Duquesne men's, women's basketball moves 11 'home' games off campus to La Roche
While waiting for renovation of the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to be completed, Duquesne’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will move 11 Atlantic 10 games to La Roche University’s Kerr Fitness Center, 10 miles from campus.
This will be the second consecutive season the Dukes will play most — it not all — of their games off campus. Duquesne used La Roche, Robert Morris and PPG Paints Arena last season.
Duquesne officials had hoped to move into their refurbished home in time for the 2020-21 season, but construction delays related to the covid-19 pandemic curtailed those plans.
The men’s team will play four times at La Roche through January: Davidson (Jan. 5), Fordham (2 p.m., Jan. 9), Rhode Island (6 p.m., Jan. 20) and Saint Joseph’s (8 p.m., Jan. 30). The Dukes also played four at La Roche last season.
The women’s team, which played 10 of its 14 home games at La Roche last season, will return there at least seven times, starting at 2 p.m. Dec. 11 against St. Bonaventure. The others are VCU (6 p.m., Jan. 8), Richmond (2 p.m., Jan. 10), Saint Joseph’s (6 p.m., Jan. 15), La Salle (2 p.m., Jan. 17), Dayton (6 p.m., Jan. 29) and Saint Louis (2 p.m., Jan. 31).
Sites for all remaining games will be re-evaluated in January.
All games will be played without spectators. If spectators are permitted later this season, tickets will be extremely limited to ensure adherence to capacity limits and allow for social distancing, Duquesne officials said.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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