G33 | #5 DUQUESNE (20-12) vs #12 RICE (18-15)
Sun., Mar. 19, 2023 • 1:00 pm ET • Daytona Beach, Fla. • Ocean Center (8,020)

FLOHOOPS (subscription): Tom James & Jennifer George
RADIO: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio: Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey

Duquesne (20-12) makes the program's first postseason appearance since 2016 when it heads to Daytona Beach, Fla. to participate in the 16-team Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational March 18-22 at Ocean Center.

The 5th-seeded Dukes will face No. 12 Rice (18-15) in the opening round on Sunday, March 19 at 1:00 p.m. (FloHoops).

This is the fourth CBI appearance for the Dukes (2010, 2011 & 2016) and first postseason appearance for DU under sixth-year head coach Keith Dambrot. It is the program's sixth postseason appearance in the past 42 years (1994 & 2009 NIT are the others).

The tournament format features opening round games on March 18 & 19 (FloHoops), quarterfinal games on March 20 (FloHoops), semifinals on March 21 (ESPN2) and a final game at 5:00 p.m. on March 22 (ESPN2).

The Duquesne/Rice winner will face the winner of #4 Southern Utah/#13 North Alabama on Monday, Mar. 20 at 2:00 p.m. (FloHoops).

This is the first meeting between the Dukes and Owls since 2008. Duquesne leads the series 5-2.

NOTING THE DISCOUNT TIRE CBI

• Duquesne is 2-3 all-time in the CBI with a 65-51 loss at Princeton in 2010, an 87-74 win at Montana & 77-75 loss at Oregon in 2011 and a 120-112 win over Omaha followed by an 82-72 loss at Morehead State in 2016. This is the 15th year for the CBI which moved from home courts to a single site in 2021. The CBI also changed from a best-two-out-of-three final to a full single-elimination event in 2021.
• Ten current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference (including Duquesne) have participated in the CBI: Duquesne (2010, 2011 & 2016), George Mason (2017), George Washington (2010 & 2017), Rhode Island (2011), Richmond (2008, 2009 & 2013), St. Bonaventure (2011) and Saint Louis (2010). VCU took the court as a member of the CAA in 2010, Davidson participated as a member of the Southern Conference in 2011, George Mason also played as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association in 2013, and Loyola Chicago won the title as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in 2015. Three current A-10 members have advanced to the former Championship Series with VCU defeating Saint Louis in 2010, George Mason losing to Santa Clara in 2013 and Loyola defeating Louisiana-Monroe in 2015.
   

DUQUESNE IN THE CBI
Appearances: 3 (2010, 2011, 2016) • Record: 2-3

2010 • First Round • (0-1)
Overall Record: 16-16; Coach: Ron Everhart • Campus Sites
3/17    L -- at Princeton, 51-65 (-14)
2011 • Quarterfinal • (1-1)
Overall Record: 19-13; Coach: Ron Everhart • Campus Sites
3/16    W -- at Montana, 87-76 (+11)
3/21    L -- at Oregon, 75-77 (-2)
2016 • Quarterfinal • (1-1)
Overall Record: 17-17; Coach: Jim Ferry • Campus Sites
3/16    W -- Omaha, 120-112 (+8)
3/21    L -- at Morehead State, 72-82 (-10)

TRENDING

• Duquesne went 4-1 against postseason teams: 3-1 vs. NCAA Tournament participants Colgate (W, 85-80, N), UCSB (W, 72-61, H), VCU (W, 79-70, H) & Kentucky (L, 52-77, A) and 1-0 vs. the CBI field, Indiana State (W, 92-86, H). DU did not face any NIT teams.
• Duquesne enters the CBI needing one win to tie the school record for nonconference victories in a season set in 1979 (11-4).
• DU, which averaged 65.2 ppg. last year, is averaging 74.8 ppg. (up +9.6 ppg.). The Dukes have topped the 90-point mark six times and are 18-5 when scoring 70 or more.
• Duquesne, which had the third-highest scoring average in Atlantic 10 Conference games only (73.8 ppg.), did not have a player ranked among the top 19 in scoring in A-10 games only. (Dae Dae Grant was 20th at 13.2 ppg.)
• DU's .365 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 9.0 3-pointers/g.
• Four Dukes: Dae Dae Grant (vs. North Florida & UCSB), Jimmy Clark III (vs. VCU & La Salle), R.J. Gunn Jr. (at Saint Joseph's) & Joe Reece (at La Salle) have scored 26 or more points in a game this season.
• G Jimmy Clark III, DU's first A-10 All-Defensive pick since T.J. McConnell in 2012, leads the conference in steals (76) and is second in steals/g. (2.4). Clark, who is coming off a career-high 27-point game vs. La Salle at the A-10 Championship, has 12 steals in DU's past three games.
• G Dae Dae Grant's 10 20-point games are the most by a Duke since Micah Mason scored 20 or more 15 times in 2016. Grant is a 2023 Second Team All-A-10 pick.
• Tevin Brewer, who is 21-of-44 (.477) from 3-point in his past 10 games, leads the A-10 in 3-point pct. at .441. Brewer needs 34 points to reach 1,000.
• Brewer (.441) and Grant (.398) rank 1st and 8th in the A-10 in 3-point pct. thru Mar. 12.
• The Dukes are 9-4 when making 10 or more 3-pointers, 18-5 when scoring 70 or more, 20-1 when leading with 5:00 left and 16-4 when leading at the half.

TOUGH NON-LEAGUE SLATE
Six of Duquesne's non-conference opponents reached the 20-win mark - the Dukes defeated four of them: Colgate, UC Santa Barbara, Ball State & Indiana State (the other two are Kentucky and Marshall).

MR. 500
Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot, who reached the 500 career victory mark on Feb. 8 vs. George Mason (75-52), is one of 28 active Division I coaches with 500 or more wins. Of the 28, nine 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), Randy Bennett (Saint Mary's, Calif.) and Ron Hunter (IUPUI, Georgia State, Tulane) are the others.

DUKES AND OWLS
Series Record: Duquesne leads 5-2
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 4-0
At Houston/Katy, Texas: Rice leads 2-1
Neutral Site: First meeting
Dambrot vs. Rice: First meeting

• This is the eighth game in a series that dates to Feb. 21, 1936 (a 43-39 Duquesne home win). The two have played home-and-home series in 1989-90 & 1990-91 (splitting home wins), 1999-00 & 2000-01 (again splitting home wins) and 2007-08 & 2008-09 (with Duquesne sweeping the two games, including a win in a designated Rice "home" game at Merrell Center in Katy, Texas). This is the first neutral-site meeting between the two.
• Rice is Duquesne's first Conference USA opponent since a 77-68 loss to UAB at the St. Pete Shootout in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Dec. 22, 2019. The defeat snapped DU's season-opening 10-game win streak. UAB is the lone C-USA school the Dukes have faced under sixth-year head coach Keith Dambrot. This is Dambrot's first meeting with Rice.
• Duquesne guard Tevin Brewer scored a career high 25 points (10-of-17) in an 80-78 home win over Rice last year while at FIU. Joe Reece faced Rice three times while at Old Dominion, including a 19-point game in Houston as a sophomore. Freshman guard Devin Carney (redshirting) made an official recruiting visit to Rice.

DU vs. ITS SIDE OF THE 2023 BRACKET

Opponent	Series	Last	Result
#1 Indiana State	3-1	Dec. 17, 2022	W, 92-86 (H)
#16 USC Upstate	2-0	Nov. 25, 2008	W, 79-69 (A)
#8 Eastern Kentucky	1-0	Dec. 22, 2018	W, 85-84 OT (H)
#9 Cleveland State	2-2	Nov. 27, 2016	*W, 78-71 (H)
#4 Southern Utah	----	Never met
#13 North Alabama	----	Never met

* - Cleveland State home game was part of the Bluegrass Showcase

LAST GAME: LA SALLE 81, DUQUESNE 70
A-10 Championship 2nd Round • Mar. 8, 2023 • Barclays Center • Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Duquesne, which led 33-27 at the half, was outscored 54-37 in the second 20 minutes.
• The Explorers outshot the Dukes 51 percent to 35 percent, including 64 percent to 31 percent in the second half.
• Jimmy Clark III led four Dukes in double figures with a career-high 27 points. Dae Dae Grant and Joe Reece had 13 each and Tevin Brewer added 12. Austin Rotroff came off the bench to grab a team-high eight rebounds in 12 minutes.
• Clark III's 27 points were one more than his previous career-best of 26 scored earlier this season vs. VCU. Clark III, who went 5-of-8 from the arc, scored 22 in the second half. His five 3-pointers were a career high. Clark also had a game-high four steals.  
• La Salle outscored Duquesne 36-20 in the paint.
• The Dukes had a season-low five bench points. DU's previous low was 10 in the 66-55 win over DePaul on Dec. 14.
• Duquesne's largest lead was eight, at 41-33, with 15:49 left. La Salle's largest lead was 13, the last of which came at 78-65, with 0:30 left. There were 10 ties and seven lead changes in the game. La Salle took the lead for good on a Jhamir Brickus layup that made that made it 50-49 with 10:45 left. La Salle led for 20:42. Duquesne led for 14:57.