Feb. 13, 2004

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TELEVISION: Atlantic 10 Network with Michael Reghi & John Spencer
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.redzonemedia.com

DUKES TAKE ON BEST IN WEST

Duquesne (9-12, 4-6) heads to Dayton (19-4, 9-1) to face the Atlantic 10 West Division leading Flyers in an A10 TV game on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2:00 p.m. (Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh locally). The Dukes will be looking to end a two-game losing streak against a Dayton team that is coming off an 81-67 loss at No. 3 (AP) Saint Joseph's on Wednesday. Dayton, which is 11-1 at home this season, saw a nine-game winning streak snapped in the loss to Saint Joe's. Duquesne shot a season-low 7.1 percent (1-of-14) from the 3-point arc in the loss at La Salle. Duquesne trailed by three with 5:31 left in the game before missing eight consecutive shots down the stretch as the Explorers closed out the game with a 14-1 run. Elijah Palmer led the Dukes with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting (including four dunks) at La Salle. This is the second of three consecutive road games for the Dukes.

DUKES vs. FLYERS

Dayton leads the overall series 35-15, including a 21-3 edge in games played at Dayton ... UD is one of three A10 teams Duquesne has yet to beat on the road (La Salle and Richmond are the others) ... the Flyers also hold a 15-2 advantage in Atlantic 10 regular season games ... UD, winner of the last 13 in a row, has won the last 10 meetings at University of Dayton Arena ... DU's last series win at Dayton was on Feb. 1, 1983 by a 58-55 margin ... last year, Dayton took both meetings by a combined six points ... Duquesne rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to take a one-point lead with just over a minute left but could not hold on in a 77-72 loss at Dayton ... in the return matchup at Pittsburgh, the Dukes had the ball down one with 13.2 seconds remaining but couldn't get a shot off as time expired in a 76-75 loss ... DU's last series win was at home on Jan. 30, 1997 by an 80-71 count.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne has scored a total of just 106 points in its last two games for an average of 53.0 ppg. ... DU's average prior to its games vs. Richmond and at La Salle was at 72.5 ppg.
• The Dukes are 5-of-33 (15.2%) from the 3-point arc in their last two games ... three regulars, Jack Higgins (0-6), Martin Osimani (0-6), Bryant McAllister (0-4), are a combined 0-of-16 over that span
• Duquesne's opponents are shooting just .400 from the field ... the defensive field goal percentage ranks third in the Atlantic 10 and is the best by a DU team since the 1970-71 NCAA Tournament-bound Dukes (21-4) held opponents to a .389 mark ... last year, Duquesne's opponents shot .445 from the field
• Osimani's 6.00 apg. average is tied for the best in school history
• Leading scorer Elijah Palmer bounced back from a 5-point effort vs. Richmond with a team-high 14 at La Salle on Wednesday
• Four of DU's six road losses have come by five or fewer points, with three coming in overtime.

TWO CLOSE CALLS LAST YEAR

Duquesne posted two stirring comebacks in nearly snapping Dayton's series winning streak last season. In the first meeting on Jan. 11 at UD Arena, the Dukes came back from 19 points down with 9:15 to go to take a 71-70 lead with 1:52 remaining but couldn't hold on down the stretch in a 77-72 loss. Jimmy Tricco, who scored all of his 20 points in the second half to key the comeback, had a shot blocked with the Dukes down one with 28 seconds left and was stripped of the ball on a drive to the bucket with DU down three with seven seconds left. Tricco, who hit all six of his 3-point field goals in the second half, scored 15 points in a 5:34 span to spark the comeback. In the return match at Pittsburgh on Feb. 5, Duquesne had the ball down one with 13.2 seconds remaining but couldn't get a shot off as time expired in a 76-75 loss. On the Dukes final possession, Bryant McAllister advanced the ball to the frontcourt and hit Ron Dokes near the baseline with under five seconds remaining. Dokes, who was double teamed, passed the ball to Kevin Forney on the opposite wing. Forney was unable to get off a shot before time expired. DU, which trailed by as many as 14 in both halves, never led in the game. Bryant McAllister led five Dukes in double figures as DU outscored Dayton 34-22 in the paint, 18-13 in points off turnovers and 13-3 in fast break points.

WIN NO. 9 ON FEBRUARY 1

The win at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1 gave Duquesne its ninth victory of the season, matching the team's on-court win total for each of the four previous campaigns (9) ... (the Dukes' 10-20 record last season included a forfeit win over St. Bonaventure) ... the last time DU posted double-digit on-court victories was 1997-98 (11-19) ... that was also the last season DU posted five A10 wins ... the Dukes are 4-6 in league play ... the last time DU finished at .500 in the Atlantic 10 was the NIT season of 1993-94 (8-8) ... the win at St. Bonaventure was Duquesne's second A10 road win of the season ... the last time the Dukes won two (or three) league road games was in 1994-95, when DU went 5-8 away from home including a 3-5 mark in A10 play.

MORE ON DAYTON:

The Flyers are led by All-Atlantic 10 candidate Keith Waleskowski (13.2, 9.9) ... the 6-8 senior is coming off a 20-point, 10-rebound effort in UD's 81-67 loss at #3 (AP) Saint Joseph's on Wednesday ... the loss at SJU ended a nine-game Dayton winning streak ... guard Ramod Marshall leads Dayton in scoring at 14.1 ppg. ... Marshall has a team-high 128 assists in a team-best 34.4 minutes per game ... UD is 11-1 at home with the lone loss coming to Saint Louis by a 60-49 score on Dec. 31.

TOUGH SLEDDING

Open looks will be tough to come by on Sunday with the Dukes and Flyers both ranked among the top four defensive teams in the Atlantic 10. Through Wednesday's games, Duquesne ranked third in defensive field goal percentage at .400 and Dayton fourth at .408.

DOING IT WITH DEFENSE

Duquesne opponents are shooting .400 percent from the field, which is the third-best defensive field goal percentage in the Atlantic 10. DU has held 11 opponents under 40 percent so far this season, and is 6-5 in those games. Only two teams (at West Virginia and at George Washington) have topped the 50 percent mark against the Dukes this year. To put the 2003-04 defensive effort in perspective, consider that last year DU opponents shot .445 percent. The last time a Duquesne team held its opponents under 40 percent shooting for an entire season was 1970-71. That year, the 21-4 NCAA Tournament-bound Dukes limited opponents to a .389 percent success rate.

DID YOU KNOW?

Duquesne began the week ranked 27th nationally in field goal percentage defense. Last year the Dukes finished the season ranked 208th in the same category. (That's an improvement of 181 spots from last season.)

LIGHTS OUT!

Despite, shooting a combined .404 from the field in it last two games, Duquesne's overall shooting percentage stands at .462 percent - good for fourth-best in the Atlantic 10. Three DU regulars are shooting 50 percent or better: Kieron Achara (62.3%), Elijah Palmer (57.5%), Ron Dokes (52.6%).

DUQUESNE QUICK HITS

• Duquesne is 17-of-74 (23.0%) from the 3-point arc in its last five games ... coincidentally, the Dukes are 1-4 over that span
• The Dukes are coming off their worst 3-point outing of the season (1-of-14 at La Salle)
• Playmaking point guard Martin Osimani, who has attempted four or fewer shots in 14 of 21 games played, has attempted at least five shots in four of DU's last five games (he's averaging 5.8 ppg. over that span) ... he leads the team with 126 assists ... his 6.00 apg. is tied for the best in school history with Norm Nixon's 6.00 apg. in 1973-74 & 1975-76 ... Osimani, who posted his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1, is the first player in school history with three 10+ assist games in the same season
• Jimmy Tricco, who hit four 3-pointers in four of the Dukes' first six games (20-of-48, 41.7%), has converted just 13-of-64 (20.3%) from the arc over DU's last 15 outings ... Tricco, who has hit at least one 3-pointer in 39 of 51 career games at Duquesne, has not converted from the arc in five of DU's last eight games ... despite his 3-point struggles, Tricco is averaging just 1.7 fewer points per game than last season (10.4-to-8.7 ppg.)
• Bryant McAllister is averaging a team-high 29.1 minutes per game ... he shook off an 0-of-7 outing vs. Richmond to hit 5-of-7 from the field at La Salle ... he is shooting 48.8 percent (39-of-80) from the field in his last ten games
• Elijah Palmer's .575 field goal percentage is the best by a DU player since 6-11 Derrick Alston shot .578 from the field in 1993-94 (min. 200 points) ... Palmer, who went 9-of-9 from the field in scoring 20 vs. George Mason earlier this year, topped the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season with 21 at St. Bonaventure ... he leads the team with 28 dunks
• Jack Higgins has come off the bench to score in double digits in six of the 15 games he has played since becoming eligible on Dec. 17 ... he has led the Dukes in scoring three times including two of the last seven games ... Higgins' two 20-point games are second on the team to Palmer's five ... Higgins, who has hit four or more 3-pointers in three of DU's last seven games, is shooting 46.3 percent from the 3-point arc ... he is over 46 percent despite going 0-of-6 from the arc in DU's last two games
• Duquesne is 4-1 when scoring 80 or more points and 3-1 when holding opponents under 60
• Danny Nee enters the Dayton game needing four wins to reach 400 for his career
• All nine of DU's regulars have scored at least 10 points in a game this season ... eight different Dukes have either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in a single game: Palmer (9 times), Higgins (3), Jimmy Tricco (3), Dokes (2), McAllister (2), Osimani (1), Pawlak (1) and Ryan Tricco (1)
• Last year, Duquesne's 11 road losses, including three of 35 points or more, came by an average of -18.3 points ... this year, through eight road games, the margin stands at -8.5 with two double digit losses (83-63 at George Washington and 71-55 at La Salle).