GAME 26
Saint Louis (9-16 | 2-10 A-10) at Duquesne (15-10 | 5-7 A-10)
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
 
Stream: ESPN+ with Tim Benz, Ellis Cannon & Noah Buono
Radio: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Jarrett Durham ('71)
 
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Opening Tip
 
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team, winners of six of eight since an 0-5 start to Atlantic 10 action, closes out a two-game homestand at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Tuesday, Feb. 20, with a 7:00 p.m. tip against Saint Louis.
 
- The Dukes opened their homestand with a 66-56 victory over Saint Joseph's as forward David Dixon, in just his third start of the 2023-24 season, registered his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Dixon shot 6-for-9 from the floor, including four dunks while also successful on his only attempt from beyond the arc, and finished 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. He also added three steals and a pair of blocks.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in the win over the Hawks, while guard Dae Dae Grant contributed 11 points and three assists and forward Jakub Necas scored a career-high 10 off the bench.
 
- Nine of Duquesne's 13 games in the 2024 calendar year have been decided by 10 points or less, including six by six points or less.
 
- Forward Tre Williams is 15 points shy of 1,000 for his career entering Tuesday's game against Saint Louis. Williams has shot 49.4 percent (419-for-848) during his NCAA Division I career, including 46.2 percent (228-for-494) in two seasons at Duquesne.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III has scored 905 career points at the NCAA Division I level entering Tuesday's game against Saint Louis, including 775 in two years with the Dukes, and also needs 18 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 in seven years under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has posted a record of 67-17 (.798), including an 11-1 (.917) mark during the 2023-24 campaign.
 
- The Dukes, who rank fourth in the Atlantic 10 in steals with an average of 7.16 per game, travel to Fordham after hosting the Billikens with an 8:30 p.m. tip at Rose Hill Gym Friday, Feb. 23.
 
Scouting the Billikens – Tuesday marks the 35th game in the all-time series between Duquesne and Saint Louis, with the two programs having split the previous 34 contests. The Dukes have won four of the past seven in the series but are looking to snap a two-game slide against the Billikens. In last year's meeting at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo., Gibson Jimerson scored a game-high 28 points as Saint Louis shot 59 percent in a 90-85 victory. Guard Dae Dae Grant led five Dukes in double figures with 22 points. Saint Louis outscored Duquesne, 70-20, in the paint, while the Dukes outscored the Billikens, 45-3, from beyond the arc. Duquesne cut a 14-point SLU lead to three on three occasions in the last 2:32 but couldn't close the gap. Duquesne, which went 15-of-29 from beyond, hit its first seven three-point attempts in building a lead that reached 15 points.
 
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. He became just the fourth head coach in program history to reach 100 victories thanks to a 95-47 win over Cleary, 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. Dambrot owns an overall record of 519-303 (.631) during his career as a head coach, and his father, Sid, was part of Duquesne teams that finished ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 in 1952 (No. 4), 1953 (No. 9) and 1954 (No. 5). The 1954 team, which went 26-3, made it to No. 1 in the AP poll for two weeks in February of 1954. The Dukes played in both the NCAA tournament and NIT in 1952 and the NIT in both 1953 and 1954.
 
Saint Joseph's Leftovers – The Dukes earned a split of the season series with the victory and have won four straight at home over the Hawks ... The 37 attempts from three for St. Joe's are the most taken by an opponent in seven years under head coach Keith Dambrot ... Both Duquesne and Saint Joseph's connected for nine three-pointers, with the Dukes shooting 50 percent (18 attempts) and the Hawks 24.3 percent ... Cameron Brown scored a game-high 18 points for St. Joe's, while Rasheer Fleming grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds ... The Dukes and Hawks tied in rebounds, 36-36, with Saint Joseph's posting a 14-9 edge on the offensive glass ... Freshman guard Jake DiMichele grabbed a career-high nine boards ... Duquesne handed out 16 assists, with eight different Dukes posting at least one dime ... Senior guard Jimmy Clark III posted a game-high four assists and has led the Dukes in the category 12 times this season.   
 
Close Out – Against Atlantic 10 foes this season, Duquesne leads the conference in three-point field goal percent defense, as opponents own a success rate of 28.3 percent (65-for-230) from deep. In the last seven conference games, a stretch in which the Dukes are 5-2 (.714), opponents have knocked down 26.1 percent (40-for-153) of its attempts from beyond the arc. It's a key reason Duquesne has yielded an average of 67.5 points per game in Atlantic 10 play, which ranks fourth in the circuit. The other four teams to rank in the top five in scoring defense against conference opposition have a combined record of 41-9 (.820). Meanwhile, in the 10 games freshman guard Jake DiMichele has been in the starting lineup, opponents are 59-of-202 (29.2%) from beyond the arc.
 
Ascending – Arguably one of the most consistent Dukes since the calendar has switched to 2024 has been sophomore forward David Dixon. Since being held scoreless in Duquesne's Atlantic 10 opener at Massachusetts, Dixon is averaging 10.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over his last 12 games while shooting 56 percent (47-for-84) from the floor. During that span Dixon has scored in double figures seven times, including his first career double-double in a 66-56 win over Saint Joseph's with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Entering Tuesday's tilt against Saint Louis ranked sixth in the A-10 in blocks per game (1.80), Dixon also owns 47.5 percent (28-of-59) of Duquesne's dunks this year and is looking to become just the seventh member of the Dukes with at least 30 flushes in a season in the last 25 years.   
 
Ten – Freshman forward Jakub Necas came off the bench to register his first NCAA Division I double-figure scoring game in a 66-56 victory over Saint Joseph's with 10 points, connecting on three of his five shots from the floor, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, while converting both of his attempts at the free-throw line. Necas is the 10th different member of the Dukes to post a double-figure scoring game this season, and his performance against the Hawks marks the seventh consecutive game Duquesne has received a double-figure scoring effort from its bench. 
 
Defensively Speaking – Thanks to a 66-56 win over Saint Joseph's, Duquesne improved to 32-1 (.969) in seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot when holding an opponent under 60 points, including 24 consecutive wins dating back to 2019. The only loss for the Dukes under Dambrot when holding an opponent to less than 60 points came against St. Bonaventure, a 51-49 setback at the A.J. Palumbo Center Feb. 6, 2019.
 
Clark Kent – Senior guard Jimmy Clark III enters Tuesday's game against Saint Louis with a team-high 22 double-figure scoring games for the Dukes this season as well as 44 over the last two years on the Bluff. Since the calendar has switched to 2024, Clark III is providing Duquesne with averages of 13.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game in the last 13 games. In helping the Dukes reverse an 0-5 start in the Atlantic 10 with a 6-2 record the last eight games, Clark is dishing out an average of 4.3 assists per game while posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.55.
 
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