Former Pittsburgh Hoopers Take Over Against Duquesne

On Tuesday night, Dayton dominated Duquesne in a battle of two talented Atlantic 10 squads.

The Flyers jumped out to an early lead behind stars Enoch Cheeks and Nate Santos, among others. Cheeks and Santos, playing at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, are surely familiar with hooping in Pittsburgh. Both players have played collegiate ball in the Steel City before.

Santos formerly played for Pitt before transferring to Dayton ahead of last season. He is now averaging more than 14 points and five rebounds per game for the Flyers, and lit up Duquesne for nine early points, hitting three of his four three-point attempts. Santos also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists.

Cheeks, a former Robert Morris guard, came out scorching hot and did not slow down. He went 9 for 14 from the field, including four for six from three-point range, to score 23 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists in the Flyers’ win. Cheeks grabbed four steals, too.

Santos, the Geneva, Illinois native, started six games in the 2021-22 season for Pitt, playing almost 13 minutes per game. He struggled from outside at Pitt, shooting just 20% from three-point range. In his sophomore season, he appeared in 29 games but only averaged 1.6 points per contest. Last year at Dayton, Santos was a member of the Atlantic 10 All-Conference team and averaged 11 points and six rebounds per game for the Flyers.

Cheeks spent three years at RMU from 2020-23. He started 32 games as a sophomore, and then 31 as a junior for the Colonials. In that final season under head coach Andy Toole, Cheeks averaged 15 points, four rebounds, and three assists per game for the Colonials. Now, he is averaging 13 points and nearly seven rebounds per game for Dayton in year two playing under Anthony Grant.