— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall and Duquesne struggled last season on the hardwood. The Herd was 12-21 and the Dukes finished 6-24 in rather unforgettable campaigns.
If early results are any indication, history won’t be repeating itself this season.
Marshall has won seven straight games and Duquesne has won six straight, but one win streak will end Thursday night as the teams meet in Pittsburgh.
The 7 p.m. game at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse will be shown on ESPN+.
Marshall (7-1) last played on Saturday, and had its way in an 83-69 victory over Ohio.
Duquesne (7-1) also played on Saturday and used a last-second shot to defeat Ball State, 78-77.
The Dukes are in the midst of a nine-game homestand and will be playing their fifth straight home game against the Herd. Duquesne’s only loss this season came a month ago at Kentucky, 77-52.
Guards Andrew Taylor and Taevion Kinsey continue to fill up the stat sheet for Marshall. Kinsey scores 20.5 points per game, while Taylor has a 19.4 scoring average. The pair combines for 11 rebounds as well.
VMI transfer guard Kamdyn Curfman is also averaging double-figures with 11.5 points per game.
True freshman center Micah Handlogten is Marshall’s rebounding leader at 9.9 per game. The 7-foot-1 Huntersville, N.C. native also has a team-leading 21 blocks.
The Herd has a similar field-goal percentage to Duquesne at 47.1, though that dips to 33.8 percent on triples.
Marshall has 77 steals, led by Kinsey and Taylor, who have 18 and 16, respectively.
Keith Dambrot is in his sixth year at the helm of the Duquesne program and has a 78-72 record with the Dukes. Dambrot was previously head coach at Akron and he’s faced Marshall 10 times at both schools, winning eight of those games.
After the struggles of last season, Dambrot made major changes to the Dukes’ roster, adding 10 new players, including four transfers with Division I experience.
One of those transfers, junior Dae Dae Grant, last played at Miami (Ohio) and leads Duquesne in scoring at 19 points per game. He’s the only double-figure scorer for the Dukes and his impressive shooting percentages of nearly 53 percent from the field and 55 percent on 3-pointers, having made 29-of-53 attempts.
Grant has also made 25-of-29 free throws and averages four rebounds and better than one steal.
Other key scorers for the Dukes include junior guard Jimmy Clark III (8.4 ppg), graduate guard and Florida International transfer Tevin Brewer (8.3), graduate forward Austin Rotroff (8.3) and junior forward Tre Williams (7.9). Rotroff is the club’s top rebounder with an average of 7.6, while Williams chips in with five per contest.
Duquesne has been efficient offensively and is shooting better than 47 percent overall, including 40 percent from long range.
The teams met in Huntington last year and Marshall won, 72-71. Duquesne leads the all-time series 4-3 and is 3-0 in games played in Pittsburgh.
Marshall will remain in the Pittsburgh area following its ninth game as the Herd takes on Robert Morris on Saturday in Moon Township, Pa.