GAME 16
Duquesne (9-6 | 1-1 Atlantic 10) at Saint Joseph's (8-7 | 0-2 Atlantic 10)
Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 | 7:00 p.m.
Philadelphia, Pa. | Hagan Arena (4,200)
 
Stream: ESPN+ with Matt Martucci (pxp) & Joe Lunardi (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 heads to Philadelphia, Pa., Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. tip against Saint Joseph's at Hagan Arena.
 
- The Dukes opened the home portion of their Atlantic 10 schedule with a 93-80 setback to VCU (Jan. 3) in the first game of the 2026 calendar year. Senior guard Tarence Guinyard led all scorers in the contest with 22 points for Duquesne while also adding five assists. He shot 8-of-13 from the floor, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc, and 4-for-7 at the free-throw line.
 
- Junior guard Jimmie Williams contributed 20 points in just under 17 minutes of action against the Rams, connecting on six of his eight attempts from the field, including each of his three shots from deep, while going 5-for-5 at the free-throw line.
 
- Williams enters Wednesday's game having scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games, the longest streak by a member of the Dukes this season, averaging 17.1 points per game during that span.
 
- Guinyard is the only player in the Atlantic 10 to rank in the top five in the conference in scoring (16.7 ppg), assists (5.2 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44), ranking third, second and third, respectively, in each of the categories.
 
- As a team, Duquesne sits fourth among league leaders in scoring offense (86.1 ppg) entering Wednesday's game at Saint Joseph's and second in field goal percentage (.499).
 
- 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). Thanks to an 83-63 victory over Niagara (Nov. 3) in its 2025-26 season opener, Duquesne earned program victory No. 1,500.
 
- 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, owns career totals of 662 points and 483 rebounds and is just the second player in program history to eclipse career totals of both 100 blocks and 100 dunks.
 
- Dixon is one of just four players in the Atlantic 10 this season that have 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.
 
- Redshirt senior guard Maximus Edwards scored 10 points in a 92-80 win over Sacred Heart (Nov. 7) to reach exactly 1,000 points for his career. Named the 2023 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Edwards scored 722 in two seasons at George Washington before transferring to the Bluff and has scored 385 points in his time at Duquesne. He owns a career scoring average of 10.2 points in 109 games at the NCAA Division I level thanks to 1,107 points.
 
- The Dukes return home to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse after taking on the Hawks, hosting Dayton Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 7:00 p.m.
 
At The Helm – Dru Joyce III was named the 18th head coach in the 110-year history of Duquesne basketball March 28, 2024, and in his second year at the helm in 2025-26. He owns an overall record of 22-25 (.468) in his first head coaching job. 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 Hawks – Wednesday marks the 66th game in an all-time series that dates to Feb. 25, 1938 … Saint Joseph's leads the series 44-21 (.677), including a 24-5 (.828) advantage in games played in Philadelphia … Duquesne has won seven of the past 11 and 12 of the last 23 meetings between the two programs … Duquesne and SJU split the season series last year, with each team winning on its home court … In the last outing between the two programs, the Hawks earned a 76-72 win at Hagan Arena … Saint Joseph's owned a 61-49 lead with 4:17 remaining before a late push that featured 15 points from former guard Tre Dinkins III in the final 1:19 of action settled the final score … Dinkins scored 22 of his game-high 27 in the second half … The two contests last year between the Hawks and Dukes featured 19 ties and seven lead changes, with Duquesne winning at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in overtime, 85-81 … In that contest forward David Dixon tallied 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, with his three-pointer with 4.8 seconds to go in the extra period snapping an 80-80 tie and helping propel the Dukes to victory.
 
VCU Leftovers – Duquesne has dropped consecutive games in the all-time series with the Rams after winning four of the previous five matchups ... VCU owned a 33-25 edge on the glass, with the 25 caroms matching the fewest in a game in two seasons under head coach Dru Joyce III (vs. Dayton last season) ... Junior guard Jimmie Williams was 6-for-8 from the floor and in his last six home games at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse has averaged 18.8 points while converting 67.2 percent (43-for-64) attempts from the field, including 60 percent (15-for-25) from deep, while going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line ... The Dukes shot 52.8 percent (28-for-53) from the floor, while VCU close at 53.7 percent (29-for-54) ... Duquesne is 6-2 (.750) this year when hitting on at least half of its shots from the field ... The Dukes held advantages in points in the paint (38-32), points on the break (23-13) and points off turnovers (19-13).    
 
It's Jimmie – Arguably turning into the most consistent scorer for the Dukes this season is junior guard Jimmie Williams. Williams enters Wednesday's game at Saint Joseph's having scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games after finishing with 20 points against VCU (Jan. 3), a stretch in which he has produced averages of 17.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per contest while shooting 56 percent (61-for-109) from the field and 87.5 percent (28-for-32) at the free-throw line. Williams, who was named the final Atlantic 10 Player of the Week (Dec. 29) of the 2025 calendar year,  ranks 17th overall this season in the conference in field goal percentage at 51.6 percent (81-for-157) while also sitting 24th in three-point field goal accuracy at 39.5 percent (30-for-76). He also enters Wednesday's tilt having hit at least one three-pointer in each of his last 12 games. Meanwhile, since opening his Duquesne career just 2-for-7 at the free-throw line in the first three games of the year, Williams has converted 33 of his last 38 opportunities (86.8%).
 
Starter Jacket – Senior forward David Dixon has worked his way back into the starting lineup for Duquesne, having started each of the last five games for the Dukes. In helping Duquesne average 86.0 points per game over that stretch, Dixon is providing the Dukes with averages of 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 63.6 percent (28-of-44) from the field and 73.3 percent (11-for-15) at the free-throw line. He grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in an 89-83 double overtime victory at Davidson (Dec. 30) to open Atlantic 10 play and in each of his last two games has rejected three shots, pushing his team-high total in the category to 16 rejections. Dixon ranks 10th in the A-10 this season with an average of 1.1 blocks per game.
 
The Road Is Life – Senior guard Tarence Guinyard has been the most consistent scorer for the Dukes this year on the road, as he enters Wednesday's game at Saint Joseph's having shot an even 50 percent (24-for-48) from the floor in four games away from UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, including 50 percent (15-for-30) from beyond the arc, in averaging 19.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest. Guinyard has eclipsed the 20-point plateau three times in four road games, including a season-high 30 points at Villanova (Nov. 15) as the Dukes wrapped up the Villanova Challenge. The points per game average for Guinyard in road contests is even more impressive considering he scored just a single point at Boise State (Dec. 10) to open a two-game road trip before leading all scorers with 21 points three days later at Nevada (Dec. 13). Guinyard is also coming off a game-high 24 points at Davidson (Dec. 30) in Duquesne's last road game.
 
Distributor – Not only does senior guard Tarence Guinyard possess the ability to score the basketball, he's just as good at creating offense, as well. Guinyard missed his first career double-double by just an assist in a 103-59 victory over Canisius (Dec. 22), contributing 21 points and a career-high nine dimes. More importantly, Guinyard didn't suffer a turnover in the win against the Golden Griffins. Duquesne is a perfect 7-0 this season when Guinyard posts at least six assists in a game and 2-6 (.250) when he finishes with five dimes or less.
 
Did You Know? A member of the Dukes has scored at least 20 points in a game on 13 occasions this year after both senior guard Tarence Guinyard (24) and junior guard Jimmie Williams (20) each hit the plateau in the Atlantic 10 home opener for Duquesne against VCU (Jan. 3). Guinyard has eclipsed the 20-point plateau six times this season, with the Dukes 3-3 (.500) in those contests, while in the three games Williams has scored 20 or more points Duquesne is 2-1 (.667). In 32 games last season under first-year head coach Dru Joyce III, Duquesne had just 10 efforts of 20 or more points. 
 
Paint Touches – A key to the success Duquesne has had this season in scoring has been due to its work in the paint. The Dukes are averaging 39.1 points in the paint through 15 games, scoring at least 30 in 12 of their 15 games, at least 40 on five occasions and at least 50 four times. To put that in perspective, Duquesne scored at least 40 points in the paint a total of four times in 32 games last season in the first year for Dru Joyce III as head coach. The Dukes matched a season-high in points in the paint (56) in a 99-49 win over Cleary (Dec. 27) and are 6-3 (.667) since the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign when scoring at least 40 points in the post, including a mark of 4-1 (.800) this year.
 
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