Senior guard Tavian Dunn-Martin will return to Duquesne for 6th season as collegian
Tavian Dunn-Martin, who followed coach Keith Dambrot from Akron to Duquesne, will return to the Dukes in 2021-22 for his sixth season as a collegian.
Let's finish this script together.#GoDukes • @nolimitTDM_11 pic.twitter.com/tsfP5JpMtX
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 16, 2021
“It’s good news,” Dambrot said. “Anytime you have a sixth-year guy, it’s pretty hard to replace experience.”
Dunn-Martin, who is taking advantage of the NCAA’s free year of eligibility because of the covid-19 pandemic, played for Dambrot as a freshman at Akron during the 2016-17 season. He transferred to Duquesne when Dambrot took the job there before the 2017-18 season.
After sitting out that season, Dunn-Martin was named Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore in 2018-19, averaging 7.8 points and shooting 34.3% from beyond the 3-point arc.
At 5-foot-8, 155 pounds, he has been a reliable performer in several roles for the Dukes — off the bench and as a starter while serving as a shooter and ball-handler.
He started this season at shooting guard before moving to point guard and sharing the position with freshman Tyson Acuff when Sincere Carry transferred in January. Dunn-Martin’s 3-point shooting percentage fell from 35.1 last season to 30.4 in 2020-21. Nonetheless, he averaged 10.2 points both seasons.
Dambrot said Dunn-Martin’s position on the court is less important than the fact he will play another season at Duquesne.
“I’m not really too concerned about position,” Dambrot said. “He obviously can eat minutes. This year was a little unfair to judge his numbers just because we had such a shortened spring, summer, fall.
“He’s proven he can score in the Atlantic 10, and I think he can play better than he did this year, for sure.”
Dambrot has spent most of his time since the end of the season recruiting possible transfers and high school players to bolster his roster. He has two available scholarships at the moment.
“We’ve been really working hard,” he said. “I think there are a lot of good high school players out there still because a lot of coaches are looking so hard at the transfer portal. With the (NCAA) blanket waiver of transfers being immediately eligible, they feel like that’s the easiest way to go.
“That being said, we’re going to recruit some high school kids, as well.”
Get the latest news about Duquesne basketball and all things Dukes athletics.
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.