After a 2019-2020 season which saw Duquesne win 21 games and be well on their way to a postseason appearance before COVID-19 stepped in the way, the Dukes' 2020-2021 schedule started to take shape on Thursday.
The Dukes will participate in the 2020 Maryland Showcase, a multi-team event consisting of Duquesne, the host Maryland Terrapins, the California Baptist Lancers and the San Jose State Spartans. Duquesne will play all three teams during the event.
Duquesne is set to host California Baptist on November 16, while welcoming in San Jose State on November 18.
California Baptist (21-10, 10-6) will enter their their third season of a four-year transition period from Division II to Division I. In 2019-2020, the Lancers finished in second place in the Western Athletic Conference, landing only behind the New Mexico State Aggies.
San Jose State (7-24, 3-15) is a program still seeking to find an identity. In three seasons with Jean Prioleau at the helm, the Spartans have played to an embarrassing 15-77 (.163) record, including an abysmal 5-49 (.093) mark in Mountain West Conference action.
The event's marquee match-up will take place on November 22, when the Dukes travel to College Park's Xfinity Center for a date with the Terrapins.
Maryland is coming off the heels of a wildly successful season which saw them garner a 24-7 record, a Big Ten Conference regular-season co-championship and the #12 ranking in the final AP Poll. They were well on their way to an NCAA Tournament appearance under Mark Turgeon for the fifth time in six seasons since joining the Big Ten in 2014-2015.
Duquesne's last match-up with a power conference team came in December of 2018, a 73-67 loss to Penn State (Big Ten) at PPG Paints Arena. That same season, Duquesne clashed with Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, both of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In 2019-2020, Duquesne played the nationally-ranked Dayton Flyers to the wire, while winning tough road games at both Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure. Duquesne won 11 Atlantic 10 games and earned the #6 seed in the conference tournament, which was to be played at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Baylee Steele and Caleb Davis were the only seniors from the 2019-2020 roster. Three players left the program, as Frankie Hughes (San Diego) and Ashton Miller (Wagner) have committed to new schools, while Evan Buckley will not continue to play college basketball.
Duquesne is set to open up a renovated A.J. Palumbo Center in November of 2020. The arena, which will now brand itself as the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, is currently under construction. The construction forced the Dukes to split last season's home games between UPMC Events Center (Robert Morris University), Kerr Fitness Center (LaRoche University) and the nearby PPG Paints Arena.
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