looking for their second road win.

GW, winner of three of its last five, is coming off a 75-64 defeat at La Salle on Wednesday.

The Colonials are 9-3 at home, including a 3-1 record in  Atlantic 10 play with wins over UMass, Dayton & Saint Joseph's. George Washington is averaging 77.8 ppg. at home (+8.7 scoring margin) and has made more free throws (202-of-263) than opponents have attempted (121-of-197) in 12 Smith Center games.

The Colonials boast the A-10's leading scorer in senior guard James Bishop (21.3 ppg.). Bishop also leads the A-10 in free throws made and attempted (106-141).

Duquesne follows the GW game with three in a row at home (Feb. 8 vs. George Mason, Feb. 11 vs. St. Bonaventure (USA TV) & Feb. 15 vs. Saint Joseph's).

DU had the fifth-highest NET rank among A-10 schools (130) through Wednesday's games.

TRENDING

• DU, which had its complete regular roster rotation intact for the first time on Dec. 28 at Dayton (game no. 14), has had all of its key rotation players available for just four of its 22 games.
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 74.2 ppg. (up +9.0 ppg.). The Dukes have topped the 90-point mark four times and are 13-3 when scoring 70 or more.
• DU's assists per game average is up +5.0/g. from last year (from 10.0 to 15.0).
• DU's .362 3-pt percentage is its best under Keith Dambrot (current best is .350 in 2017-18). The school record is .375 set in 1990. The Dukes are shooting .352 from the arc in A-10 play. DU is .275 from the arc (25-of-91) in its past four games (1-3 in that span).
• G Dae Dae Grant, who has scored in double digits 18 times (20+ seven times), has five games with five or more 3's. Grant went over the 1,500-pt. career mark on Jan. 28 at UMass. Grant posted his first career double-double (23-10) vs. the Minutemen.
• G Jimmy Clark III, leads DU with a 14.7 ppg. average in A-10 play. Clark III, who has scored in double digits 16 times - including a career-best 26 vs. VCU (where he played as a Fr./So.) - entered the season having never scored more than nine in a D-I game. Clark, who leads the A-10 with 50 steals, had six (including five in the first half) at UMass. Clark III's 2.27 spg. ranks 14th nationally.
• Tevin Brewer has handed out a team-high 69 assists despite missing four games due to injuries. His 3.0 assist/turnover ratio is second-best in the A-10 and ranked T9th nationally thru Feb. 1.
• Grad student R.J. Gunn, who missed 10 games with a foot injury, returned on Dec. 28 at Dayton. He is averaging 11.6 ppg. and shooting .438 (21-of-48) from 3-pt in A-10 play. Gunn has scored in double digits in five of DU's past seven games (including a DU career high 26 at Saint Joseph's). He went over the 1,300-career point mark at UMass.
•  Freshman Kareem Rozier has come off the bench to lead, or tie for the team lead, in assists seven times. Rozier has 46 assists and 14 turnovers this season (3.29-to-1 ratio).

COUNTDOWN TO 500
Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot enters the GW game needing two wins to reach the 500 career mark. Dambrot has posted 40 wins at Tiffin, 48 at Ashland, 20 at Central Michigan, 305 at Akron and 85 at Duquesne.

DUKES AND COLONIALS
Series Record: GW leads 55-34
At Pittsburgh: Tied 21-21
At Washington, DC: GW leads 30-11
Neutral Site: GW leads 4-2
A-10 Regular Season: GW leads 48-29
A-10 Championship: GW leads 4-2
Dambrot vs. GW/at Duquesne: 6-5/6-4

• This is the 90th meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 21, 1932. GW leads the series 55-34, including a 48-29 advantage in Atlantic 10 regular season play. In games played in D.C., GW leads 30-11. The Dukes have won six of the 10 meetings between the two under Keith Dambrot. The Colonials have won the past three, including a series sweep last year (73-52 in Pittsburgh & 98-93 in 3OT in D.C.). No members of the current roster played in the 3OT game. Tre Williams was the only one to play in the game at Pittsburgh.
• GW (90th meeting) is Duquesne's second most-frequent all-time opponent, trailing only St. Bonaventure (130 games) on the all-time list.
• In 2021, 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.

WORTH NOTING

• It took the 2022-23 Dukes - with a roster that features 10 newcomers (five transfers & five freshmen) - just eight games to exceed last year's win total (6-24). The Dukes opened 7-1.
• 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).
• It was also the fourth time in six seasons under Keith Dambrot that DU opened 13-5 or better (13-5 in 2018, 2019 & 2023 and 15-3 in 2020). In the 45 years prior to Dambrot's arrival, the Dukes opened a season 13-5 or better three times.
• 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).
• Eleven Dukes: Brewer, Clark III, Dixon, Grant, Gunn, Hronsky, McGriff, Reece, Rotroff, Rozier & Williams have posted double-digit scoring games.
• 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).
• DU jumped out to a 20-0 lead (and led 29-2) in its 74-57 win over Winthrop on Dec. 21. The 20-0 run is the best by a Dambrot-coached Dukes team.
• DU scored 60 points in the first half (led 60-44) of its 92-80 win at Saint Joseph's. The 60 points were the most in any half under Keith Dambrot and most in a first half since the Dukes scored 63 in the first half of a 120-75 win over Marshall on Dec. 5, 1969.
• The Dukes did not trail in five games this season: South Carolina State, DePaul, Winthrop, VCU & at Saint Joseph's.

LAST GAME: UMASS 87, DUQUESNE 79
Jan. 28, 2023 • Mullins Center • Amherst, Mass.

• Duquesne cut a 15-point second half deficit (55-40) to five with 1:15 left, but could get no closer in falling to the Minutemen in Amherst.
• UMass converted Keith Dambrot Era opponent high 30 free throws (in an opponent high-tying 39 attempts), including 10-of-10 over the final 1:13 to seal it.
• Dae Dae Grant recorded his first career double-double (23-10) and Jimmy Clark III added 21 points and six steals for Duquesne. The six steals were one shy of the school record, shared by six players. Clark III had five steals in the first half.
• Austin Rotroff came off the bench to tie his career high with four blocks in 14 minutes.
• DU, which was whistled for 29 fouls, had three players foul out (Reece 3:16, Gunn Jr. 1:15 and Clark III 1:13) before the game's final minute.
• UMass, which outrebounded DU 47-36, outscored the Dukes 21-8 in second-chance points.
• Duquesne's largest lead was seven at 14-7 with 13:45 left in the first half ... UMass's largest lead was 15, at 55-40, with 11:28 left in the game ... there were six ties and seven lead changes in the game ... UMass took the lead for good on a Tafara Gapare 3-pointer that made that made it 27-25 with 5:25 left in the first half ... UMass led for 28:12 ... Duquesne led for 7:25.