Dec. 20, 2004

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DUKES HEAD TO BOSTON COLLEGE

Duquesne (2-8), coming off a 73-60 loss at Ohio on Saturday, heads Northeast to face Boston College (8-0) in a pre-Christmas match-up at Conte Forum on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 2:00 p.m. (EST) (1410 KQV-AM & RedZoneMedia.com). This is the second of three consecutive road games for the Dukes who are still looking for their first win on an opponent's home court. Boston College, which is among the top of the others receiving votes category in both national polls, has played seven of its first eight games at home. The Eagles defeated Yale, 82-80 in double overtime at home in their last outing on Sunday.

DUKES vs. EAGLES

This is the first meeting between Duquesne and Boston College since Jan. 27, 1972 (a 93-79 Duquesne win at the Civic Arena) ... it is the Dukes' first appearance at BC since Feb. 24, 1971 (a 67-52 Boston College victory) ... the series, which is tied at 4-4, has been one of home court advantage with each team enjoying a 3-1 edge at home ... DU and BC first met on Feb. 10, 1949 when the #20 (AP) Dukes defeated the Eagles 52-42 at Boston Garden ... they next met in the first round of the 1962 Steel Bowl (a 57-45 DU win at Fitzgerald Field House) before meeting for six consecutive years from 1967 through 1972 Bob Cousey's Eagles defeated Duquesne in 1967, '68 and '69 ... DU sandwiched home wins in 1970 & '72 around a loss at BC in 1971 ... the '69 meeting featured a pair of ranked teams as DU entered the game ninth and BC No. 16 in the AP poll ... Boston College has won the last three meetings at home.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• This is the second of three straight road games for the Dukes
• DU leads the nation in team free throw percentage at 80.6 percent (125-of-155)
• Senior G Martin Osimani, who is 25-of-26 from the stripe this season, has made his last 20 consecutive free throws (his last miss was Nov. 14 at New Mexico)
• Junior G Bryant McAllister is averaging 22.8 ppg. (54.1% from field) at home and 12.5 ppg. (41.2%) in six games away from the Palumbo Center
• On the other hand junior G Jack Higgins is averaging 5.0 ppg. at home (where he's shooting 20.6%) and 11.7 ppg. on the road (38.0%) ... all four of Higgins' double-digit point games have been on the road, including a season-high 18 at Ohio on Saturday
• In his last 5 games, true freshman F DeVario Hudson is averaging 11.2 ppg. & 7.0 rpg. on 48.1% shooting ... Hudson, who has seen his minutes quadruple from 5.8 in games one through five to 25 in DU's last five, is shooting 50.0% (5-of-10) from the 3-point arc
• BC is the third and final Big East team on DU's schedule.

MORE ON BOSTON COLLEGE

Boston College is 8-0 on the season with all but a 74-64 win over UCLA (at Anaheim, Calif.) coming at home ... BC's home victims include Maine (72-58), New Hampshire (84-62), Clemson (79-70), Long Island (87-46), Holy Cross (63-60 in OT), Boston U. (80-74) and Yale (82-80 in double OT) ... the Eagles are in their 8th season under head coach Al Skinner ... Skinner, who is in his 17th overall season as a head coach, has led BC to post-season appearances in each of the last four seasons (2001, '02 & '04 NCAA Tournament and 2003 NIT) ... Boston College returns seven lettermen, including four starters, from last year's 24-11 NCAA second round team ... BC was picked to finish fifth in the 2004-05 Big East Preseason Coaches Poll ... junior forward Craig Smith (20.0, 7.7) was named preseason All-Big East ... the 6-7, 250-pound Smith was also one of eight Big East players to earn a spot on the 50-man Wooden Award Preseason All-American Team ... Pittsburgh native Akida McLain (4.8, 3.0) is a freshman forward for the Eagles ... the Penn Hills HS graduate has seen action in five games this season ... this is Duquesne coach Danny Nee's first meeting against Boston College

FOUL ME!

Duquesne began the week leading the nation in team free throw shooting for the third consecutive week at 80.6 percent. Three Dukes have yet to miss a foul shot this season (Tyler Bluemling 5-5, Jon Pawlak 4-4 and Sean McKeon 3-3), while point guard Martin Osimani, who is at 96.2 percent (25-of-26), has made his last 20 free throw attempts. JC transfer Keith Gayden is 12-of-15 (80.0%) from the stripe and guard Bryant McAllister is hitting at an 81.4 percent clip (35-of-43). DU's two starting freshmen forwards - DeVario Hudson and Chauncey Duke - have attempted a combined two free throws (Hudson is 1-of-2 with to two attempts coming in Duquesne's game at Ohio last Saturday):

NATION'S TOP FREE THROW SHOOTING SCHOOLS
through games of Dec. 19

80.64%  125-155 DUQUESNE80.55%  116-144 Morehead State79.4%    85-107 Stetson79.3%    96-121 Army78.8%   141-179 Michigan State

SECOND HALF STRUGGLES

Duquesne, which is being outscored 402-356 in the second half, can trace some of its problems to the 3-point arc. For the season, Duquesne is shooting 18.7 percent from the arc (17-of-91) in the second half. In the first half DU is shooting 46.4 percent (39-of-84) from long distance (a drop off of 27.7%):

DUQUESNE'S SHOOTING BY HALF

HALF        FIELD GOALS     3-POINTERS  First Half      121-276 (.438)  39-84 (.464)Second Half     127-316 (.402)  17-91 (.187)

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Senior guard Martin Osimani needs one more 10-assist game for the school career record ... Osimani, who will be playing his 40th career game at Boston College, shares the record for career 10 assist games with Clayton Adams who posted four in 109 career games between 1988-91 ... Osimani, who averaged 4.6 ppg. last season, is scoring at a 8.3 ppg. clip this season ... he has scored a career-high 16 points twice (at New Mexico and vs. Lafayette) ... his career high entering the season was 11 ... last year, it took Osimani 19 games to reach his current 83 point total ... Osimani brings a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made into the BC game ... he has a way to go to challenge the school record of 42 set by Dick Ricketts over a seven game span in 1956-57
• Bryant McAllister, who has scored in double figures in nine of DU's 10 games, has topped the 20 point mark three times this season (24 vs. Lafayette, 21 vs. Akron & a career-high 30 vs. UMBC)
• Kieron Achara has posted double-doubles four times this season (10-11 at New Mexico, 11-10 vs. Lafayette, 15-11 at George Mason & 16-11 vs. UMBC) ... his current 7.7 rebounds per game average is the best by a Duquesne player since 6-11 Derrick Alston averaged 9.3 rpg. as a junior in 1992-93
• Senior guard Tyler Bluemling has scored 40 points in 10 games this season ... his point total in 17 appearances last year was 24
• Freshman Chauncey Duke, who scored nine points in the first 10 minutes of his first career start vs. Akron on Dec. 1, has attempted just five field goals (and not scored) 63 total minutes since: 0-1 in 13 second-half minutes vs. Akron, 0-2 in 16 minutes at Pitt, 0-1 in 16 minutes vs. UMBC and 0-1 in 18 minutes at Ohio ... Duke has just three turnovers in 151 total minutes on the season
• Duquesne has used six different starting lineups in 10 games, with 10 different players starting at least once
• DU is being outshtot 40.1% to 32.0% from 3-point land
• Foes have hit 10 or more 3-pointers in a game four times (all DU losses).