GAME 23
Duquesne (13-9 | 3-6 A-10) at St. Bonaventure (14-8 | 5-5 A-10)
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 | 2:00 p.m.
Olean, N.Y. | Reilly Center (5,480)
 
TV: ESPNU with Robert Lee & Noah Savage
Radio: 104.7 HD2 / iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) & Tad Maurey
 
Game Notes | Record Book | Media Center | TV/Radio Spotter Chart | Watch | Listen | Live Stats
 
Opening Tip

- The Duquesne University men's basketball team opens a two-game road swing Saturday, Feb. 10, with a 2:00 p.m. tip against St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y., at the Reilly Center.
 
- The Dukes had a four-game winning streak snapped in their last outing, falling to Davidson, 72-59, at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Guard Jake DiMichele tied a career high with 15 points to pace the Dukes against the Wildcats, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, while forward Fousseyni Drame came off the bench to tie for game-high honors in scoring with 15 points.
 
- Drame finished 5-for-11 from the floor against Davidson, including 3-for-6 from deep, while also going 2-for-3 at the free-throw line. He also led Duquesne with five rebounds along with guard Dae Dae Grant.
 
- Also off the bench against the Wildcats, forward David Dixon scored all 10 of his points in the first half while also contributing four boards and a block.
 
- Six of the nine games for the Dukes against Atlantic 10 foes have been decided by 10 points or less, including four by five points or less.
 
- 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 Saturday's game with 1,059 career points.
 
- Forward Tre Williams is 18 points shy of 1,000 for his career entering Saturday's game at St. Bonaventure. Williams has shot 49.8 percent (418-for-840) during his NCAA Division I career, including 46.7 percent (227-for-486) in two seasons at Duquesne.
 
- Guard Jimmy Clark III scored 404 points in his first season at Duquesne last season and owns 861 career points entering Saturday's game at St. Bonaventure. Clark III also needs 23 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 65-17 (.793), including a 9-1 (.900) mark during the 2023-24 campaign.
 
- Duquesne concludes a two-game road trip Tuesday, Feb. 13, with a 7:00 p.m. tip at Dayton after taking on the Bonnies.
 
Scouting the Bonnies – Saturday marks the 133rd game between the two programs in a series that dates to Feb. 13, 1920. St. Bonaventure is Duquesne's most frequent all-time opponent. The average score in the first 131 meetings? DU 71.6, SBU 71.1 (9,449 to 9,388 points, 61-point difference). This is the 73rd consecutive season the two are meeting and 19th straight year the two are meeting home-and-home. DU owns more conference wins over SBU (34) than any other A-10 school. St. Bonaventure, which has won 20 of the past 25 games overall, leads the series 70-62, including a 43-34 advantage in A-10 regular season games and 4-2 edge in A-10 Championship meetings. In the last meeting between the two programs, the Dukes earned a 54-50 win at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Jan. 23, 2024. Duquesne owned its biggest lead, 49-33, after a three-pointer from guard Jake DiMichele before a 9-0 run by the Bonnies. Duquesne sealed the win at the free-throw line, going 4-for-6 in the final 40 seconds.
 
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 517-302 (.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.
 
Davidson Leftovers – The Wildcats have won 12 of the 13 meetings between the two programs since Davidson joined the Atlantic 10 prior to the 2014-15 season ... Davidson grabbed its biggest lead, 46-31, with 15:40 to play before Duquesne closed its deficit to 50-46 with 8:06 left ... Connor Kochera garnered game-high honors in scoring for the Wildcats with 19 points, while Grant Huffman added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists ... Davidson posted a 37-31 edge in rebounding ... The Dukes finished with seven assists, a season low and just the third time this season finishing with less than 10 dimes (eight at Nebraska and vs. Bradley) ... Duquesne held Davidson to just 30.8 percent (8-for-26) from beyond the arc but converted just five of its 19 attempts (26.3%) from deep ... The Wildcats were successful on each of their first 13 attempts at the free-throw line and finished 18-for-20 (90%) overall.   
 
Federal Reserve – Despite six different starting lineups in its last 11 games, Duquesne has been getting consistent production from its bench in recent weeks. Over the last five games, the reserves for the Dukes have outscored their opponents, 159-52. The Dukes finished with 33 points off the bench against Davidson, including 15 points from forward Fousseyni Drame and 10 from forward David Dixon. Over the last five contests, Duquesne has received eight double-figure scoring performances from its reserves, including three each from Drame and Dixon. In all this year, seven different Dukes have come off the bench and supplied a total of 19 double-figure scoring efforts. Leading the way has been the aforementioned Dixon and Drame, who each have scored at least 10 points in a reserve role a total of seven times.
 
Shake and Bake with Jake – Freshman guard Jake DiMichele has provided a spark for Duquesne since being inserted into the starting lineup. In his seven games as a starter, DiMichele is averaging 8.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest while converting 44.2 percent (23-for-52) of his attempts from the field. Twice during that span DiMichele has scored a career-high 15 points, including Duquesne's last game against Davidson, where he tied for team-high honors with forward Fousseyni Drame. Overall this season DiMichele provides an average of 5.9 points per game.
 
Diamond Dave – 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. Over the last seven games, Drame is providing averages of 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds while converting 53.7 percent (22-for-41) of his shots from the field, including 50 percent (8-for-16) from beyond the arc. The Dukes are 5-2 (.714) this season when Drame scores in double figures. Overall this season Drame has converted 51.4 percent (56-for-109) of his shots from floor, including 45.7 percent (16-for-35) from deep. 
 
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.
 
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 Saturday's game at St. Bonaventure with 2,016 points in 139 games across five seasons, an average of 14.5 points per contest. In two seasons with the Dukes since transferring from Miami, Ohio, Grant has scored 845 points in 52 games (16.3 ppg). Grant sits third in the Atlantic 10 in scoring this season at 17.6 points per game and with nine 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 146 triples in 52 career games at Duquesne, an average of 2.81 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 22 active student-athletes at the NCAA Division I level with 300 triples to his credit, as he enters Saturday's game at St. Bonaventure with 311 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 22 games this season. In the last 11 games, Duquesne has used six different starting lineups, with 11 different Dukes having earned a start in 2023-24. Clark III enters Saturday's game at St. Bonaventure as the program's active leader in consecutive games (55) and consecutive starting assignments (40). 

FOLLOW THE DUKES
For the latest news and information on Duquesne men's basketball, follow the Dukes on Twitter (X) and Instagram.

Tweet #GoDukes