GAME 1
Niagara (0-0) vs. Duquesne (0-0)
Monday, Nov. 3, 2025 | 7:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
 
TV: ESPN+ with Tim Benz (pxp) & Ellis Cannon (color)
Radio: 104.7 HD2 | iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) (pxp) & Noah Buono ('22) (color)
 
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Opening Tip
 
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team opens its 2025-26 season and 110th year of NCAA Division I basketball Monday, Nov. 3, with a 7:00 p.m. tip at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse against Niagara.
 
- The Dukes, selected ninth in the 2025 Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, return two starters from 2024-25, including redshirt senior guard Cam Crawford and junior forward Jakub Nečas.
 
- Led by head coach Dru Joyce III, who is in his second year at the helm of the program, Duquesne welcomes eight newcomers to the roster this season, including senior guard Tarence Guinyard and junior guard Jimmie Williams. The pair each scored 21 points as the Dukes earned an 83-81 victory at Virginia Tech (10/25/25) in the lone exhibition game prior to the season.
 
- The duo of Guinyard and Jimmie Williams combined to shoot 51.9 percent (14-for-27) from the field against the Hokies, including 6-for-13 (46.2%) from deep, while Guinyard added eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.
 
- In all, the Dukes welcome back 42.8 percent (948-of-2,212) of their scoring, 44.9 percent (490-of-1,091) of their rebounding and 32.1 percent (142-of-442) of their assists.
 
- The 2025-26 season marks the 110th year of Duquesne basketball. The Dukes started play in 1913-14 (DU did not field a team in 1944-45-46 due to World War II).
 
- The closest member of the Dukes to 1,000 career points is redshirt senior guard Maximus Edwards, who concluded the 2024-25 season just 14 points shy of the mark (986). Named the 2023 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Edwards scored 722 in two seasons at George Washington before transferring to the Bluff and scored 264 points in his first season at Duquesne.
 
At The Helm – Dru Joyce III was named the 18th head coach in the 109-year history of Duquesne basketball March 28, 2024, and in his second year at the helm in 2025-26. Joyce III, a native of Akron, Ohio, spent two seasons as associate head coach for the Dukes under Keith Dambrot from 2022 to 2024, helping guide Duquesne to an overall record of 45-25 (.643), including a 20-16 (.556) mark in the Atlantic 10, during that span. The Dukes made an appearance in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) before earning the automatic bid for the A-10 in the 2024 NCAA Championship by winning four games in five days en route to the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship crown in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Barclays Center. Duquesne, as a No. 11 seed, made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and earned its first victory in the championship since 1969 thanks to a 71-67 win over No. 6 seed BYU in Omaha, Neb., at CHI Health Center Arena. 
 
Scouting the Purple Eagles – Member of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) ... located in Niagara University, N.Y. ... Duquesne leads the all-time series, 13-7 ... Monday's 2025-26 season opener marks the first meeting between the two programs in almost 20 years ... The last contest between the Dukes and Purple Eagles came Nov. 24, 2007, a 76-65 victory for Duquesne at the A.J. Palumbo Center ... In that victory, former guard Kojo Mensah scored 17 points and former forward Shawn James tallied a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while rejecting seven shots as the Dukes improved to 5-0 for the first time in 22 years with the win ... James finished with 12 points and six blocks in the second half for Duquesne in the last win over Niagara ... Twice in the all-time series Duquesne and Niagara met on the hardwood when both teams were ranked by the Associated Press ... The No. 2 Dukes earned a 61-53 road win over the No. 13 Purple Eagles Jan. 16, 1954, and just over a year later posted a 65-48 triumph at home ... The Duquesne win Jan. 31, 1955, saw the Dukes ranked at No. 4 and Niagara No. 20 according to the Associated Press ... In six games in the all-time series, the Dukes were ranked in the top 10, including a 99-69 home victory Feb. 24, 1971 in which Duquesne sat at No. 8 in the national rankings ... The Dukes also own a 66-51 win over Niagara in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) that came at Madison Square Garden March 11, 1954 ... The Purple Eagles are led by Greg Paulus (Duke '09), a native of Medina, Ohio, who enters his seventh year as head coach and owns an overall record of 78-98 (.443).
 
Virginia Tech Leftovers – Duquesne trailed, 75-66, with 5:11 to play but closed the game on a 17-6 run to earn the victory ... Junior guard Jimmie Williams started the rally with a three-pointer, while his layup with 1:34 to go gave the Dukes an 80-79 advantage ... A dunk on the fastbreak by senior guard Tarence Guinyard after a steal from senior forward David Dixon gave Duquesne the lead for good, 82-80, with 44 seconds left ... The Dukes shot 43.1 percent (31-for-72) from the field, including 47.6 percent (20-for-42) in the second half ... Duquesne outscored Virginia Tech, 44-36, in points in the paint ... The contest featured eight ties and seven lead changes ... The Dukes received 21 points from their bench, including eight from senior guard Maximus Edwards.
 
Four Score and … In today's day and age of college basketball with the NCAA Transfer Portal, Duquesne offers senior forward David Dixon, who will play his final season with the Dukes in 2025-26 and has spent his entire career on the Bluff. Dixon, 6'9" and 230 pounds, enters the 2025-26 campaign with career totals of 569 points and 423 rebounds and last season became just the second player in program history to eclipse career totals of both 100 blocks and 100 dunks. A career 55.1 percent (221-for-401) from the field in 96 games, including 24 starts, Dixon ranks fifth in the Duquesne record book for blocks (129) while sitting second in dunks (104). Dixon, the program's active leader in both points and rebounds, is one of just four players in the Atlantic 10 this season that has spent their entire career with one program, joining 6'10" forward Sean Logan of Davidson, 6'10" forward Christian Fermin of VCU and 6'11" center Mike Walz of Richmond. Ironically, each of the four student-athletes to have played their entire career at one institution are post players.
 
Jersey Swap – A number of returning Dukes will don new uniform numbers when the 2025-26 campaign kicks off Monday against Niagara at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, including both of Duquesne's returning starters. Redshirt senior guard Cam Crawford switches to wearing No. 5 after sporting No. 1 last season, while junior forward Jakub Nečas will wear No. 9 this season after using the No. 7 for his jersey his first two years with the program. Senior guard Maximus Edwards, meanwhile, switches to No. 22 after sporting No. 8 a year ago. In addition, two international players will wear jersey numbers never before worn in the 109-year history of Duquesne basketball. Redshirt sophomore Stef van Bussel will don No. 18, while freshman forward Lazar Milošević will wear No. 27. Nečas is also the first student-athlete for the Dukes to wear No. 9 since Chuck Horne sported the digit from 1950-51.
 
Defense Wins Championships – Duquesne gave up 80 or more points just four times during the 2024-25 season in the first year under head coach Dru Joyce III and finished the year ranked fourth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense (67.3 ppg). Duquesne, which held nine consecutive opponents under 70 points during the course of the season, the longest streak by the program in over 60 years, posted a record of 12-6 (.667) in 2024-25 when holding opponents to under 70 points, including a perfect 6-0 when yielding less than 60 points in a contest.
 
Closing Out – A total of 62.5 percent (20-of-32) of Duquesne's games during the 2024-25 season, the first for Dru Joyce III as head coach, were decided by nine points or less. Of those 20 games, the outcome of 12 was decided by five points or fewer. In nine Atlantic 10 road games last season, Duquesne was outscored by a total of 14 points, with the seven losses by a combined 27 points (3.86 average margin of defeat).
 
Three Ball, Corner Pocket – A key reason guard Cam Crawford led the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal percentage (.431) last season was his work in the corners. He was successful on 53.7 percent (22-of-41) of his attempts in the two corner pockets, which was 18.2 percent better than the NCAA Division I average in the region (courtesy CBBAnalytics.com). Crawford finished with multiple three-pointers in a game a total of 14 times last season, including a 5-for-8 performance in an 85-68 victory over George Mason (March 1) as part of the Chuck Cooper Classic at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Elsewhere from CBBAnalytics.com, John Hugley IV shot 50 percent (10-for-20) from beyond the arc last season at Xavier, the highest three-point field goal percentage for any player 6'10" or taller in the country with a minimum of 20 attempts. Hugley IV enters his final season in 2025-26 a career 32.7 percent (35-for-107) shooter from deep. 
 
100/100 – While Cam Crawford knocked down five triples in the win over George Mason (March 1) last season, junior forward David Dixon joined an exclusive group in the same game. His first dunk of the contest, which came at the 11:02 mark of the first half, helped Dixon become just the second player in program history to reach career totals of both 100 dunks and 100 blocks. Former forward Damian Saunders (2008-11) owns career records in both categories with 166 jams and 300 rejections. Dixon contributed 14 points off the bench in the win against the Patriots as Duquesne improved to 16-7 (.696) since the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign when he scores in double figures.
 
Did You Know? The Dukes have won 35 consecutive games dating back to the 2018-19 campaign when holding opponents to under 60 points thanks to a 69-56 victory over Loyola Chicago (Feb. 8) at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Included in that stretch is a perfect 23-0 mark in four years Dru Joyce III has been a member of the coaching staff on the Bluff, including two years as associate head coach from 2022 to 2024.
 
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