Duquesne Faces Rival St. Bonaventure at Home, Still Looking for First A-10 Win

Duquesne basketball has had a horrid start to Atlantic-10 play in 2024 but will have a chance to right things with a win against rival St. Bonaventure at home Tuesday night.

Duquesne Outlook

Duquesne has lost its first five conference games so far this season, against both UMass on Jan. 3 and Loyola Chicago on Jan. 6 on the road and both Dayton last Friday night and Richmond on Tuesday at home.

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Their last match on Saturday against rival Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia came down to the last second. Despite some poor turnovers and missed shots from Duquesne, sophomore forward Matúš Hronský made a fadeaway mid-range jumper to tie the game at 69 with less than 10 seconds remaining.

The Hawks came down on the next possession and junior guard Lynn Greer III put up a floater that air balled. Dukes sophomore forward David Dixon chose to try and block that shot, but missed, allowing Hawks graduate student guard Cameron Brown to rebound and put it in for the game-winning score with less than a second remaining.

And Cameron Brown with the putback to give St. Joe’s the 71-69 win over Duquesne to move to 2-3 in A-10 play! Christ Essandoko was the star with 21 pts and 12 rebs but Lynn Green (12, 6 and 4) gets a lot of credit for his second half play to get the needed home win. pic.twitter.com/04BFM4hWxR

— Tristan Freeman (@hoopsnut351) January 20, 2024

The loss dropped Duquesne to 9-8 overall and 0-5 in A-10 play. It is also the sixth straight loss to a Division I team and makes it more than a month since the last win, a 69-67 victory over Bradley at Lebron James Arena in Akron, Ohio.

The Dukes didn’t have star senior guard Dae Dae Grant for the second straight game due to a concussion. Fellow senior guard Jimmy Clark III had to step up in his place and had one of his best games of the season for the Dukes, scoring a team-high 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting and 5-for-10 from 3-point range.

Duquesne also excelled from the foul line, 12-for-14, with graduate student forward Foussenyi Drame making all five of his attempts and Dixon making his four shots.

Sophomore guard Kareem Rozier had one of his worst outings of the season, shooting 2-for-11 from the field and 0-for-4 from behind the arc. First-year guard Jake DiMichele started his second straight game and scored 11 points, shooting 3-for-6 from deep.

The Dukes frontcourt struggled to deal with Hawks redshirt first-year center Christ Essanadoko, who scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, both team-highs, for a double-double, while also shooting 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

The 0-5 start in conference play is the worst for Duquesne since 2012-13, when they finished with 1-15 record and dead last in the A-10. Winning the A-10 conference in regular season play is far out of the question, but a good finish would benefit them heading into the tournament come mid-March.

Duquesne vs. St. Bonaventure History

St. Bonaventure holds the overall record in the all-time series against Duquesne, 70-61, as well as the Atlantic-10 record too, 43-33. They have had most of their success recently, 11-2 since Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot took over prior to the 2017-18 season, which includes winning streak of five games and six games.

The Dukes do have a 41-22 lead at home against the Bonnies, which included a 56-54 victory last February, ending the Bonnies’ six game winning streak in the rivalry.

St. Bonaventure Outlook

St. Bonaventure comes into this matchup 11-6 overall and 2-3 in A-10 play. They lost last time out to George Mason, 69-60, on Saturday, and holds wins over Rhode Island at home and VCU away, and losses to Richmond on the road and Fordham at home.

Along with that VCU win, their 62-61 victory over Akron at the Legends of Basketball Showcase at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Dec. 30 is their other Quad II win this season. Their losses to then ranked No. 15 Florida Atlantic at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass. on Dec. 16 and to Auburn at the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Nov. 17, along with Richmond, all come in Quad I.

Their worst losses of the season come against Fordham and Canisius at home, both in the Quad IV category.

St. Bonaventure have one of the best shooting teams in the Atlantic-10, ranking No. 1 from the foul line, 78.8%, and No. 3 in both field goal percentage, 46.6%, and 3-point percentage, 37.2%.

Graduate student guard Mika Adams-Woods is one player that the Dukes will have to watch out for on the Bonnies, as he is No. 5 in the A-10 shooting 46.7% from 3-point range, tied for No. 6 shooting 86.0% from the free throw line and No. 14 shooting 53.1% from the field.

He also leads the team and is No. 11 in the conference with 3.6 assists per game and ranks tied No. 6 with a 2.5 assist/turnover ratio, is No. 14 shooting 53.1% from the field and No. 19 scoring 13.8 points per game.

Redshirt junior forward Chad Venning leads the team and ranks tied No. 15 scoring 14.4 points per game, No. 15 shooting 52.9% from the field and No. 23 shooting 74.1% from the foul line. He is also great defensively, using his 6-foot-10 frame to block on average 1.8 shots per game, No. 6 in the A-10.

The Bonnies also have another great shooter in graduate student guard Charles Pride, who is No. 2 in the A-10 shooting 47.7% from 3-point range, tied for No. 10 making 2.2 3-pointers per game and No. 12 shooting 82.1% from the foul line. Pride also excels defensively, leading the team with 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, No. 9 and tied for No. 13 in the conference, respectively.

Redshirt senior guard Moses Brown is another great shooter for St. Bonaventure, shooting 42.7% from behind the arc and making 2.0 3-pointers per game, No. 12 and No. 15 in the A-10, respectively.

Two more players to watch out for on the Bonnies are sophomore forwards Assa Essamvous, who ranks tied No. 18 in the conference with 5.6 rebounds per game, as well as Barry Evans, ranks No. 20 with 5.5 rebounds per game and tied No. 20 with 1.2 steals per game.

Keys to Victory For Duquesne

Duquesne will want to look to take advantage of St. Bonaventure on the boards. The road team averages 33.2 combined rebounds per game and 23.4 defensive rebounds per game, both the least in the A-10. Duquesne ranks No. 3 in offensive rebounds per game, 12.0, and will need players like Dixon and Drame to step up and help create extra opportunities on offense.

Even without Grant these past two games, the Dukes have been just one possession away from winning the last game against the Hawks and the Spiders last Tuesday. Two straight wins would look much better than the 0-5 record they have right now, but finishing games strong, making less mistakes and just executing, when necessary, will prove crucial in late game scenarios.

Duquesne is back for three straight games at home and excelled last season at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, going 16-4. They are 6-3 this year and will need to make their home court difficult to play at to get some wins heading into the post season.

Clark will also have to continue to step up for the Dukes, in Grant’s absence, and important contributions from DiMichele and Rozier would put them in great positions to win most of their games going forward.

How to Watch

This game will not come on television, but instead, ESPN+ will broadcast it 7:00 p.m. Tuesday night.