Pittsburgh vs. Duquesne: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

The Pittsburgh Panthers have been dominating the “City Game” rivalry over the past 30 years, but the Duquesne Dukes pulled off the upset last season. Can they make it a shocking two in a row?

TV schedule: Friday, Dec. 1, 7:00 p.m. ET. Check local listings

Arena: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The City Game series between Pittsburgh and Duquesne originated in 1932 where the Dukes won the inaugural game 28-21. Of the 80 year history of the series, it was the now A-10 program who was the better of the two, winning most of the games between them.

Then the 1980’s happened. Along with the rise of the Big East Conference, the program of the Panthers rose as well, overwhelming Duquesne in their battles. Since 1982, the Dukes only won three games in the series. Last year, however, became four, as Duquesne won the game 64-55, after limited Pitt to just 25 points in the second half. It turned out to be the start of a very disappointing year for Kevin Stallings and the team.

This season started out even worse, with Pitt starting out 1-4, including a 30+ point beat-down by Penn State (basketball, not football). Combined with how last year went, the futility to start things out made me wonder how much longer Stallings should even be the head coach.

Things have been picking up for Pitt (3-4), starting with a competitive game against Oklahoma State. That was followed up with a pair of wins versus Lehigh and High Point. Normally they wouldn’t mean much, but in this year every victory matters.

Freshman point guard Marcus Carr has played well of late, including a season-high 19 points on a perfect 5/5 from the field and 6/6 from the line. He joins senior leader Ryan Luther (13.4 ppg) and leading scorer JC transfer Jared Wilson-Frame (14.0 ppg) as the key players for this year’s team.

Duquesne (2-2) has a brand new coach in Keith Dambrot, who in recent years made Akron a power in the MAC conference. He hopes to take a program stuck in the lower-tier of the A-10 into a factor in the future. Dambrot inherits for this season Rene Castro, a senior who averages 20.0 ppg to start out the season, including 26 in a loss to Cornell.

The Dukes have a building block for the future in Eric Williams, who nearly averages a double-double in 13.5 ppg and 9.8 rpg. There’s also Mike Lewis, one of the few holdovers from the previous team who had 15 points in last year’s win versus the Panthers a year ago. This neutral game is the only non-home one of the first 11 games this season for Duquesne.

Both teams have similar size, an area Pittsburgh has struggled in so far this season (-5 rebounding margin). Castro is also the kind of guard that the Panthers have struggled to deal with defensively. If he goes off, the Dukes have a decisive advantage.

This is the first time in forever where both teams are evenly matched for this season. That’s more to do with Pitt’s struggles for now. This is still an important game for Stallings to win, as losing games to inferior local teams is painful for even an apathetic fan base to endure.

Next: Michigan State-Notre Dame by the positions

When it comes to Duquesne, it’s a prime chance to win two in a row in a series dominated by the other team for decades. For a couple of teams likely to finish in the bottom of their respective leagues, the stakes are pretty big for this one.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 70 – Duquesne 72

Home/Atlantic 10