Duquesne Dukes Fan Forum » Game Thread

BluffHunter · 2/20/2026 6:40 pm

HUGE game when it comes down to the implications for the double-bye at PPG Paints Arena! Can Duquesne get one back on the road at Dayton as they did Saint Bonaventure? It will take some better play than Wednesday night, that's for sure. The Dukes seem to thrive on the road, so let's hope a sellout Dayton crowd gets these guys pumped.

TV Coverage on ESPN+ with Alex Mikos and Brooks Hall
Radio 104.7 HD2 with Ray Goss and Jim Duzyk

KenPom:
#117 Duquesne (16-10)(8-5) (D1 Wins over #80 George Washington, #103 George Mason, #107 Davidson, #114 Rhode Island, #155 Saint Bonaventure, #168 Fordham, #201 Queens, #219 Stony Brook, #228 La Salle, #296 Sacred Heart, #310 Loyola Chicago, #321 Loyola MD, #339 Niagara, and #346 Canisius. Losses vs. #284 Northeastern, #148 Saint Joseph's, #155 Saint Bonaventure, #127 William & Mary, #89 Dayton, #72 Nevada, #61 Boise State, #45 VCU, #27 Villanova, and #26 Saint Louis.)
#89 Dayton (17-9)(8-5) (Wins over #78 Florida State, #80 George Washington, #82 Georgetown, #100 Marquette, #103 George Mason, #107 Davidson, #117 Duquesne, #133 ETSU, #155 Saint Bonaventure, #168 Fordham, #237 Bethune Cookman, #226 UMBC, #310 Loyola Chicago (x2), #333 North Florida, #346 Canisius, and #352 North Carolina Central. Losses vs. #228 La Salle, #148 Saint Joseph's, #114 Rhode Island, #93 Liberty, #50 Cincinatti, #45 VCU, #26 Saint Louis, #22 BYU, and #19 Virginia.)
https://kenpom.com

NET:
#127 Duquesne
#86 Dayton
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

Haslametrics:
#121 Duquesne - 71
#94 Dayton - 77
https://www.haslametrics.com/preview.php?yr=&tid1=4391&tid2=4359&neut=0

BartTorvik:
#113 Duquesne - 73
#92 Dayton - 78
https://barttorvik.com/trank.php?&year=2026&t1l=Duquesne&t2l=Dayton#

A10 Standings:
https://atlantic10.com/standings.aspx?path=mbball

Duquesne Preview:
https://goduquesne.com/news/2026/2/20/mens-basketball-duquesne-visits-dayton-saturday.aspx

Dayton Preview:
https://daytonflyers.com/news/2026/2/20/mens-basketball-udmbb-faces-duquesne-in-final-home-saturday-game-of-season.aspx

Betting:
Spread: Duquesne +6.5
Moneyline: Duquesne +270, Dayton -340
Over/Under: 148.5 (DraftKings)

Last edited by BluffHunter (Yesterday 12:54 pm)

BluffHunter · 2/20/2026 6:42 pm

VCU plays at AP #18 Saint Louis tonight in one of the biggest games of the A-10 season. ESPN2 at 7 PM.

BluffHunter · 2/20/2026 9:31 pm

BluffHunter wrote:
VCU plays at AP #18 Saint Louis tonight in one of the biggest games of the A-10 season. ESPN2 at 7 PM.

VCU led early on and then SLU found another gear into the second half. Then a bench clearing brawl breaks out ay the end of the game since VCU stole the ball as Saint Louis was dribbling the clock out. Horrible look. 88-75 SLU.

MikeR · Yesterday 10:19 am

BluffHunter wrote:
BluffHunter wrote:
VCU plays at AP #18 Saint Louis tonight in one of the biggest games of the A-10 season. ESPN2 at 7 PM.
VCU led early on and then SLU found another gear into the second half. Then a bench clearing brawl breaks out ay the end of the game since VCU stole the ball as Saint Louis was dribbling the clock out. Horrible look. 88-75 SLU.

Two class acts repping the A10 on national TV. The same two had a brawl in the stands last year I think.

CLK · Yesterday 10:49 am

Game Day! This is a huge opportunity to grab anpther signature road victory, push our streak to six, solidify our spot in the A-10 standings, and build unstoppable momentum heading into the final stretch and the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints Arena.Lock in from tip-off, fight for every loose ball, crash the boards, protect the paint, and trust each other on both ends. The Dukes have shown heart, resilience, and growth all season—Dukes Up 🏀

BluffHunter · Yesterday 11:00 am

CLK wrote:
Game Day! This is a huge opportunity to grab anpther signature road victory, push our streak to six, solidify our spot in the A-10 standings, and build unstoppable momentum heading into the final stretch and the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints Arena.Lock in from tip-off, fight for every loose ball, crash the boards, protect the paint, and trust each other on both ends. The Dukes have shown heart, resilience, and growth all season—Dukes Up 🏀

100%. Go Dukes!

applecorps · Yesterday 4:08 pm

This was one the Dukes couldn't win with Jimmie way off his game. Just have to hope he gets back to his excellent capabilities.

Last edited by applecorps (Yesterday 6:04 pm)

Ironduke81 · Yesterday 4:24 pm

Dukes big men foul trouble big problem. Hugley top Nil earner not earning his way. Van Bussel at least rebounds. Zero offense but gets defensive rebounds. At this point move on from Hugley. Great effort by the Dukes. Dayton tough venue. I would love a third shot at Flyer Nation in the Burgh. Go Dukes.

NapaDuke · Yesterday 4:43 pm

Well, we played well until we didn't. Dayton played a smart game and used their size advantage, plus, almost no one win on their court. Dayton plays St.L next and we win the next game, we might still be in the hunt. Go Dukes.

FAM · Yesterday 5:00 pm

Can’t complain. We won 5 in a row. We had no one to match their big kid today. Get ready for the next one. I am getting tired of Williams and his mouth. Dru needs to talk to him.
Go Dukes.

Motor · Yesterday 5:23 pm

Good effort so let’s turn our attention to Davidson
They lost at Fordham today.

Still hoping to make the A10 final four but if not let’s win as many games from here
20 plus wins is still in our grasp.

Remember we won the last tournament winning 4 straight. No time to sulk get back on the horse
Go Dukes

luckymcd · Yesterday 6:09 pm

Almost no one had it today and the result was predictable against a good team in a very tough venue. The priority now becomes not letting this spill over to the next one.

phil95 · Yesterday 6:17 pm

Alex has to realize that the margin for error in these big-time conference games is razor-thin & show more maturity. Fifth-year seniors can't make these kinds of mistakes. It is just too big a distraction for a team that already has challenges staying locked in for 40 minutes

The FT shooting in the 2nd half was outstanding. Had they done the same in the first, I think the Dukes would have had a halftime lead.

I thought the Dukes did a better job on the defensive glass than they have done in recent games.

The first-half defense was mediocre, or a bit worse. The second half featured some better defense, but only in spurts.

I was loving what Jake had going in the first half.

When Jimmie is struggling, opponents have done an excellent job of swarming TG.

At this time, Dayton is the better team.

FAM wrote:
Can’t complain. We won 5 in a row. We had no one to match their big kid today. Get ready for the next one. I am getting tired of Williams and his mouth. Dru needs to talk to him.
Go Dukes.

Ironduke81 · Yesterday 6:31 pm

Kudos to this board very positive comments except me🤣Go Dukes

NapaDuke · Yesterday 6:51 pm

Dayton's arena is 13,000 and the announcer said it was the 90 something strait sell out. Playing Dayton at Dayton is the worse experience for opposing teams. To win there is rare. Good for them. That aside, it's not the whole season, it's one game. Dayton played a smart game, they recruit top players, and we match up to them the first half, but got a bit out coached in the second half. Every opponent there gets the home job so, move on. We played a good game, not a great game, and we will meet them on a neutral site and likely win next time.

applecorps · Today 9:49 am

I've mentioned this before. Watching the game, Dixon blocked at least 3 shots, and the announcers noted that many. Why does the box score show only 1 blocked shot?

luckymcd · Today 2:33 pm

applecorps wrote:
I've mentioned this before. Watching the game, Dixon blocked at least 3 shots, and the announcers noted that many. Why does the box score show only 1 blocked shot?

I think it comes down to the difference between blocking the shot and affecting the shot. For example, at least one of the blocks the announcers credited him with actually hit the underside of the rim, but that's just because Dixon forced the shooter to alter his shot as he was putting it up. Whatever the numbers end up showing, Dixon should finally make the all-defense team this season because he's not just a rim protector, his quick hands lead to a lot of steals too.

NapaDuke · Today 2:47 pm

luckymcd wrote:
applecorps wrote:
I've mentioned this before. Watching the game, Dixon blocked at least 3 shots, and the announcers noted that many. Why does the box score show only 1 blocked shot?
I think it comes down to the difference between blocking the shot and affecting the shot. For example, at least one of the blocks the announcers credited him with actually hit the underside of the rim, but that's just because Dixon forced the shooter to alter his shot as he was putting it up. Whatever the numbers end up showing, Dixon should finally make the all-defense team this season because he's not just a rim protector, his quick hands lead to a lot of steals too.

I thought Dixon had 3 blocks too. Strange thing early in the game, Dayton committed offensive goal tending and their announcers clearly pointed it out, yet, the refs never called it and they kept that 2 pts? It's not everything, but it is the home job. Also, it's just my observation, but Dayton pressed the whole game, even to the end and we beat it often and at times had numbers to drive to the hoop but held up even as their 3 players that were pressing were still way behind the play. Make them pay for pressing and they will quit. Yet, late in the game when the Dukes tried to press near the end, we got burnt on that same principle? It's been said, teams that know how to press know how to beat the press. One other observation, but at the end of the game with two Dayton players fouling out, I thinks we should have driven to the hoop as fast as possible instead of throwing up two air-ball three ball attempts on tired dead legs. All 3 pt shooting percents drop in the second half on tired legs, but, drives in the paint, to the hoop tend to work more because most players are in foul trouble and lay off. We played a good game and Dayton at home shoots better than on the road. Come A-10 tourney time and we are not the traveling team, and things very likely will be different. I still believe this Dukes team has the talent to win it again and they are really in a good spot to do it.

Last edited by NapaDuke (Today 4:11 pm)

applecorps · Today 3:23 pm

luckymcd wrote:
applecorps wrote:
I've mentioned this before. Watching the game, Dixon blocked at least 3 shots, and the announcers noted that many. Why does the box score show only 1 blocked shot?
I think it comes down to the difference between blocking the shot and affecting the shot. For example, at least one of the blocks the announcers credited him with actually hit the underside of the rim, but that's just because Dixon forced the shooter to alter his shot as he was putting it up. Whatever the numbers end up showing, Dixon should finally make the all-defense team this season because he's not just a rim protector, his quick hands lead to a lot of steals too.

I thought that particular block was altered by Dixon's hand before it hit the underside of the rim. That's what I remembered.

NapaDuke · Today 3:53 pm

I just looked this up, but Dayton, with all the home court advantage and the top recruits that come with it have only won the A-10 tourney once in 23 plus years, just in 2003? And that one win was the only time since 1977 that they won? Away from that home court, they struggle just a bit.

Last edited by NapaDuke (Today 3:59 pm)