By Leo Martinez-Valerio
staff writer | martinezvaleril@duq.edu

The Duquesne men’s basketball team opened its 2026-2027 season with a 2-0 record, securing wins over Purdue Fort Wayne Nov. 3 and Central State Nov. 7.

Before the Dukes tipped off their 111th season, a tribute video played in UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in honor of the late Ray Goss, who served as the radio play-by-play voice for the Duquesne men’s basketball team. Goss contributed 58 seasons behind the microphone, which made him the longest tenured play-by-play announcer for Duquesne basketball.

Goss passed away April 28, at the age of 89. His legacy will forever be remembered across Duquesne and all of NCAA Division I basketball.

After tipping off Nov. 3, the Dukes jumped out to a 14-0 run with six of those points coming from junior forward Kerem Konan. Konan led the team in minutes with 33 and finished the game with 16 points. Redshirt junior guard Jake DiMichele contributed to the 14-0 run with a three-pointer and finished the game with 11 points.

“We love to see the turnout, especially from the students. We are going to feed off that,” DiMichele said.

When asked about the atmosphere in UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, DiMichele emphasized the importance of a home crowd.

“I like that aspect of basketball because with a big crowd you could steal six or eight points, and that could end up being the difference in the game,” he said.

Despite the Dukes hopping out to a 14-0 run, it was not enough for them to take complete control of the game. Purdue Fort Wayne began to hack away at the Duquesne lead because of the fact they were able to shoot 50% from three. By the time halftime came, the Dukes found themselves down 37-36 to the Mastodons.

Although it was a battle for the Dukes at the start of the second half, Head Coach Dru Joyce III knew exactly how to secure the first win of the season. With 9:20 left, the Dukes tied the game at 56 after being down by six.

Joyce emphasized that the team needed to continue to get stops on defense late in the game and were able to do so to seal the win.

“We had to be disciplined because they were in the bonus, and I thought we did an excellent job of not letting them decide the game at the free throw line,” Joyce said.

The Dukes were able to get those stops and stay out of foul trouble to secure their first win of the season. Senior guard Josh Smith was clutch in the home stretch, drilling four late free throws to put the game out of reach, as Duquesne won 78-71.

On Saturday, the squad edged out another against Central State 68-58

The Dukes got off to a slow start letting the Marauders get out to a 9-0 lead that was accompanied by them being 100% from the free throw line in the first half.

Although being down 9-0 to start the game, the Dukes came back to take a 31-30 lead going into the locker room. Konan and senior forward Stephen Olowoniyi were able to hold their own in the paint, combining for 11 first half points.

Starting the second half, the Dukes needed to defend smarter to stay out of foul trouble. They did just that, lowering Central State’s free throw percentage to 0%.

“We didn’t do anything spectacular besides not send them to the line,” Joyce said. “Whether they make or miss, it is never going to be on us, so good thing for us we kept them off the line. I thought defensively we had some good challenges at the rim, and we did a good job defending without fouling.”

It was not just the smart defense of the Dukes that led them to victory. Junior guard Yoav Berman came alive in the second half. The 6-foot-6 guard had a game-high 22 total points, with 12 coming in the second half.

The Dukes will be back in action at home Tuesday at 7 p.m. They will look to improve to 3-0 against 0-2 Washington State.