Jan. 11, 2005

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DUKES AT XAVIER

Duquesne (4-11, 1-1), coming off an 81-57 home loss to No. 24 (AP) George Washington on Saturday, hits the road again to face A-10 West Division foe Xavier (6-5, 0-1) on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. (1410 KQV-AM & www.RedZoneMedia.com) in the first meeting between the two West Division foes this season. The Dukes, who have won their last two A-10 road games (at Xavier to finish last year's regular season and at Dayton to open this season) will be attempting to make history as the first DU team to ever win three league road games in a row.

DUKES vs. MUSKETEERS

Xavier leads the overall series 21-15 ... in games played at Cincinnati, Xavier leads 11-6 ... in Atlantic 10 regular season play, XU leads 13-4 ... last year, Duquesne swept the regular season series for the first time with a 71-58 win at Pittsburgh followed by a 74-68 victory at Cincinnati ... the DU victory at Pittsburgh ended XU's 16-game A-10 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 ... the win at Cincinnati made Duquesne just the fifth visiting team to win in the then four-year history of XU's Cintas Center ... the loss was Xavier's last until a 66-63 setback vs. No. 6 Duke in the NCAA Tournament Atlanta Regional Final ... Xavier had won six series games in a row prior to last season ... the last time DU took three in a row from Xavier was during a seven-game series win streak that stretched from Feb. 18, 1968 to Mar. 7, 1974.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne, winner of its last two Atlantic 10 road games (dating to last year's win at Xavier and including this year's win at Dayton), has never won three consecutive conference road games
• Bryant McAllister, who was named league co-Player of the Week for averaging 22.5 ppg. and 3.5 apg. in two games last week, averaged 17.0 ppg. in two games vs. Xavier last year ... McAllister is the first DU A-10 Player of the Week since Wayne Smith was honored on Jan. 1, 2000
• Tyler Bluemling, who handed out a career-high 5 assists vs. GW on Saturday, has 19 assists and just 4 turnovers in his last six games (a 4.75-to-1 ratio)
• Not to be outdone, freshman Chauncey Duke has turned it over just three times in 15 games this season ... he has been turnover-free since the second half of the UMBC game on Dec. 11 (that's six full games without a miscue)
• DU is shooting 78.8% from the foul line ... the mark is the third-best in the nation.

SICK BAY

Chauncey Duke, who didn't start vs. George Washington because he missed a practice with a stomach virus, is expected to be near full strength at Xavier. Ryan Tricco is nearly fully recovered from bronchitis. Jack Higgins, who has missed the last two games with pneumonia, will have his status evaluated this week.

70 IS THE KEY

Duquesne is 4-3 this season when scoring 70 or more points and 0-8 when scoring fewer than 70. When holding opponents under 70 points, the Dukes are 3-0. If you want to go five points higher, consider that DU is 4-0 when scoring 75 or more.

THEY WILL NEED A SCORE-CARD

The Duquesne student body may indeed need a scorecard when the Dukes host Dayton on Saturday, Jan. 15 - only they won't need it to identify the Flyers. Of DU's six home games thus far, only one has been played with students able to attend en masse. The Nov. 20 and Nov. 24 games vs. Lafayette and West Virginia were played during Thanksgiving break. The UMBC game on Dec. 11 was played during final exams and the Dec. 31 Youngstown State and Jan. 8 George Washington games were played during Christmas break. Only the Dec. 1 Akron game was played with the majority of students on campus. DU started the spring semester on Monday.

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Kieron Achara has topped his career scoring high in two of DU's last four games ... it started with 19 points at Robert Morris on Dec. 22, followed by 14 points and a career high-tying 5 blocked shots vs. Youngstown State ... he then posted a new career-best with 23 points in 36 minutes of DU's 94-93 double-overtime win at Dayton ... the Stirling, Scotland native, is 24-of-35 from the field (68.6%), 20-of-25 from the line (80.0%) and averaging 17.0 ppg. in the Dukes' last four games ... Achara, who is shooting a team-best 55.3 percent from the field, has posted double-doubles five times this season (10-11 at New Mexico, 11-10 vs. Lafayette, 15-11 at George Mason, 16-11 vs. UMBC and 23-11 at Dayton)
• Martin Osimani needs one more 10-assist game for the school career record ... Osimani, who will be playing in his 45th career game at Xavier, 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 7.1 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 24 games to reach his current 107 point total ... Osimani saw a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made snapped in the Youngstown State game ... Osimani, who is 28-of-30 from the line this season, had a streak of 17 free throws made in a row last year ... he made a career high three 3-pointers in six attempts in scoring 11 in the A-10 opener at Dayton and is 7-of-17 (41.2%) from the arc in his last four games
• Senior guard Tyler Bluemling has scored 63 points in 15 games this season ... his point total in 17 appearances last year was 24 ... he has 34 assists and 17 turnovers as the back-up at the point guard spot (2-to-1 ratio) ... in his last six games, Bluemling has 19 assists and 4 turnovers in an average of 19.7 min./g. ... he had 10 points, 3 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers 29 minutes at Dayton ... he scored all 10 of his points in the last 1:07 of regulation and first 1:26 of the first overtime period (at total span of 2:33) ... he added a career-high 5 assists in a start vs. George Washington
• Jack Higgins' streak of 36-straight games played ended when he missed the game at Dayton due to pneumonia ... Higgins, who was also not in uniform for the George Washington game, hadn't been cleared to practice as of Sunday ... his status for the Xavier game is not known at this time
• Bryant McAllister, who has scored in double figures in 13 of DU's 15 games, has topped the 20 point mark four times this season (24 vs. Lafayette, 21 vs. Akron, a career-high 30 vs. UMBC and 26 at Dayton)
• Freshman Chauncey Duke has just three turnovers in 260 total minutes on the season ... he has not turned it over since the second half of the UMBC game on Dec. 11 (that's no turnovers in his last six games, 127 total minutes) ... Duke, who pulled down a career-high 7 rebounds vs. Youngstown State added 7 points at Dayton including a driving layup with :05 left in the second overtime that proved to be the game-winner
• Fellow freshman DeVario Hudson had a rough outing at Dayton, going 0-of-10 from the field in 28 minutes... he bounced back with 8 points in 22 minutes vs. GW (4-of-7 from the field) ... Hudson had scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his two games prior to Dayton (17 at Boston College and 12 vs. Youngstown State) ... he sat out the Robert Morris game on Dec. 22 as a penalty for returning late from Christmas break
• Redshirt freshman Sean McKeon, who missed four late November-early December games with mononucleosis, has scored 24 points (6.0 ppg.) on 11-of-18 shooting (61.1%) in his last four games ... he was 5-of-5 from the field with 10 points in 11 minutes at Boston College, went 3-of-5 with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in a career-high 21 minutes vs. Youngstown State and added 8 points in 14 minutes at Dayton ... McKeon, who averaged 6.4 minutes in his first five games, is averaging 14.3 min./g. in his last four
• Duquesne has used seven different starting lineups in 15 games, with 10 different players starting at least once.

TWO IN A ROW ON THE ATLANTIC 10 ROAD

With its 94-93 double-overtime victory at Dayton on Jan. 5, Duquesne has now won its last two Atlantic 10 regular season road games. The streak began with last year's 74-68 win at Xavier on Feb. 28th . The last time DU won two straight A-10 road games was in 1995 (at Temple and at St. Bonaventure). In all, Dukes' teams have won consecutive league road games 11 times since joining the Eastern 8 in 1976-77. No Duquesne team has ever won three in a row on the road in league play (including the 1992-93 Midwestern Cities Conference season).