GAME 2
Central State (0-0) vs. Duquesne (1-0)
Saturday, November 7, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
 
Stream: ESPN+ with Tim Benz (pxp) & Trey Staunch (color)
Radio: 104.7 HD2 | iHeartRadio with Darren Zaslau (pxp) & Ron Everhart (color)
 
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Opening Tip
 
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team continues a five-game homestand to open its 2026-27 season Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. tip against Central State at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
- The Dukes opened their 111th year of NCAA Division I basketball with a 78-71 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne (11/3/26), using a 12-1 run to open up a 74-65 advantage with 1:24 to play en route to the win.
 
- Forward Kerem Konan and guard Josh Smith led four Dukes in double figures with 16 points each, while guards Yoav Berman and Jake DiMichele added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Konan finished with a game-high nine rebounds, while center Ege Demir finished with six points, eight boards and a pair of blocks.
 
- The Dukes, selected 10th in the 2026 Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, return two starters from 2025-26, including fifth-year guards Tarence Guinyard and Brandon Hall.
 
- Led by head coach Dru Joyce III, who is in his third year at the helm of the program, Duquesne welcomes 10 newcomers to the roster this season, including six transfers and four freshmen. In all, Duquesne returns 27.7 percent (718-of-2,584) of its scoring, 14.6 percent (169-of-1,158) of its rebounding and 37.9 percent (189-of-499) of its assists.
 
- The six NCAA Division I transfers that will compete for Duquesne this season entered the 2026-27 campaign with combined career totals of 2,672 points, 967 rebounds, 446 assists and 185 steals. The incoming transfer with the most career points is Berman with 734, who has scored three more points than Smith (731). Olowoniyi, meanwhile, owns 380 career rebounds in three seasons at the NCAA Division I level.
 
- Only one player on the roster in 2026-27 was a member of the Dukes during the 2023-24 season, when Duquesne made its magical run to the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship and subsequent automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. That season, the Dukes finished 15-6 (.714) with guard Jake DiMichele as a member of the starting lineup. Having missed an entire calendar year due to injury, DiMichele will enter the 2026-27 after a healthy offseason looking to continue to help Duquesne in various ways. He has played 63 career games on the Bluff and has averaged 5.9 points per game while shooting 45.5 percent (141-for-310) from the field.
 
- Duquesne continues its five-game homestand after taking on the Marauders Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:00 p.m. against Washington State at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
At The Helm – Dru Joyce III was named the 18th head coach in the 111-year history of Duquesne basketball March 28, 2024, and in his third year at the helm in 2025-26. He owns an overall record of 32-34 (.485) 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. During his four seasons on the coaching staff on the Bluff, the Dukes have averaged 19 wins a season.  
 
Scouting the Marauders – Located in Wilberforce, Ohio ... An NCAA Division II member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) ... Led by second-year head coach Travis Lewis (Eastern Michigan '07) ... Saturday marks the second meeting in the all-time series between Duquesne and Central State ... Last year at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the Dukes earned a 101-80 victory over the Marauders ... Keionte Cornelius, who led all scorers with 22 points, buried a three-pointer with 6:38 to go in the first half to give the Marauders a 32-30 lead, but the Dukes closed the half on a 14-4 run to grab a 44-36 edge at the break ... Forward John Hugley IV opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer to give the Dukes a double-digit advantage, 47-36, and the lead swelled to 60-43 at the 16:41 mark of the second half after a three-pointer from guard Tarence Guinyard, forcing Central State (3-2) to call timeout ... Duquesne had five players reach double figures, led by guard Jimmie Williams, who scored 20 points ... Duquesne shot 70 percent (21-for-30) from the field in the second half and 64.4 percent (38-for-59) overall, its highest mark since the 2022-23 season opener, a 91-63 triumph over Montana (Nov. 8, 2022) at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse ... In that contest against the Grizzlies, the Dukes also finished 38-for-59 from the floor ... Central State is coming off a 100-55 loss at Illinois State (11/5/26) ... Games against NCAA Division I programs do not count against the records for NCAA Division II teams ... Dimaunye Smith-Powe led the Marauders against the Redbirds with 16 points off the bench, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor ... Torrian Stevenson played a team-high 27 minutes and contributed 10 points.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne Leftovers – The Dukes improved to 92-19 (.828) all-time in season openers, including an 87-5 (.946) mark when opening the year at home ... The tilt against the Mastodons was the first in program history between the two programs ... An astounding 85.9 percent (67-of-78) of the offensive output for Duquesne were from student-athletes making their debut on the Bluff ... The only returning player to score for the Dukes was guard Jake DiMichele, who contributed 11 points ... Forward Kerem Konan, center Ege Demir and guard Arness Lawson each made their first NCAA Division I start ... For Konan, his 16-point effort marked his first career game in double figures as he shot 7-for-10 from the floor, including 1-for-2 from beyond the arc ... Duquesne shot 52.7 percent (29-of-55) from the field.
 
Geography Lesson – The 2026-27 Duquesne roster features 16 players that represent six states in the United States as well as six different countries internationally. Among the states represented this year are three from Pennsylvania, two each from Florida and Illinois and one from Georgia, Maryland and Ohio. Internationally, countries represented on the 111th roster in Duquesne program history include Australia, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Nigeria and Türkiye.
 
Defense Wins Championships – Duquesne owns a record of 21-8 (.724)  under head coach Dru Joyce III when holding opponents to under 70 points after a 67-61 victory over Rhode Island (March 12) in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Atlantic 10 Championship, including 9-2 (.818) last year. The Dukes have also won 38 consecutive games dating back to the 2018-19 campaign when holding opponents to under 60 points thanks to a 71-59 victory at Loyola Chicago (Jan. 24) last season that helped Duquesne earn its third Atlantic 10 road win. Included in that stretch is a perfect 26-0 mark in four years Joyce III has been a member of the coaching staff on the Bluff, including two years as associate head coach from 2022 to 2024.
 
The Snake – A key for the Dukes this season may lie in a familiar name. Redshirt junior guard Jake DiMichele returns for Duquesne and, after a healthy offseason, will look to continue the upward trajectory he flashed as a sophomore before injury shut his season down. Despite coming off the bench in each of the first seven games of the 2024-25 season prior to injury, DiMichele averaged 10.9 points while shooting 50 percent (29-for-58) from the field. Included among that stretch was a career-high 21 points against Milwaukee in which he scored 19 points in the second half and overall shot 9-of-13 from the floor. As a freshman during the 2023-24 campaign, DiMichele was a member of the starting lineup 21 times, with the Dukes 15-6 (.716) in those contests.
 
Mr. Smith – It seems as if redshirt senior guard Tarence Guinyard may have another ying to his yang in 2026-27. As former guard Jimmie Williams, a 2026 Atlantic 10 All-Conference Third Team pick, transferred to Ohio State last offseason, the Dukes brought in guard Josh Smith from West Georgia. Like Guinyard last season, Smith scored in double figures 27 times. Also like Guinyard last year, Smith reached the 20-point plateau 11 times. Named the 2026 ASUN Sixth Man of the Year after starting just six of West Georgia's 31 games, Smith has scored 731 points in 65 career NCAA Division I games, an average of 11.2 points per contest.
 
At The Rim – In an effort to add production to the frontcourt, the Dukes welcome forward Stephen Olowoniyi. A transfer from Oregon State, Olowoniyi's best season came as a sophomore at Southern Indiana, where in 30 games, including 29 starts, he averaged 13.9 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game while converting 59.1 percent (172-for-291) of his shots from the floor. Owning a career 57.1 percent (288-for-504) field goal percentage, Olowoniyi is also active protecting the rim, with 60 career rejections in 71 games, including 33 during his lone season at USI.
 
Deeper Dig – Junior wing Yoav Berman showed the ability to score the basketball last season in averaging 12.3 points per game at Queens and helping lead the Royals to their first NCAA Championship appearance in program history, but an underlying facet is his ability to create. Berman dished out 127 assists last year and posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of  2.15, which ranked sixth in the ASUN. In addition to ranking ninth in the ASUN in assists per game (3.63) in 2025-26, Berman owns a career scoring average of 10.3 points per game and owns 39 career double-figure scoring efforts.
 
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