Duquesne Readies For Battle on the Road against George Mason With Postseason Implications

Duquesne prepares for a battle on the road with George Mason on Saturday, which will have serious postseason implications.

Duquesne Outlook

Duquesne is coming off a 75-63 win over La Salle Tuesday night at home, where they outscored their in-state foes 44-29 for the victory.

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Senior guard Jimmy Clark III had one of his best games as a Duke, scoring 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc, along with a season-high eight assists to just one turnover.

The Dukes also outscored the Explorers 33-6 from the bench, with graduate student forward Dusan Mahorcic scoring 13 points in a season-high 16 minutes.

Duquesne shot 50% from the field, which ranks tied for the third best in a game this season in conference play with their loss to Dayton on Feb. 13.

Despite starting A-10 play 0-5, the Dukes have won eight of their last 11 games overall and seven of their past 10 A-10 games, putting them at 17-11 overall and 7-8 in the A-10.

Duquesne vs. George Mason History

Duquesne and George Mason have played each other 15 times since their first meeting in 2001, with Duquesne holding a 9-6 advantage.

The Dukes also hold a 7-2 advantage over the Patriots since the latter joined the A-10 in 2013. This also includes a 4-3 advantage over the Patriots in Fairfax, Va. and 3-1 there since joining the conference.

Duquesne has won the past four games against George Mason, including a 75-52 blowout last season at home, which was also head coach Keith Dambrot’s 500th win as a collegiate head coach. Guard Dae Dae Grant led the way with 20 points and seven assists in the victory.

George Mason Outlook

George Mason comes into this contest with an almost similar record to Duquesne at 18-10 overall and 7-8 in the A-10.

Unlike the Dukes, the Patriots have had more contrasting streaks to their conference play, rather than a collapse to start out the season and now playing catch up to move higher up the standings. They won their first two games, lost their next three games, won the next two, lost the next three, won the next three and then have lost their past two games.

Their past two losses came in a 80-59 defeat to Loyola Chicago last Saturday and 61-60 to Fordham on Wednesday, both on the road. George Mason had a 14-point lead in their last game, but Fordham cut it down and guard Kyle Rose hit a last-second 3-pointer to get the victory.

Patriots Sophomore guard/forward Keyshawn Hall is one of the best players in the A-10 right now, as he leads the conference with 8.4 rebounds per game and ranks No. 4 scoring 17.2 points per game. The UNLV transfer has scored in double-digits in all but two games in conference play this season.

Senior guard Darius Maddox is another solid talent that George Mason has on its roster. The Virginia Tech transfer is second on the team and ranked tied No. 17 in the A-10 averaging 13.4 points per game, while also serving as the best 3-point shooter on the team, making 2.2 3-pointers per game and shooting 38.8% from behind the arc.

UNC Wilmington graduate student transfer in forward/center Amari Kelly is incredibly important to the Patriots and their work in the paint. He is No. 5 in the conference shooting 57.1% from the field, ranked tied for No. 10 with 1.3 blocks and No. 12 with 6.1 rebounds per game.

George Mason ranks No. 5 in the A-10 in combined team rebounds and No. 2 in combined opponent rebounds, tying them for the best rebound margin in the conference, thanks to Kelly and Hall.

The Patriots also shoot efficiently, ranking fourth from the field, 46.3%, and third from the foul line, 75.3%.

Keys to Victory for Duquesne

George Mason have a terrible habit of turning the ball over. They come in No. 13 in the A-10 in turnover ratio compared to opponents, -1.61, and rank tied for the worst assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 0.97 assist to each turnover.

They also make the least steals of any team in the conference, 11.61 per game, and the second least assists, 5.29 per game, leading to their poor assist/turnover ratio.

The Dukes love to force turnovers, third in the conference in steals at 7.46 per game, with Clark leading the conference with 2.3 per game himself.

If Clark and the rest of the team force turnovers early and combine that with easy points on the fast break, Duquesne has a good chance of winning this game.

Strong performances from Clark and Grant on the offensive end will prove crucial for a Dukes’ ictory, along with contributions from forwards in sophomore David Dixon, senior Tre Williams, graduate student Fousseyni Drame and Mahorcic, and guards in sophomore Kareem Rozier and first-year/walk-on Jake DiMichele.

The front court for Duquesne will also need to make sure they prevent second-chance opportunities for George Mason to score, with Kelly one of the best at grabbing offensive rebounds.

The game itself should serve as motivation for the Dukes, as both teams possess the same conference records. Getting some late wins, particularly in this game, will help the Dukes in their quest to finish with at-least a one-game bye in the A-10 Tournament in less than two weeks and maybe a higher finish in the standings for a more favorable matchup in the postseason as well.

Odds

George Mason comes in as the Bookies’ favorite over Duquesne at home, with both ESPNBet and FanDuel putting them at -3.5 point favorites and both DraftKings and BetRivers putting them as -3 point favorites.

ESPNBet and FanDuel both have the over/under at 134.5 points, while DraftKings and BetRivers have the over/under at 133.5 points.

How to Watch

There is no television broadcast for this game, but ESPN+ will stream the game for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off Saturday afternoon.