A total of
four Atlantic 10 Television Network appearances highlight the
conference portion of
Duquesne’s Atlantic 10 Conference schedule released today.
The Dukes, which open the league season at La Salle on Jan. 4,
host Massachusetts in the conference home opener on A-10 TV on
Sat., Jan. 7.
Other home conference opponents include
Richmond (Jan. 11), George Washington (Jan. 25), La Salle (Feb.
1), Fordham (Feb. 4), Saint Louis (Feb. 15) St. Bonaventure
(Feb. 25) and Saint Joseph’s in the regular-season finale on
Mar. 4.
In addition to La Salle, the Dukes will
travel to Fordham (Jan. 15), Dayton (Jan. 21), St. Bonaventure
(Jan. 28), Rhode Island (Feb. 8), Temple (Feb. 11), Xavier (Feb.
18) and Charlotte (Mar. 1). The Fordham, St. Bonaventure and
Xavier road games will all be part of the Atlantic 10 TV package
which airs on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh locally.
With the addition of Charlotte and Saint
Louis, the Atlantic 10 has adopted a new scheduling model with
all 14 teams competing in one division. Each team will face
three opponents twice and the other 10 once in a 16-game
schedule. Duquesne’s home-and-home opponents will be Fordham,
La Salle and St. Bonaventure. The top 12 league finishers will
participate in the Atlantic 10 Championship at Cincinnati’s U.S.
Bank Arena on March 10-13.
Duquesne will face four NCAA Tournament
teams in its first nine games - and possibly a fifth in the
inaugural Duquesne Holiday Tournament - as part of the 11-game
non-conference schedule.
DU will play 2004-05 NCAA tourney teams
Oakland (Nov. 26), Pitt (Dec. 7), West Virginia (Dec. 10) and
Boston College (Dec. 27) all before the new year.
Niagara, which finished 20-10 in earning
an NCAA bid last season, looms as one of four participants in
the Duquesne Holiday Tournament scheduled for Dec. 30-31 at the
Palumbo Center.
Fifth-year coach Danny Nee’s Dukes open
the season at home versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 22, prior
to traveling to Rochester, Mich. to face Oakland on the 26th.
DU will finish the month of November at Akron on the 30th,
before returning home for back-to-back games versus city rivals
Robert Morris (Dec. 3) and Pitt (Dec. 7).
The Dukes head to Morgantown to face the
surprise team of last year’s NCAA Tournament, West Virginia, on
Dec. 10, and will make their first trip to Youngstown since Dec.
29, 1951 to face Youngstown State on Dec. 17.
DU closes out the year with a four-game
homestand beginning with a pre-Christmas match-up with The
Citadel (Dec. 20). First-year Atlantic Coast Conference member
Boston College faces Duquesne in Pittsburgh for the first time
since 1971 in the second game of a 2-for-1 series at the Palumbo
Center on Dec. 27.
The non-conference schedule concludes
with the Duquesne Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30-31. In
opening-round action, Duquesne will face Troy University at 6:00
p.m., followed by Niagara vs. Appalachian State at 8:30. The
consolation game will begin at Noon on New Year’s Eve followed
by the championship game at 2:30 p.m.
Of the 11 non-conference games, seven
will be at home with four on the road.
