Devin Carney

PITTSBURGH — Butler basketball standout Devin Carney has signed a letter of intent to continue his academic and basketball career at Duquesne University.

The 6-foot-1 guard is one of an eight-player recruiting class pulled in by veteran coach Keith Dambrot. Five of those players are guards, including a third team All-Conference USA transfer (Tevin Brewer) and two guards who played against each other in this year’s NJCAA championship game.

“We have practically rebuilt our back court,” Dambrot said in a released statement on Duquesne’s website. “Our plan (in recruiting) was to improve our shooting, assist-to-turnover ratio, and defensive toughness.”

Carney scored 2,081 points in his career at Butler. He averaged 25.3 points per game this past season, shooting 58% from the floor and 90% at the foul line (114 of 126). He sank 73 3-pointers. He also tallied 37 steals.

Carney had originally committed to Elon University in North Carolina. Elon’s head coach, Mike Schrage, later resigned that position to become special assistant to head coach Jon Scheyer at Duke. The coaching change at Elon prompted Carney to pursue another school.

He considered a few others — including St. Bonaventure, Miami of Ohio and Georgia State — before signing with Duquesne.

“Devin is an unbelievable scorer, definitely one of the best shooters I’ve seen,” Dambrot said on the Dukes’ website. “He has good ball-handling skills ... He has the potential to be a very good player for us.”

Duquesne is coming off a 6-24 season — 1-16 in the Atlantic 10 — and lost its final 17 games. The Dukes’ 2021-22 roster included two graduate students, no seniors and nine freshmen. The university recently completed construction on the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, its new basketball home.

Prior to the 2021 season, Dambrot had won 65 games in four years at Duquesne, placing him eighth on the program’s all-time victory list. He won 305 games as men’s basketball coach at Akron, a program record.