Duquesne To Open Season vs. Arizona
Pittsburgh (KDKA)- The Duquesne men's basketball team will open the 2011-12 season on Nov. 9 at Arizona as part of the opening round of the 2K Sports Classic it was announced today.
The game, which will be televised nationally by ESPNU at 9:00 (EST), will be followed by three subregional games at Valparaiso, Ind. on Nov. 18-20.
The Dukes will face Division II University of the District of Columbia at 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Nov. 18, Akron at 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Nov. 19 and host Valparaiso at 3:30 p.m. (EST) on Nov. 20 in the subregional.
This will be Duquesne's first game against Arizona since 1987. It will also be head coach Ron Everhart's fourth meeting with third-year UA coach Sean Miller who was at Xavier from 2005-09. Everhart went 2-1 against Miller's Musketeers including a 72-68 home win over the then-No. 9 (AP) Musketeers in the last meeting on Feb. 7, 2009. DU, which leads the overall series with Arizona 3-1, will be making its first trip to Tucson.
The Arizona game will be Duquesne's second consecutive road game against a Pac-12 school, as DU saw last season end with a 77-75 defeat at Oregon in the second round of the College Basketball Invitational.
Duquesne's three Division I opponents in the Classic, all of which advanced to post-season play in 2010-11, averaged 25.3 wins and had an average RPI of 66.7 last year.
DU will open its home season against Green Bay on Nov. 13 between 2K Sports Classic games.