Game Info: Wednesday, January 8, 2025 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse - Pittsburgh, Pa.
TV: ESPN+ | Listen: sjuhawks.com | Live Stats: sjuhawks.com | Saint Joseph's Game Notes | Duquesne Game Notes

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Opening Tip
The Saint Joseph's men's basketball team makes the trip across state to play the Duquesne Dukes on Wednesday, January 8. Tipoff from UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with the game on ESPN+.

And Then There Were Three    
With his first basket of the night at Saint Louis on Friday, a three-pointer with 15:22 remaining in the first half, moved Erik Reynolds II into sole possession of fourth place on the Saint Joseph's career scoring list. He ended the game with 1,856 points, passing Carl Jones (2009-13), who amassed 1,845. Reynolds enters the game against Duquesne with 296 career threes and needs just four more to become the second ever Hawk with 300 career treys. Langston Galloway (2011-14) knocked down 343 triples in his SJU career.

Valuing The Ball    
After a bit of a struggle with turnovers against Delaware State and UMass, the Hawks returned to their normal means of possession, committing just seven turnovers against Saint Louis. It is a season-low in giveaways for St. Joe's. The game marked the fifth time this season Saint Joseph's committed less than 10 turnovers.

All Rise    
In his first season with the Hawks, Justice Ajogbor has made his presence felt, particularly in recent games. In his last three contests, Ajogbor is averaging 7.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, also blocking 2.3 shots an outing. Those numbers are up from 4.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 1.3 BPG. The graduate student from Benin City, Nigeria delivered eight points, five rebounds and two blocks at Saint Louis. Prior to that, his game against UMass was his best yet in a Saint Joseph's uniform, coming up one point shy of his first career double-double, setting season-highs with nine points and 10 rebounds. He is also sixth in the A-10 and 64th in NCAA Division I with 23 total blocks for the year. As Ajogbor's overall play has improved, so has his block total as he has multiple rejections in four consecutive games, totaling 11 overall, including a season-high four against Virginia Tech on December 21.

Swiping Left    
Speaking of blocks, St. Joe's continues to have one of its most successful seasons at rejecting attempts from the opposition, ranking third in the A-10 and 12th nationally at 5.7 blocks per game. Ajogbor and Rasheer Fleming lead the Hawks with 23 and 22 blocks, respectively. It isn't just the two forwards however as nine different Saint Joseph's players have a rejection and seven have blocked five or more shots. The Hawks rejected 12 Coppin State shots on November 26, a season-high. They also achieved double digits in the 2024-25 opener against Navy. Prior to this season, the last time SJU blocked 10 or more shots in a game was at Duquesne on January 12, 2013.

Chairman Of The Boards    
As good as he has been previously, Rasheer Fleming has taken his rebounding to another level this season. The junior from Camden is second in the Atlantic 10 and 30th nationally at 9.0 boards per game. He has six games this season with double digit rebounds. His 20 caroms against Texas are tied for the second most in the NCAA this season against a Division I opponent. Fleming has rebounded the ball well against Duquesne in his career with 9.5 RPG in four games against the Dukes, including an average of 10.7 in his most recent three contests.

Seeing Double    
With six games in double-figure rebounding, it should come as no surprise that Fleming has recorded his share of double-doubles this season. His five double-doubles this year lead the A-10 and are 37th nationally. The 6-9 forward only had three such games in his first two seasons.

Scouting Report    
Duquesne enters play 6-9 overall and is 1-1 in the A-10 following a 77-71 loss at Davidson on Friday. The Dukes were selected eighth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll. DU has made an impressive turnaround, winning five of its last seven games following a 1-7 opening to the season.

Leading the offense for the Dukes is Jahsean Corbett at 10.9 points per game. Tre Dinkins III is posting 10.3 an outing. Corbett tops the team at 5.8 rebounds a contest. Kareem Rozier has 53 assists.

Defense has been the calling card for Duquesne this season as it is fourth in the A-10 and 40th nationally in points per game allowed at 64.8. During the last seven games, the Dukes have been even better on defense, holding the opposition to 57.9 a contest. They also get scoring contributions up and down the roster as they top the conference and are 25th in NCAA Division I at 26.2 bench points an outing.

Duquesne has struggled in all areas of the free throw line this season, ranking last in the conference in free throw attempts per game (17.5), free throw makes per game (11.0) and is in the bottom-10 nationally in free throw percentage (62.7). It also ranks at the bottom of the Atlantic 10 in three-point percentage defense at 36.8, but that it mitigated by allowing the third fewest three-point attempts.

Dru Joyce III is in his first season as head coach and his third season overall on the Duquesne staff. Following a standout career at Akron, Joyce played professionally in Europe for 12 seasons.

All-Time Series    
Wednesday is the 62nd matchup between the Hawks and Dukes in a series that dates back to 1938. Saint Joseph's holds a 43-18 series advantage. SJU dominated the series for the majority of the time, but Duquesne has won six of the last nine. St. Joe's is looking for its first win at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse since March 4, 2017.

Last Time Against Duquesne    
Despite an evenly played second half, Saint Joseph's could not overcome a slow shooting first 20 minutes as the Hawks fell to the Dukes 66-56 on February 17, 2024. Cameron Brown led SJU with 18 points in the contest. Lynn Greer III added 11 off the bench in 19 minutes. Rasheer Fleming pulled in 12 rebounds. St. Joe's shot 11-for-22 in the second half and pulled to within five at the 13:21 mark.

Into Conference Play    
This is the 43rd season of Atlantic 10 Conference play for the Hawks. SJU is the fifth longest consecutively tenured member of the conference, behind George Washington (Charter Member - 1976), UMass (Charter Member - 1976), St. Bonaventure (1979) and Rhode Island (1980). Duquesne was a charter member of the Atlantic 10 (then the Eastern 8), but competed in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1992-93. St. Joe's has an overall record of 357-342 in the A-10, a .511 winning percentage. It has won the conference seven times and taken home the A-10 Tournament title on four occasions.

Up Next    
The Hawks return home to take on the Loyola Chicago Ramblers on Saturday, January 11. Tipoff from Hagan Arena is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. with the game to be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.