Amid refurbished home court buzz, Duquesne tries to keep focus on Dayton

While the pregame buzz at Duquesne has centered mainly on the long-awaited reopening of the refurbished and renamed UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the Dukes hope to keep their focus on a familiar opponent.

The nemesis known as the Dayton Flyers will serve on Tuesday night as the first men’s basketball team to visit the former A.J. Palumbo Center, looking to improve on an already lopsided advantage in the long history between the two Atlantic 10 schools. Duquesne announced Monday night that the game has been changed to ESPN2 from ESPNU. The 9 p.m. start time will remain the same.

Perhaps a change in scenery will benefit Duquesne (6-6, 5-5), which comes in on a two-game winning streak and has won three of its past four to reach .500 for the first time since Jan. 2.

“It’s a perfect building for us,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “Just like (McCarthey Athletic Center) is a perfect building for (No. 1) Gonzaga. It’s well done. It’s different. It’s not a cookie-cutter NBA arena. It’s not like any other building that anybody’s seen.”

Though both facilities are compact, 4,300-seat UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse holds a bit less than 6,000-capacity McCarthy Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash.

“For us, it’s the perfect size,” Dambrot said.

A limited number of students and player family members will be permitted for the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse debut.

But Duquesne hasn’t called anywhere home since losing to Dayton on March 9, 2019, in its final game at the former Palumbo Center. The Flyers lead the series, 58-24, including a 72-63 home victory Jan. 13 at UD Arena, and hold a 22-15 edge in games played in Pittsburgh.

“We’ve grown up a little bit since then,” said Dambrot, whose team previously was sidelined for three weeks under covid protocol. “We’ve gotten better because we’re in a little better condition. Our young guys are getting smarter, and there’s been a little bit better role definition, a little bit better playing together. Now, we’re going to see if we can win a close game against a good team.”

Duquesne’s two most recent tests resulted in lopsided victories against Fordham and St. Joseph’s, the league’s two weakest teams, but prior to that, the Dukes were a handful for first-place St. Bonaventure in a pair of losses (62-48 and 65-61) during an eight-day span in mid-January.

“We played two fairly good games against them,” Dambrot said. “We just didn’t win when it mattered. We’ve been in every single game. We just have to make sure our young guys figure out ways to win when it matters.”

The Dukes’ rotation features five freshmen, pressed into action long before Dambrot might have planned, mainly because of the midseason losses of returning starters Sincere Carry and Lamar Norman Jr., who entered the transfer portal, and Maceo Austin, who is inactive but still with the team.

“It’s made our young guys have to play, and it’s made them play early,” Dambrot said. “In the long run, it’s really going to help us and it should help them improve.”

Duquesne, which ranks second in the A-10 in scoring defense (62.4 points per game) and ninth nationally in 3-point field-goal defense (27.3%), is led by three seniors who score in double figures: Marcus Weathers (14.6 ppg), Michael Hughes (10.7) and Tavian Dunn-Martin (10-3).

The 6-foot-5 Weathers on Monday was named A-10 Player of the Week after producing a pair of double-doubles and averaging 21.5 points on 62% shooting, 12.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals.

Dayton (10-4, 6-3), fourth in the A-10 in scoring defense (64.9 ppg.), has been idle since Jan. 26, a 76-71 road victory over then-No. 22 Saint Louis, which was coming off a long covid-related layoff.

While the Flyers haven’t matched the team they were last season with NBA first-round pick and consensus player of the year Obi Toppin in the lineup, they remain a major threat in the A-10.

The Flyers finished last year ranked third in the final AP Top 25 poll. They suffered just two losses but almost didn’t get out of Pittsburgh with a victory after Duquesne rallied late but couldn’t catch the then seventh-ranked Flyers and lost, 73-69, at PPG Paints Arena, one of three venues the Dukes called “home” while their court was under reconstruction.

Toppin’s sidekick, point guard Jalen Crutcher (18.6 ppg,) leads this year’s Dayton team and is among five players averaging double figures in scoring for the Flyers.

“He beat us at Dayton because we did a poor job in transition,” Dambrot said. “If you don’t guard the best players, you’re not winning. We’re a little bit better team now, but they’re going to be a little bit better, too. They’ve also got some young guys. It’ll be a good test for us to see where we’re really at.”