GAME 22
Davidson (12-9 | 2-6 A-10) vs. Duquesne (13-8 | 3-5 A-10)
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
 
Stream: ESPN+ with Tim Benz & Ellis Cannon
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 looks for its fifth straight win when it hosts Davidson at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Wednesday, Feb. 7, for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
 
- The Dukes opened their February slate with an 85-71 victory at Rhode Island as guard Dae Dae Grant led four scorers in double figures in the win with 31 points. He shot 9-of-18 from the floor, including 7-for-14 from beyond the arc, while going 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. Grant also added five assists against one turnover, accounting for 52.9 percent (45-of-85) of Duquesne's offensive output in the win.
 
- Off the bench against URI, guard Kareem Rozier and forward Fousseyni Drame each scored 11 points, while guard Jimmy Clark III added 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.
 
- During their four-game surge, the Dukes are holding foes to an average of 60 points per game on 37.3 percent (85-for-228) shooting from the field, including just 25.7 percent (18-for-70) from beyond the arc.
 
- Forward Fousseyni Drame reached the 1,000-point plateau at Saint Joseph's thanks to a free throw with 47 seconds remaining in the first half and enters Wednesday's game with 1,044 career points.
 
- Forward Tre Williams is 20 points shy of 1,000 for his career entering Wednesday's game against Davidson. Williams has shot 49.8 percent (417-for-838) during his NCAA Division I career, including 46.7 percent (226-for-484) in two seasons at Duquesne.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III scored 404 points in his first season at Duquesne last season and owns 857 career points entering Wednesday's game against Davidson. Clark III also needs 24 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 Keith Dambrot, Duquesne has posted a record of 65-17 (.793), including a 9-1 (.900) mark during the 2023-24 campaign.
 
- Duquesne heads to St. Bonaventure Saturday, Feb. 10, for a 2:00 p.m. tip after hosting Davidson.   
 
Scouting the Wildcats – Wednesday is the 13th meeting between Duquesne and Davidson. The Wildcats won the first seven games of an all-time series they lead, 11-1 (.917), prior to DU's breakthrough 71-64 home win in 2020 at the UPMC Events Center on the campus of Robert Morris. In the only meeting between the two programs last season, the Wildcats earned a 71-67 win over Duquesne at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Dukes almost erased a 16-point deficit before Davidson got a pair of three-pointers from Foster Loyer in the final 1:35 of action to seal the win. Guard Dae Dae Grant paced Duquesne with 20 points. Davidson, which was picked to finish 12th in the Atlantic 10 in the preseason coaches and media poll, is in its second season under head coach Matt McKillop.
 
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 517-301 (.632) 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.
 
Rhode Island Leftovers – Duquesne picked up its first road victory in the all-time series since 2014, snapping a four-game losing streak at the Ryan Center ... The Rams opened the game shooting 7-for-9 (77.8%) from the field in the first 5:52 of action but shot 38.7 percent (19-of-49) the rest of the game ... The Dukes held a 31-28 advantage on the glass despite URI owning a 9-6 edge in offensive rebounds ... Duquesne shot 57.7 percent (15-for-26) in the second half en route to an overall field goal percentage of 52.8 percent (28-for-53), a season high ... The Dukes also recorded season highs in three-point field goals (14) and three-point field goal percentage (51.9%) ... Seven different players recorded an assist as the 20 dimes for Duquesne marked a season high against an NCAA Division I opponent (21 vs. NAIA Cleary Dec. 30).   
 
Army Reserve – During its four-game winning streak, the Duquesne bench has outscored the reserves of its opponents, 126-36. The Dukes finished with 30 points off the bench in an 85-71 triumph at Rhode Island, including 11 points each from both guard Kareem Rozier and forward Fousseyni Drame. During its four-game surge, Duquesne has received six double-figure scoring performances from its reserves, including two each from Drame and forward David Dixon. In all this year, seven different Dukes have come off the bench and supplied a total of 17 double-figure scoring efforts from the bench. Leading the way has been Dixon and Drame, who each have scored at least 10 points in a reserve role a total of six times.
 
Did You Know? The Dukes are 6-0 this season when first to reach 70 points against an opponent and have won 25 consecutive games when turning the trick. In seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne is 69-7 (.908) when hitting the 70-point plateau first. The Dukes reached the 70-point plateau for the first time against an Atlantic 10 foe in an 85-71 victory at Rhode Island.
 
The Outer Rim – The emergence of sophomore forward David Dixon has led to a transformation for the Dukes in the paint on both ends of the floor. In an 85-71 win at Rhode Island, Dixon matched a career high with five blocks, marking the third time in a game this season he's turned away five shots. Dixon also posted five rejections in non-conference wins over UC Irvine and Saint Peter's and first hit the mark as a freshman last year in a 75-57 triumph over Alabama State. Dixon also leads Duquesne in dunks this season with 21 after providing a pair in the road win over the Rams. As a team the Dukes posted a season-high six dunks in their victory at Rhode Island, and Dixon is within reach of becoming just the seventh player for Duquesne to record at least 30 dunks in a season since 1998-99. The last to do it was forward Marcus Weathers (2019-21) with 30 during the 2019-20 campaign.
 
Foo Fighters – While forward David Dixon has been a presence in the frontcourt for the Dukes, forward Fousseyni Drame has also found a groove. During Duquesne's four-game winning streak, Drame is providing averages of 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while converting 57.1 percent (12-for-21) of his shots from the field, including 50 percent (3-for-6) from beyond the arc. The Dukes are 5-1 (.833) this season when Drame scores in double figures after he supplied 11 points in an 85-71 win at Rhode Island, with their only loss at Nebraska. Overall this season Drame has converted 52 percent (51-for-98) of his shots from floor, including 44.8 percent (13-for-29) from deep. 
 
Y2K – Senior guard Dae Dae Grant became the 13th active student-athlete at the NCAA Division I level with at least 2,000 career points after a game-high 31 points in an 85-71 win at Rhode Island. He reached the threshold with 17:33 to play, as his three-pointer gave the Dukes a 49-34 lead over the Rams and pushed his career point total from 1,998 to 2,001. Grant enters Wednesday's game against Davidson with 2,011 points in 138 games across five seasons, an average of 14.6 points per contest. In two seasons with the Dukes since transferring from Miami, Ohio, Grant has scored 840 points in 51 games (16.5 ppg). Grant sits third in the Atlantic 10 in scoring this season at 18.3 points per game and with 10 games left in the regular season is looking to become the 40th player in the 108-year history of the program to score 1,000 points at Duquesne.
 
300 – A key reason senior Dae Dae Grant has eclipsed 2,000 career points at the NCAA Division I level has been his ability to convert from beyond the arc. Grant has drained 145 triples in 51 career games at Duquesne, an average of 2.84 per contest. The most three-pointers for a member of the Dukes playing two seasons with the program is former guard Mike Lewis II, who connected for 164 from 2017-19. Thanks to a 7-for-14 performance from deep in an 85-71 win at Rhode Island, Grant moved into ninth place all-time in the Duquesne record book for career three-pointers. He is also  one of 21 active student-athletes at the NCAA Division I level with 300 triples to his credit, as he enters Wednesday's game against Rhode Island with 310 for his career.
 
Defensively Speaking – Thanks to a 68-59 win over Fordham, Duquesne improved to 31-1 (.969) in seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot when holding an opponent under 60 points, including 23 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. 
 
Last Man Standing – Senior guard Jimmy Clark III is the only member of the Dukes to start each of Duquesne's 21 games this season. In the last 10 games, Duquesne has used six different starting lineups, with 11 different Dukes having earned a start in 2023-24. Clark III enters Wednesday's game against Davidson as the program's active leader in consecutive games (54) and consecutive starting assignments (39).     
 
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