Duquesne Basketball’s 2025-26 season officially kicks off against Niagara in November. But first, the Dukes took part in an exhibition matchup on Saturday against Virginia Tech, an ACC program picked to finish 12th in the ACC preseason poll. The Hokies looked the part of a high-major team, leading the A-10 program by as much as 11 points in the first half.
However, Duquesne managed to keep the game within arm's reach just enough to eventually take the lead late and hold on for the 83-81 road (upset) win. Yes, this game doesn’t count on the resume for the Dukes, but considering their rough start to the campaign a year ago, it looks as if this roster has improved quite a bit.
Here are some takeaways I had from the game.
1. Backcourt duo of Tarence Guinyard/Jimmie Williams is All-A10 caliber
There’s no way to talk about Duquesne without mentioning its new starting backcourt of Guinyard and Williams. Both players scored 21 points to lead the way on offense, with Guinyard filling the stat sheet with eight rebounds and six assists. They were a menace on defense as well, each getting three steals. It’s way too early to make the comparisons to the former Duquesne backcourt of Jimmy “Tre” Clark and Dae Dae Grant, but we’ve seen what happens when this team has two dynamic two-way guards to run the offense.
2. John Hugley’s brief impact
Early on in the game, Duquesne’s top scorer was Hugley, who scored 10 points in just eight minutes on 4/6 FG, including a made three-pointer. However, he was ejected after receiving two technicals. It’s a shame that the debut was short-lived, but the Dukes now have an interior player to get the ball into, which should bode well for the regular season.
It was also a testament to the Dukes’ frontcourt depth, which included Stef van Bussel playing 13 good minutes off the bench, while freshman Lazar Milošević was the first big man off the bench, scoring five points in 10 minutes. They also went with Jakub Necas at the five, which worked on both ends during the comeback.
3. Defensive effort on VT’s star freshman
Speaking of Necas, he was one of multiple defenders who took on Neoklis Avdalas, one of the top international prospects in college basketball. The freshman Hokie was limited to 11 points and five rebounds, shooting 4/13 from the field. Cam Crawford also gets credit for his individual effort, which was a key to Duquesne's win. Another shout goes to first-year Dukes, Dom Aikens and Brandon Hall, who didn’t hit shots on the floor but were part of the team’s first-half run to close the gap, playing sound defense in their own right.
4. Rebounding/defense
Speaking of defense, Duquesne managed to force 19 turnovers on the Hokies, including a whopping 12 steals. They also won the rebounding battle, 41-40, despite playing most of the game without their starting center. It was a team rebounding effort, with Williams and Guinyard having the two most. It’s a great sign to win that against a larger ACC team with capable forwards such as Virginia Tech, with the Dukes' size showing it can compete against any A-10 squad come league play.
5. FT concerns remain
It wasn’t all great for the Dukes, as one issue remains. Last year, Duquesne was one of the worst teams in the nation at the FT line, taking just 11 attempts a game and shooting 65% as a team. In this game, the Dukes went 12/23 (52%) from the line, with bigs Hugley and David Dixon combining to go 3/8 themselves. The good news for them is that Virginia Tech went 16/29 (55%), with the one extra miss proving to be decisive.
Still, for Duquesne to be a contender in the A-10, they have to stop leaving points on the board.