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Duquesne University Athletics

NECAS AND FANS AT NCAA 2024 RD 1 WIN

Men's Basketball

PREVIEW: Dukes vs. Illinois in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

GAME 37
2024 NCAA Division I Championship
#11 DUQUESNE (25-11) vs #3 ILLINOIS (27-8) 
Sat., March 23, 2024 • 7:40 pm (CT) • Omaha, Neb. • CHI Health Center Arena (17,560)
 
TV: TNT with Tom McCarthy, Deb Antonelli, Avery Johnson & AJ Ross
Radio: 970 AM / The Varsity Network App with Ray Goss ('58) & Tim Benz
 
Game Notes | Record Book | Media Center | TV/Radio Spotter Chart | Listen | Live Stats

OPENING TIP
  • Eleventh-seeded Duquesne extended its win streak to nine with a 71-67 win over #6 seed BYU on Thursday. The win was DU's first in NCAA Tournament play since a 75-72 win over St. John's in the consolation game of the 1969 East Regional at College Park, Md. The Dukes, who are making the program's first NCAA appearance since 1977, are looking to post two tournament wins for the first time since '69 (the Dukes opened that tournament with a 74-52 win over Saint Joseph's before falling to North Carolina in the East Semifinal (79-78). Duquesne has never won back-to-back NCAA Tournament games.
  • Senior guard Dae Dae Grant led Duquesne with 19 points in Thursday's win. Senior guard Jimmy Clark III scored nine of his 11 points in the final 4:01 vs. BYU. Freshman Jakub Necas posted career highs in points (12), rebounds (6) and blocks (3) in 30 minutes of the bench. Duquesne, which led for 38:50, held the Cougars 14.8 points below their season scoring average entering the game (81.8).  DU went 6-of-6 from the line in the final :17 to seal the win.
25 WINS
  • Duquesne (25-11) enters Saturday's game needing one win to tie the school record set in 1954 (26-3). Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot's father, Sid, was a senior guard for the 1954 team, which reached No. 1 in the AP poll for two weeks in late February following a 22-0 start. 
THE SERIES VS. ILLINOIS
  • Series Record - Illinois leads, 2-1
  • At Pittsburgh, Pa. - Never Met
  • At Champaign, Ill. - Illinois leads, 1-0
  • Neutral Site - Tied 1-1
MORE ON THE MATCHUP 
  • This is the fourth meeting between the Dukes and Illini with the last coming on Dec. 9, 1988 (the No. 7 (AP) Illini defeated DU 112-81 in Champaign, Ill.) ... this is the second NCAA Tournament meeting between the two, with Illinois taking a 74-68 decision on Mar. 22, 1952 in the East Regional Final at Chicago Stadium ... Jim Tucker scored a game-high 29 points for the No. 4 (AP) Dukes ... freshman Dick Ricketts added 22 points for DU. 
VS. THE BIG TEN
  • Duquesne is 6-20 all time vs. the Big Ten, with the last meeting coming on Dec. 19, 2018 (a 73-67 loss at PPG Paints Arena) ... DU is 2-4 vs. Big Ten teams at neutral sites ... Keith Dambrot is 1-8 all-time vs. the Big Ten with the win coming against Penn State on Nov. 18, 2012 at the Puerto Rico Tipoff (85-60) when Dambrot was at Akron ... Dambrot is 0-1 vs. the Big Ten at Duquesne (the 2018 game vs. Penn State listed above).         
VS. RANKED TEAMS
  • Illinois, which enters Saturday's game ranked #10 in the current AP poll is 
  • Duquesne's third game vs. a ranked opponent this year. DU lost at #16 (AP) Dayton on Feb. 13 (59-75) and came back to defeat the #24 Flyers, 65-57 on Mar. 14. The win over Dayton in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship in Brooklyn, N.Y. snapped an eight-game losing streak against ranked opponents. DU's previous win over a ranked foe was on Feb. 27, 2014, at #10 Saint Louis (71-64). The victory was the first over a nationally ranked opponent on a neutral court since DU's last NCAA Tournament win entering 2024 (75-72 over #8 St. John's in College Park, Md. in the NCAA East Regional consolation game on March 15, 1969). It also marked Keith Dambrot's first win over a ranked team in 22 tries as a head coach.
KEITH DAMBROT VS. RANKED TEAMS
  • Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot, who faced 13 ranked teams in his 13 seasons at Akron, has played a total of 22 games vs. ranked opponents as a Division I head coach. Of the 22 ranked teams faced (not counting Dayton in 2020), all but two went on to that year's NCAA tournament where 15 of the 16 won at least one game. Dambrot has faced a ranked team on his home court just two times (a 73-71 loss to #25 (AP) Nevada on Dec. 22, 2006 while at Akron and a 73-69 loss to #7 (AP) Dayton at PPG Paints Arena on Jan. 29, 2020). The Nevada defeat is one of two two-point losses to a ranked opponent, the other coming on Jan. 2, 2008 by an 83-81 score in double overtime at Dayton. DU dropped a 61-58 decision on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at #24 (AP) Rhode Island on Jan. 27, 2018 in Dambrot's first game vs. a ranked team at Duquesne. Of Dambrot's 22 career games vs. ranked teams, 16 have come on the road, two have come in the NCAA tournament and two at a neutral site in the regular season.
TRIPLE THE FUN
  • Senior guard Dae Dae Grant etched his name into Duquesne basketball lore with his performance in the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship, helping the Dukes become just the fifth team to win four games and earn the title, joining Xavier (2004, 2006), VCU (2015) and Saint Louis (2019). Grant was named Most Outstanding Player after averaging 16.3 points per game, joining Norm Nixon as the only two student-athletes in program history to garner the honor. Nixon was bestowed the plaudits in 1977. Known for his ability to connect from beyond the arc, Grant enters the Illinois game with 177 three-pointers in two seasons at Duquesne, which ranks seventh all-time and the most by a student-athlete to play just two seasons with the Dukes. Grant leads Duquesne this year with 83 three-pointers. Grant and Micah Mason (2013-16) are the only two players in school history to drain at least 80 three-pointers in a season on two occasions.
500-500 MEN
  • Senior guards Dae Dae Grant (552 points) and Jimmy Clark III (541) are just the third tandem in school history to score 500 points each joining Dick Ricketts (523) and Sihugo Green (551) in 1955 and Derrick Colter (609) and Micah Mason (608) in 2016.   
DID YOU KNOW?
  • The Dukes are 12-0 this season when first to reach 70 points against an opponent and have won 31 consecutive games when turning the trick. In seven seasons under head coach Keith Dambrot, Duquesne is 75-7 (.915) when hitting the 70-point plateau first. 
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Players Mentioned

Jimmy Clark III

#1 Jimmy Clark III

G
6' 3"
Senior
Dae Dae Grant

#3 Dae Dae Grant

G
6' 2"
Senior
Jakub Nečas

#7 Jakub Nečas

F
6' 8"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jimmy Clark III

#1 Jimmy Clark III

6' 3"
Senior
G
Dae Dae Grant

#3 Dae Dae Grant

6' 2"
Senior
G
Jakub Nečas

#7 Jakub Nečas

6' 8"
Freshman
F

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