Men’s Basketball: Duquesne ready for challenge

The No. 3 Panthers will face their crosstown rival, the Duquesne Dukes, for the 79th time… The No. 3 Panthers will face their crosstown rival, the Duquesne Dukes, for the 79th time tonight.

After holding 25 games at Mellon Arena, the series will shift across the street to Consol Energy Center in the first college basketball game that the new venue will host.

“This is great for the city of Pittsburgh,” head coach Jamie Dixon said in a news conference. “There is an amazing history between Pitt and Duquesne in basketball, and playing the game at Consol Energy Center is an outstanding way to commemorate and promote the series.”

Both coaches will look to acclimate their teams to the new arena beginning when they tip-off at 9 p.m. today.

Dixon will lead the Panthers (7-0) back Downtown Dec. 11 to face a ranked Tennessee team in the DIRECTV SEC/Big East Invitational.

Duquesne (3-1) will also host West Virginia, Dayton and Xavier at the Penguins’ arena later this season.

Pitt has a nine-game winning streak against the Dukes and will look to extend that to a 10-game streak. The Panthers also had a nine-game winning streak against Duquesne from 1982 to 1989.

Dixon has yet to lose to the Dukes in his seven-year tenure. But he knows that his team will have to play well to win tonight.

“We look forward to the opportunity to play against a very good basketball team that is playing well,” Dixon said. “And we look forward to the challenge.”

Duquesne is a quality shooting team that Dixon compares to early season opponent Rhode Island, who is also in the Atlantic 10.

“I’ve seen [Duquesne] make shots. That’s what they do,” he said. “That’s what they did against us last year. That’s something we have to prepare for. They can shoot the ball.”

The Dukes could pose a problem for Pitt. The Panthers struggled against a quality shooting team like Rhode Island and didn’t put them away until late.

If the Panthers can take care of business this week starting with Duquesne tonight, they could continue to rise in the polls. Ohio State, ranked No. 2 in the nation, faced tough competition last night and No. 1 Duke will face a strong competitor tonight.