In mid-February the Dukes finally seemed to break free with a solid 21 point victory over La Salle, followed by a crucial road upset of the University of Charlotte, which was ranked first in the Atlantic 10 Conference at the time, and finally another upset of the University of Dayton Flyers in front of a sellout Pittsburgh crowd.

Well-known Duquesne players of the past include All-Americans Chuck Cooper, Sihugo Green, Dick Ricketts and Willie Somerset, and Norm Nixon, who won the Most Outstanding Player in Duquesne's 57–54 victory over the Villanova Wildcats in the 1977 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament.

[3] Duquesne lost only one starter, Aaron Jackson, from the 2008–09 team which ended with a record of 21–13, the first time since 1981 that the school had 20 or more wins in a season.

The team was eliminated in a double-overtime first round loss to Virginia Tech, but the Dukes' unlikely success inspired the hope of a return to the NIT, or perhaps even the NCAA tournament.

Marhold, a native of Pittsburgh who moved to North Carolina for High School, averaged 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game his senior year, in which his team was the regular season champion.

He attended Christ the King high school, whose basketball team finished his senior year ranked fourth in the state and eleventh in the nation by ESPN.

He averaged 22.4 points per game and was named New York City Catholic High School Athletic Association Most Valuable Player.

Despite the solid win, Duquesne made only 47.6% from the free throw line, a trend which haunted the team the rest of the season.

In front of 12,336 fans at the Mellon Arena, Duquesne sprang out to a 16-point lead before slipping and losing 58–67 in double overtime.

[23] On December 5, Duquesne hosted the Chuck Cooper Classic, in which it defeated the Savannah State Tigers by a score of 58–44.

One analyst attributed this loss to the skill of the Mountaineers, an abysmal night by star Bill Clark, as well as the continued absence of Melquan Bolding and now senior captain Jason Duty, who missed the game with a sprained ankle.

[28] In their final game before a short Christmas break, Duquesne defeated the Saint Francis Red Flash 86–56.

[29] Following the break, Duquesne lost its final non-conference game to the Old Dominion Monarchs by a score of 54–63, the first of a five-game losing streak.

Saunders still managed to post his eleventh double-double, coming just one block short of what would have been only the second triple-double in school history.

This game marked the return of Melquan Bolding, though he did not start and scored only three points in fourteen minutes of playing time.

Richmond managed to extend their streak, defeating the Dukes 86–80, while Saunders maintained his nation-leading position and now placed eighth in both blocks and steals.

[34] The team then went back out on the road to face the Rhode Island Rams, where they again lost with a final score of 67–75, dropping their conference record to 0–4.

Bill Clark missed a game for the first time in his college career due to a suspension on suspicion of a "secondary NCAA rules violation."

On the final play, Damian Saunders drove towards the basket before passing it out to Melquan Bolding, who hit a 3-point shot to put the Dukes up by one with 3.5 seconds remaining.

[41] Returning home on February 11 to face the Massachusetts Minutemen, the Dukes were unable to win two consecutive games for the third straight time, losing 80–84.

Bill Clark led the team with 17 points and Saunders grabbed four steals, enough to raise his per-game average to 2.9, a nation-leading figure.

The loss put a damper on Duquesne's hopes for a home game in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament, as they fell into a tie for the ninth seed position.

Fordham was hungry for a win, and a lack of effective defense on both sides led to a high scoring 111–100 victory for Duquesne.

Despite Damian Saunders posting his 20th and final double-double of the year, Duquesne's 5 for 21 performance from beyond the 3-point arc combined with St. Bonaventure's 75% 3-point shooting and two players scoring in the upper twenties put the game out of the Dukes' reach.

[52][53] Early on March 15, hours after the NCAA and NIT fields were announced, Duquesne accepted a bid into the CBI.

[54] On Tuesday, March 16, it was announced that Junior Bill Clark had been suspended indefinitely from the team due to "conduct" issues.

Duty, who held a 3.72 GPA as an accounting major and had already accepted a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers, was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team.

[62] Following his 34-point performance against La Salle, Bill Clark earned his first career A-10 Player of the Week award, with Richmond's Kevin Anderson.

He turned himself into police on suspicion of participating in the theft of a laptop, iPod, and cash from a house during a party in early August.

[64] In late January, Junior Bill Clark was benched for the game against Rhode Island as the NCAA investigated a potential secondary rules violation.