It's finally time to open up the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse... starting off this new era with a win against Dayton would be fantastic.

Game Moved To ESPN2 from ESPNU.  Same 9:00 start

Duquesne Basketball on Twitter: "📺 SAME GAME, DIFFERENT CHANNEL ... Please Note: Tomorrow night’s Dayton at Duquesne game has been moved to ESPN2. Still set to air at 9:00pm #GoDukes" / Twitter

CLK wrote:

Trib Article

Amid refurbished home court buzz, Duquesne tries to keep focus on Dayton | TribLIVE.com

Thanks, CLK.  It's always nice to have Dave Mackall on the Dukes beat.

maybe, but if Baylor is one before us, there will be many more eyes tuned to espn2 than a college football 150 show, which are all repeats now.   It might not start at 9pm, but more people will be tuned to 2 than the U.

Last edited by townsonkid (2/02/2021 9:23 am)

This game should be a battle. I make my predictions based on differential in four stats and the widest margin in them is 2.5 points. I sometimes consider past matchups, which obviously favor Dayton, but even that isn't as wide as I thought at 6.4 points in the past four years (only 2.3 at home).

It really all comes down to defense. When they score 65 or less they are 1-4 on the season. When they score more than 65 they are 9-0. Specifically defense on Crutcher is obviously important. He averages 11.8 per game in their losses. He scores 21.4 a game in wins. He has a 1.2 assist to turnover ratio in losses. That ratio goes up to 2.3 in wins.  The other common link is performance from shooting guards. Opposing shooting guards have scored 19.8 points a game on 13-32 shooting from 3 point range in Dayton's losses.

Both coaches are in their fourth seasons at the schools. Dambrot won the first matchup. We beat them in 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018. We are playing very well right now, especially defensively. We have started knocking down shots. We finally have a home court. We battled them tough in the first matchup at their place, and we are a much better team now. I say Dambrot wins the first matchup in the arena and we get another win after three years. Weathers gets a put back to go ahead and Hughes blocks Crutcher's attempted game winner. Dukes 62 Flyers 61.

Last edited by luckymcd (2/02/2021 10:51 am)

Just dug into the archives again and found that I'm not crazy (or maybe I still am but not about this). The game was originally scheduled for ESPN as shown in the conference schedule announcement: https://goduquesne.com/news/2020/11/10/2020-21-atlantic-10-mens-basketball-schedule-announced.aspx

luckymcd wrote:

When the blizzard rolled through yesterday I definitely had a similar thought. How unsurprised would long time Dukes fans be if we're all amped for the game, opening up a great new arena, playing good ball, bringing in a good opponent, on national TV and the game gets postponed because that good opponent can't make it to the arena because of a massive snowstorm. I'm only now comfortable saying this because I don't think I can jinx it. The thought definitely crossed my mind though.. 

I couldn't help but think, wouldn't it be funny if the rims were terrible like at La Roche?    Headline "DUKES OPEN NEW BUILDING WITH  PRE SHOT CLOCK SOCRE 28-26

Last edited by Tejas_Duke (2/02/2021 3:05 pm)

Dayton is now playing 8 guys, and really only going 7 deep with the 8th guy playing less than five minutes. They get the majority of their scoring from 3 guys, primarily Crutcher and Watson and the freshman Amzil gives them about 10 a game as well.

They have good starting size with Amzil and Tshimanga going 6’10” and 6’11” respectively, and outside of that, they have one 6’9” guy who comes off the bench. I’d like to see us use Kelly, Rotroff, and Harris early to generate some physicality and contact down low. If we can force some cheap and easy fouls early in the contest we could have a real advantage down the stretch with their lack of depth.

This one was closer than the final 9 point differential it finished at in Dayton. If we can keep Watson and Crutcher  from totally going off, I like our chances, especially if our 3pt and FT shooting continues at the rate we have improved too. Gotta think the new arena momentum gives us a slight edge as well. I’m taking the extra 1.5 points but don’t think we’ll need it. 74-68 Dukies.

We deserve a win tonight.  We deserve this bit of happiness.

Can't believe it really might happen---ESPNU.

Not the time to get cold.

Stay alert on D, they are trying to get back in this with quick layups.   Get back, no chest pounding after scores.

Love the lower camera angle.   And that court is too sweeeeeet.

Last edited by townsonkid (2/02/2021 10:02 pm)