Getty The Duquesne Dukes will host the VCU Rams.
The VCU Rams will visit Atlantic 10 foes the Duquesne Dukes at the A.J. Palumbo Center on Saturday.
The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games–and several other sports–every week.
You can start a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including VCU vs Duquesne — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
VCU vs Duquesne Preview
The Dukes dropped their A-10 opener to Davidson 65-61, but they’ve won five straight since, most recently dealing Saint Louis their first conference defeat of the season.
Duquesne shot just 37.7 percent from the field against one of the best defenses in the country and got outrebounded 54-31, but they won the turnover battle 23-12 and held the Billikens to 38.8 percent shooting.
“We showed good toughness,” Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We did a good job defensively. We did a rotten job corralling the rebounds, and it almost cost us.”
Sophomore forward Marcus Weathers led the Dukes with 19 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots. The sophomore, who redshirted last season after transferring from Miami (Ohio), has scored in double figures in six straight games; he scored 10 or more just four times in his first 12 contests.
“Marcus Weathers has taken a huge jump, which has helped this team,” Dambrot said, according to Pittsburgh Sports Now.
He shot 11-of-13 from the free-throw line, and is shooting 81.3 percent from the stripe on his six-game hot streak. Hot shot just 21.1 percent from there in his prior 12 games.
“I don’t think too much about it, I know I am a free-throw shooter,” Weathers said, per Pittsburgh Sports Now. “The early free throws were me finding my way, it has been so long since I played. Now I’ve settled it in and it’s not much of a factor.”
VCU lost to Rhode Island on the road Wednesday to drop to 4-2 in conference play. They cut a 12-point URI lead to two with a minute left before falling 71-65.
“We got that lead down to, what, a one-possession game? But we didn’t finish,” VCU head coach Mike Rhoades said after the loss, according to The Commonwealth Times. “I thought early in the game things came easy, even though we didn’t make some shots. We let the lack of offensive production and too many turnovers really affect our defense.”
Rhoades’ team turned the ball over 13 times in the first half and 18 times overall.
“We were throwing the balls to the other team,” the coach said, per The Commonwealth Times. “A lot of them were just self-induced turnovers … you play on the road and you give the other team the ball, extra possessions, they’re playing with confidence at home and we got them going because we gave them the ball.”