Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University Department of Athletics announced Thursday that the 2023-24 men's basketball team, head coach Keith Dambrot and senior guards
Jimmy Clark III and
Dae Dae Grant have joined the 2023-24 Merle Gilliand Duquesne University Athletics Hall of Fame class. The announcement came at the 2024 Duquesne Celebration of Basketball, held at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
Dambrot, Clark III and Grant, as well as the Duquesne 2023-24 men's basketball team,
join a class that was originally announced Dec. 14, 2023, and includes five former DU student-athletes and three teams.
During the 2023-24 season, the Dukes finished with an overall record of 25-12 (.676), establishing a program record for games played (37) and notching the most wins since 1953-54. The school record for victories was established by the 1953-54 Duquesne team that finished with a record of 26-3 (.897) and featured Sid Dambrot, the father of former head coach Keith Dambrot.
Digging out of an 0-5 start in the Atlantic 10, Duquesne won its final four games of the regular season to post a conference mark of 10-8 (.556) and claim the No. 6 seed for the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship. Over the course of five days in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Barclays Center, the Dukes won four games, including a
65-57 win over No. 24 Dayton in the quarterfinals and a
57-51 triumph over VCU in the final to earn their first A-10 Championship and subsequent bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1977.
In the 2024 NCAA Championship, Duquesne earned an 11 seed and traveled to Omaha, Neb., to face BYU at the CHI Health Center. The Dukes opened a 9-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest and owned a 38-30 halftime edge over the Cougars, who were the six seed in the East Region. Duquesne grabbed its biggest advantage early in the second half, 46-32, before BYU made a charge, tying the contest, 60-60, with 1:48 remaining. The Dukes responded with a 5-0 burst to take control, with a jumper from Clark III with 26 seconds left helping keep
BYU at bay en route to a 71-67 triumph. The win over the Cougars gave Duquesne its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 1969.
The win helped Dambrot cap a seven-year run as head coach of the Dukes in which he finished with a record of 116-96 (.547). He announced his retirement March 18, 2024, in a press conference in the ballroom of the Power Center on the campus of Duquesne University prior to the Dukes appearing in the 2024 NCAA Championship. Dambrot ranks fourth at Duquesne in coaching victories, picking up his 100th as head coach of the
Dukes thanks to a 95-47 win over Cleary at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Dec. 31, 2023.
Dambrot, a native of Akron, Ohio, also earned his 500th career win at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, guiding the Dukes to a
75-52 victory over George Mason Feb. 8, 2023, for the historic win. In 26 years as a head coach, Dambrot compiled an overall mark of 529-305 (.635), registering a total of 18 seasons of at least 20 victories, including three at Duquesne.
During a nine-game winning streak that culminated with the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship and win over BYU in the NCAA Championship, Dambrot earned his first career coaching win over a ranked opponent (#24 Dayton) and in the NCAA Tournament (BYU). Overall, Dambrot guided teams to 12 postseason appearances, including five in the National Invitation Tournament (2006, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2017), four in the NCAA Championship (2009, 2011, 2013, 2024), two in the College Basketball Invitational (2010, 2023) and one in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (2014).
Clark III, a native of Covington, Ga., was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team honoree (2023, 2024) and was also selected to the 2024 All-Atlantic 10 Second Team. During Duquesne's historic 2023-24 season, Clark III averaged 15.0 points, 3.8 assists and 2.3 steals per contest while shooting 41.5 percent (193-for-465) from the field as the only student-athlete to start all 37 games. He led the A-10 in steals per game, registering 87 thefts, which ranks third in the Duquesne single-season record book.
In two seasons on the Bluff, Clark III finished with career totals of 959 points, 225 assists and 163 steals while converting 42.4 percent (345-for-813) of his shots from the floor. He ranks ninth in the Duquesne career records for steals and during a four-year NCAA Division I career that started with two seasons at VCU (2019-21) scored 1,089 career points. He eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau on Senior Day at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, hitting a pair of free throws to help him reach the mark and
lift the Dukes to a 67-65 victory over George Washington.
Grant, a native of Lorain, Ohio, led Duquesne in scoring in 2023-24 with an average of 16.4 points per game and also registered averages of 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He set a Duquesne single-season school record for free-throw percentage, converting 94.2 percent (146-155) of his attempts at the line. Twice during the 2023-24 campaign Grant, who was named to the 2024 All-Atlantic 10 Second Team along with Clark III, established a program standard for consecutive free throws made. He hit 43 straight during the non-conference portion of the schedule for the Dukes, only to break his own mark with 46 consecutive free throws later in the season.
In five seasons at the NCAA Division I level, which began with three years at Miami University, Grant amassed career totals of 2,241 points, 585 rebounds, 412 assists and 137 steals. He eclipsed the 2,000-point plateau with a
31-point performance in an 85-71 victory at Rhode Island, one of three times during the 2023-24 season he scored at least 30 points. In two seasons with the Dukes, Grant scored 1,070 points, becoming the 40th member of the Duquesne 1,000-Point Club thanks to 11 points in the win over the Flyers in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Atlantic Championship.
Grant was named the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship Most Outstanding Player after averaging 16.3 points in four games while converting 42.6 percent of his attempts from the field, including 41.4 percent from beyond the arc. He was also named to the 2024 All-Atlantic 10 Tournament Team along with Clark III. In addition to concluding his career ranked 37th in school history for points, Grant owns the career record for free-throw percentage (91.4%) and ranks seventh all-time in three-point field goals (177).
Deposits for season tickets for the
2024-25 season are now being accepted. Fans wishing to renew, upgrade or purchase season tickets for the first time can use the following
link to lock in your seats for next year.
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