Feb. 27, 2004

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

DUKES HEAD TO CINCINNATI TO FACE RED-HOT XAVIER

Duquesne (10-15, 5-9), which snapped a five-game losing streak with a 93-56 win over Fordham at the Palumbo Center on Wednesday, heads to Cincinnati to face one of the hottest teams in the Atlantic 10 in Xavier (17-9, 8-5) at 2:00 p.m. (EST) (Atlantic 10 TV - Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh locally). The Musketeers, who will be looking to avenge a 71-58 loss at Duquesne on Jan. 14, have won seven in a row including a 65-49 win at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. Xavier is 12- 2 at home with the losses coming to Saint Joseph's and Richmond. In three seasons at the Cintas Center, the Musketeers are 52-5. Duquesne, which has lost three overtime road games this season, is 2-8 away from home with wins at Rhode Island and at St. Bonaventure. Duquesne has never swept Xavier in the season series. The Dukes are 4-2 against the A10 East and 1-7 vs. the West with the lone win over Xavier.

DUKES VS. MUSKETEERS

Xavier leads the overall series 21-14 ... in games played at Cincinnati, Xavier leads 11-5 ... in Atlantic 10 regular season play, XU leads 13-3 ... earlier this year, Duquesne snapped a six-game Xavier series winning streak with a 71-58 win at Pittsburgh ... the DU victory ended XU's 16-game A10 regular-season winning streak, the nation's longest conference road winning streak (10 games) and a four-game Musketeer season win streak ... Duquesne's 13-point margin of victory was its largest in the series since an 88-72 win over #18 (AP) Xavier on Mar. 6, 1993 at the Palumbo Center ... Xavier has won the last five meetings at Cincinnati with Duquesne's last win coming on Jan. 25, 1997 when the Dukes defeated #16 (AP) Xavier 78-70 at Cincinnati Gardens ... DU has never swept Xavier in seven previous intra-divisional meetings (two splits and swept five times).

WIN NUMBER 10

The win over Fordham on Wednesday gave Duquesne its 10th victory of the season ... it is the first time since 1997-98 (11-19, 5-11) that the Dukes have won double-digit games (the Dukes' 10-20 record last season included a forfeit win over St. Bonaventure) ... '98 was also the last season DU posted five A10 wins ... Duquesne's win at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1 was its 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.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne is 10-3 this season when scoring 70 or more points, and 0-12 when held under 70
• DU is coming off a 93- 56 win over Fordham on Wednesday ... the 37-point win - in addition to snapping a five-game losing streak - was Duquesne's largest margin of victory ever in an A10 game
• Duquesne's opponents are shooting just .410 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
• True freshman C Kieron Achara has posted four straight doubledigit scoring games (11.8 ppg. over that span) ... the 6-9 Stirling, Scotland native is shooting a team-best .641 percent from the field
• Senior G/F Jimmy Tricco has hit 10 of his last 17 3-point attempts in DU's last three games ... he went 5-of-7 from the arc in scoring 15 points vs. Fordham.

WHAT A WAY TO SNAP OUT OF IT

Duquesne broke out of a five-game slump during which it averaged 58.4 points and shot .405 percent from the field with Wednesday's 93-56 win over Fordham. The 37-point win, which snapped a five-game losing streak, was Duquesne's largest ever in Atlantic 10 play. It was also DU's largest margin of victory since an 83-45 win over Ohio Dominican on Nov. 29, 1983. Duquesne set season highs for first half points (50) field goals made and attempted (36-74, 48.6%) and assists (29) against the Rams. DU's high point total in its five previous games was 65 points. The Dukes scored their 66th and 67th points vs. Fordham with 11:56 left in the game.

ONE MORE AT HOME

The Dukes will wrap up the 2003-04 regular season at home vs. Dayton on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2:00 p.m. It will be the final home game for seniors Ron Dokes, Andrew Gans, Elijah Palmer and Jimmy Tricco who will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.

GREAT SCOT!

Six-nine freshman center Kieron Achara is on a four-game double digit scoring streak. He started with a career-high 13 at Dayton followed by 12 at Temple, 11 more in starts vs. George Washington and Fordham. Achara, who is 12-of-15 from the field in his last three games, is shooting a team-best .641 from the field on the season. He has also been solid from the line where he is shooting .721 (49-of-68). "He has a very large upside," said Duquesne coach Danny Nee to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following the Dayton game. "He's a big part of our future. He's gaining more confidence and more experience with every game and we think this year has been very solid for him." Achara also leads the team in blocked shots with 30.

SHOOTING STRAIGHT

Duquesne's overall shooting percentage stands at .457 percent - third-best in the Atlantic 10. Three DU regulars are shooting 50 percent or better: Kieron Achara (64.1%), Elijah Palmer (56.6%), Ron Dokes (52.1%).

DUQUESNE QUICK HITS

• Duquesne, which was mired in a five-game 40.5 percent shooting slump, shot 48.6 percent in the win over Fordham ... the 48.6 percent effort was the team's best since it shot 49.1 percent in a 74-70 loss to La Salle on Jan. 28 (a span of six games)
• The Dukes assisted on 29 of 36 field goals (80.6%) vs. Fordham
• True freshman center Kieron Achara has posted four of his six career double-digit games in the Dukes' last four outings ... Achara scored a career high 13 at Dayton, 12 at Temple and added 11 each vs. George Washington and Fordham ... in his last four games, he is shooting 17-of-25 from the field in an average of 20.5 minutes/g. ... Achara is shooting 72.1 percent from the foul line and 64.1 percent from the field
• Playmaking point guard Martin Osimani leads the team with 149 assists ... the assist total is the fifth-highest single-season mark in school history ... his 5.96 apg. is the third-best in school history behind Norm Nixon's 6.00 apg. in 1973-74 & 1975-76 ... Osimani, who posted his first career doubledouble 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 ... Osimani, who was shooting 37.0 percent from the arc through DU's first 14 games (10-of-27), has hit just 3 of his last 25 3-point attempts (over Duquesne's last 11 games) ... Osimani, who had a streak of 17 consecutive free throws made snapped at Temple, is shooting 76.0% from the foul line (38- of-50)
• Jimmy Tricco, who hit four 3-pointers in four of the Dukes' first six games (20-of- 48, 41.7%), went through a 16-game 13-of-66 shooting slump (19.7%), before re-emerging to hit 10-of-17 from the arc in DU's last three games ... Tricco has hit at least one 3-pointer in 42 of 55 career games at Duquesne ... Tricco had his most productive 3-point shooting outing since a 4-of-11 performance at Akron on Dec. 17 when he hit 5-of-7 from long distance vs. Fordham ... despite his 3-point struggles, Tricco is averaging just under two 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 came back from a 1-of-10 outing vs. GW to hit 4-of-7 shots from the field in scoring 13 vs. Fordham ... he leads the team with 30 steals and is second with 58 assists
• Elijah Palmer's .566 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 sixth time this season with 22 vs. Fordham ... he has shot .500 or better from the field in 19 of 25 games (including an 0-1 performance prior to getting injured vs. Cornell back on Dec. 31) ... Palmer leads the team with 33 dunks
• Jack Higgins has come off the bench to score in double digits in seven of the 19 games he has played since becoming eligible on Dec. 17 (DU is 6-1 when Higgins scores in double digits) ... he has led the Dukes in scoring three times ... Higgins' two 20-point games are second on the team to Palmer's five ... Higgins, who has hit four or more 3-pointers in a game three times, saw his 3-point shooting percentage at 52 percent (25-of-48) following the St. Bonaventure game on Feb. 1 ... since that game, he is 6-of-22 from the arc (a span of six games) ... despite his recent slump, Higgins is still shooting a team-best 44.3 percent from the arc
• Center Ron Dokes has scored just 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in five games since he posted back-to-back double-doubles vs. La Salle (15-13) and at St. Bonaventure (18- 13)
• Danny Nee enters the Xavier game needing three wins to reach 400 for his career ... all nine of DU's regulars have scored at least 10 points in a game this season ... in addition, all nine regulars have also either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in a single game: Palmer (10 times), Higgins (3), McAllister (3), Jimmy Tricco (3), Achara (2), Dokes (2), Ryan Tricco (2), Osimani (1) and Pawlak (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 10 road games, the margin stands at -10.1 with four double digit losses (83-63 at George Washington, 71-55 at La Salle, 70-58 at Dayton and 83-65 at Temple).

DID YOU KNOW?

Duquesne is 6-1 when Jack Higgins scores in double figures ... the lone loss came when Higgins scored 10 in a 78-61 loss to then-No. 9 (AP) Saint Joseph's on Jan. 10 10 ... Higgins enters the weekend ranked second in the A10 in 3-point field goal percentage at .443.