Feb. 5, 2004

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DUQUESNE AND RICHMOND IN REMATCH

Duquesne (9-10, 4-4) begins the second half of the Atlantic 10 season with a rematch against West Divison foe Richmond (12-9, 4-4) at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7. The Dukes, who have been off since an 85-78 win at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1, will be looking to avenge a 69-66 loss at Richmond on Jan. 3.

DUKES vs. SPIDERS

Duquesne holds an 8-5 edge in the series, with all eight victories coming before Richmond joined the Atlantic 10 Conference ... Richmond, a former member of the Colonial Athletic Association, joined the Atlantic 10 prior to the 2001-02 season ... UR swept the inaugural series, 55-51 at Richmond and 83-57 at Pittsburgh and also took both meetings last year, 75-69 at Pittsburgh and 84-47 at Richmond ... the Spiders were victorious in the first meeting this season, 69-66 at Richmond on Jan. 3 ... the series dates back to a 37-29 DU win on Jan. 12, 1937 ... the Spiders are in their second season under head coach Jerry Wainright ... Wainwright came to Richmond after spending eight seasons at UNC Wilmington.

NINTH WIN ON FEB. 1

Duquesne's win over St. Bonaventure last Sunday matched the team's on-court win total for each of the four previous seasons (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 1998 (11-19) ... that was also the last season DU posted five A10 wins ... the Dukes are 4-4 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 league road games was in 1994-95, when DU went 3-5 away from home.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne's opponents are shooting just .399 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
• Senior C Ron Dokes has been on a roll as of late with 33 points, 26 rebounds and 8 assists in his last two games ... Dokes, who recorded back-to-back double-doubles vs. La Salle (15-13) and at St. Bonaventure (18-13) tied his rebounding career high in both games ... he has also tied his career assist high with 4 dishes each vs. the Explorers and Bonnies. ... Dokes is shooting 60.0% from the field in league play
• Leading scorer Elijah Palmer topped the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season with 21 at SBU
• Junior PG Martin Osimani posted his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists at St. Bona ... his 6.05 apg. average is the best in school history

MORE ON RICHMOND

Richmond saw a four-game win streak snapped in a 62-57 overtime loss at Dayton on Wednesday ... durng the four-game streak, the Spiders won at Temple, at then-#10 (AP) Kansas, at Xavier and home vs. George Washington ... UR is 5-4 on the road this season ... Richmond is led by the senior duo of 6-6 G/F Mike Skrocki and 6-4 G Tony Dobbins ... Skrocki, who has led the team in scoring 13 times, is averaging a team-best 16.4 ppg. (50 3-pointers) ... Dobbins (11.7 ppg,, 7.8 rpg., 2.6 spg.), one of the top defensive players in the nation, has posted seven double-doubles this season ... Skrocki and Dobbins combined for 35 of UR's 47 second-half points - including 10 in the final minute - in the Spiders' 69-66 come-from-behind win over Duquesne on Jan. 3.

DUQUESNE QUICK HITS

• Duquesne is the only Atlantic 10 school with six different players with at least 10 3-pointers made this season ... Saint Joseph's, George Washington and Fordham are the closest with five each
• Playmaking point guard Martin Osimani has attempted four or fewer shots in 14 of 19 games played ... he leads the team with 115 assists ... his 6.05 apg. is the best in school history (ahead of 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 11-of-55 (20.0%) from the arc over DU's last 13 outings ... Tricco, who has hit at least one 3-pointer in 38 of 49 career games at Duquesne, has not converted from the arc in three of DU's last six games ... despite his 3-point struggles, Tricco is averaging just 1.4 fewer points per game than last season
• Bryant McAllister is 13-of-24 (54.2%) from the 3-point arc in his last 13 games ... McAllister, who began the season 2-of-9 from the arc, is shooting 51.5 percent (34-of-66) from the field in his last eight games
• Elijah Palmer's .576 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 on Dec. 20, topped the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season - and second time in as many games - with 21 at St. Bonaventure
• Jack Higgins has come off the bench to score in double digits in six of the 13 games he has played since becoming eligible on Dec. 17 ... he has led the Dukes in scoring three times including two of the last five 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 five games, is shooting 52.1% from the 3-point arc
• Duquesne has led at the half in 12 of 19 games and is 7-5 in those games
• DU is 2-5 in games decided by 5 or fewer points, 6-4 when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting and 4-1 when scoring 80 or more points
• Danny Nee enters the Richmond 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
• Seven different Dukes have either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in a single game: Palmer (8 times), Higgins (3), Jimmy Tricco (3), Dokes (2), McAllister (2), 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 seven road games, the margin stands at -5.8 with one double digit loss (83-63 at George Washington)

A MARKED IMPROVEMENT

Here is a comparison of where Duquesne finished last season to where they currently rank in various NCAA statistical categories. (325 teams were ranked last year and 326 this season). The Dukes have jumped over 100 spots in five different categories (stats are from the start of week - through games of Feb. 2.):

NCAA CATEGORY           2003 RANK       2004 RANK       IMPROVEDTurnovers per game      321 (18.9)      127 (14.8)      +194Field Goal Pct. Defense 208 (44.5)       34 (39.9)      +174Assists per game        237 (12.6)       72 (15.7)      +165Scoring Offense         235 (66.7)      102 (72.5)      +133Scoring Margin          280 (-6.7)      154 (+1.6)      +126

* Martin Osimani began the week ranked 20th nationally in assists per game
* Elijah Palmer began the week ranked 28th nationally in field goal percentage

LIGHTS OUT!

Duquesne is shooting .467 percent from the field on the season, good for third-best in the Atlantic 10. Four DU regulars are shooting 50 percent or better: Kieron Achara (62.5%), Elijah Palmer (57.6%), Ron Dokes (53.2%) and Jack Higgins (50.0%).

DOING IT WITH DEFENSE

Duquesne opponents are shooting just 39.9 percent from the field, which is the third-best defensive field goal percentage in the Atlantic 10. The Dukes have held 10 opponents under 40 percent so far this season, and are 6-4 in those games. To put the 2003-04 effort in perspective, consider that last year DU opponents shot 44.5 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 38.9 percent success rate.

DEAR SANTA

When Duquesne center Ron Dokes headed to his hometown of South Bend, Ind. for Christmas break, he was coming off a one point, one rebound performance at Minnesota on Dec. 23. We don't know what he asked Santa for Christmas, but we do know whatever happened has paid dividends, for in 11 post-Christmas games, Dokes is averaging 12.7 ppg., 7.1 rpg. and is shooting 61.9 percent (52-of-84) from the field. "I came back with a lot more passion after the Christmas break," said Dokes following a 26-point, 12-rebound performance vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 28. The passion has been evident as Dokes, who was shooting 35.7 percent from the field in DU's eight pre-Christmas games, has brought his overall field goal percentage up to 53.2 percent.

BENCH IMPRESS

Duquesne head coach Danny Nee, who has consistently used a nine-man rotation all season, is beginning to see his investment pay off. The DU bench, which averaged 15.0 ppg. in the first nine games, has upped its production to 24.9 ppg. in the last 13 outings. "We go deep on the bench because we don't really have a 'star' lineup yet," says Nee. "All these young kids have potential." Added senior forward Elijah Palmer: "We're deep enough that everyone knows they are going to play. The guys coming in off the bench give us the same energy as the starters. They've been doing a good job of that." DU's balance is evident in the fact that no player is averaging over 30 minutes per game, and nine average over 15 minutes per outing.