Dec. 2, 2005

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DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.RedZoneMedia.com

DUQUESNE EMBARKS ON ITS OWN "RIVALRY WEEK"

Duquesne (0-3), coming off a 79-61 loss at Akron on Wednesday, returns home for the first time since Nov. 22 to face Robert Morris (2-2) at 7:05 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Dec. 3 (KQV-AM 1410 radio / www.RedZoneMedia.com).

The RMU game begins a mini "Rivalry Week" for the Dukes who host Pitt on Wednesday. Duquesne is looking to snap a three-game season-opening losing streak against a Robert Morris team that evened its record at 2-2 with a 62-53 home win over Maine on Tuesday. Duquesne, playing without starting forward Kieron Achara (shoulder injury), trailed Akron 59-56 with under seven minutes to go before the Zips closed the game with a 20-5 run to secure the victory at Akron on Wednesday.

DUKES VS. COLONIALS

This is 16th game between Duquesne and Robert Morris - and third meeting in as many years between the two schools ... prior to the 2003-04 season, the 13 previous games were all played between December of 1980 and December of 1995 ... DU, winner of six of the last seven, holds a 11-4 edge in the series ... in games played at home, Duquesne leads 8-2 with a 4-1 edge at both Mellon Arena and the Palumbo Center ... RMU's last win at Duquesne was on Dec. 22, 1990 at the Palumbo Center by an 85-81 score ... since then, DU has won four in a row over RMU at the Palumbo Center ... the Colonials are led by fifth-year coach Mark Schmidt ... Schmidt is familiar with Duquesne having served as an assistant coach at Xavier from 1994-01.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne has yet to be at full strength for a game this season
• Leading scorer Bryant McAllister missed the opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff while serving a suspension for an off-court incident last summer ... he scored a team-high 15 points in game two at Oakland and added a team-high 17 at Akron
• Sophomore swingman Chauncey Duke, who led the Dukes in assists (5) and rebounds (6) and scored nine points in the season-opener vs. Pine Bluff, missed the game at Oakland to attend the funeral of his grandmother in Missouri ... he made his return at Akron (five points and seven rebounds)
• Duquesne will most likely be without the services of 2004-05 Atlantic 10 most improved player Kieron Achara, who was diagnosed with a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Thursday ... Achara originally injured the shoulder in a Nov. 12 scrimmage vs. Cleveland State ... the preseason second team All-Atlantic 10 pick is going to meet with a specialist to determine the best course of action to take with the injury.

DUQUESNE TO HONOR 1955 NIT CHAMPIONS AT HALFTIME

Duquesne's Department of Athletics will honor the 50th year anniversary of the Dukes' 1955 NIT Championship at halftime of Saturday night's game vs. Robert Morris. Former players from that team expected to be in attendance include Jim Fallon, Ralph Leng, Paul Lojpersberger and Bob Schneider. In addition, June Green, the wife of three-time All-American Sihugo Green, will also will also take part in the halftime festivities. The `55 Dukes stormed to the NIT title with wins over Louisville, Cincinnati and Dayton at New York's Madison Square Garden. The Dukes, led by consensus first team All-Americans Dick Ricketts and Sihugo Green, finished the season with a 22-4 record in securing a spot in Duquesne basketball history.

FAMILIAR FACE

This is the third time Duquesne head coach Danny Nee is facing his former team. Nee, the fifth-year coach of the Dukes, was the head coach at Robert Morris during the 2000-01 season. Nee rallied the Colonials from a 2-14 start to a 7-13 record in the Northeast Conference on the way to a 7-22 finish. RMU went 5-7 in its last 12 games that season. The Colonials do not have any players remaining from Nee's `01 squad.

BLOODLINES

Another Duke with ties to Robert Morris is 6-9 true freshman forward/center Ronnie Thomas. Ronnie, who saw a season-high eight minutes of action on Wednesday at Akron, is the brother of former Colonials forward Aaron Thomas. Aaron, who was a four-year starter for Robert Morris from 2001-04, finished his career sixth on RMU's all-time scoring list with 1,256 points. He was just the seventh player in school history to finish his career with over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. Aaron was recruited by - and played for - Danny Nee in 2001 at RMU. Ronnie, who scored his first career points at Oakland, needs just 1,254 more to match his older brother.

70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

The 70-point mark may be the key to victory for both Duquesne and Robert Morris. The Colonials are 43-15 under fifth-year head coach Mark Schmidt when holding opponents under 70 points, while Duquesne is 32-17 under its fifth-year coach, Danny Nee, when scoring 70 or more. So far this season, RMU opponents are averaging 70.8 ppg. Duquesne, which scored a season-high 61 points at Akron, is averaging 56.7 ppg.

FREE THROW WOES

Duquesne, which has been outscored by an average of 16.6 points per game, has just four fewer field goals than its opponents. The difference has come at the foul line where Duquesne has attempted 31 fewer free throws than opponents have made. That's right, the Dukes are averaging 11.3 free throws per game (21-of-34 on the season), while opponents have gone to the stripe and average of 27.7 times per game (65-of-83). DU has been whistled for 69 fouls to 40 for their opponents. The trio of Ryan Lambert (11), DeVario Hudson (11) and Jack Higgins (10) has accounted for 46.4 percent of Duquesne's fouls so far this season.

ACHARA AILING

Junior forward/center Kieron Achara, a preseason second team All-Atlantic 10 pick, missed the game at Akron with shoulder and foot injuries. The 6-9 Stirling, Scotland native had an MRI arthrogram on his left shoulder and x-ray of his left foot done while the Dukes were in Akron on Wednesday. The good news was that the x-ray of his foot was negative (sprained arch), however the MRI revealed a tear in the labrum of his left shoulder. The next step for Achara is to meet with a specialist to determine a course of action. The specialist will determine if surgery is necessary and/or if he can try to play and have the injury repaired after the season. It is highly doubtful that Achara will be available for the Robert Morris game. The left-handed Achara injured the shoulder while blocking a shot in a preseason scrimmage vs. Cleveland State on Nov. 12 and tried to play through the injury. Achara, who entered the season ranked third on Duquesne's career field goal accuracy list at 54.5 percent, struggled from the field, going 3-of-20 (including a 0-of-10 effort at Oakland) in Duquesne's first two games.

POINT BLANK

The Dukes, who return seven of their top 10 scorers from a year ago, is in the process of finding someone to get them the ball. Among those gone from last season are starting point guard Martin Osimani and his backup, Tyler Bluemling. Osimani, a two-year starter who finished his career ranked eighth on the all-time Atlantic 10 assist list at 5.5 apg., and Bluemling, accounted for over half of DU's total assists and had a combined 215-to-104 (2.1-to-1) assist-to-turnover average. Bryant McAllister has inherited point this season with newcomer Aaron Jackson being groomed to provide depth. The Dukes struggled in their first two games (one without the suspended McAllister), committing a total of 36 turnovers before settling down and turning it over a season-low 13 times at Akron. The 6-2 Jackson, who started and played 32 minutes in the season-opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (in place of McAllister), is off to a solid start in the turnover column with just one miscue in 71 total minutes (23.7 min./g.).

FOUR STARTERS BACK

Duquesne returns four starters from last season in guard Bryant McAllister (16.1 ppg., 54 steals), forward/center Kieron Achara (11.5, 6.7), forward DeVario Hudson (8.1, 5.3) and guard/forward Chauncey Duke (4.0, 2.7). Of the four, three have already missed a game this season (McAllister the season-opener due to a suspension, Duke the Oakland game due to a death in the family and Achara the Akron game with shoulder and foot injuries). The foursome combined for 93 of a possible 150 starts in 2004-05. A fifth returnee, senior guard Jack Higgins (9.5, 47 3-pointers), ranks third among returnees in minutes played per game (behind McAllister and Achara), despite coming off the bench in 17 of 27 games played last year. Forward Keith Gayden, who averaged just under 17 minutes per game and 6-10 Sean McKeon (11.9 mpg., in 24 games) are also back.

QUICK NOTES

• Duquesne, playing without last season's top rebounder, Kieron Achara, outrebounded Akron 40-36 on Wednesday ... DU entered the UA game being outrebounded by 8.0 per game ... DU's most suprising rebounder so far has been 6-6 sophomore Chauncey Duke ... Duke who had five or more rebounds in a game four times in 28 games last season, has six and seven in the two games has has played this year .
• Jack Higgins, who entered the season second on DU's all-time 3-point accuracy list at 39.5 percent is 5-of-19 from the arc (26.3%) through three games
• Duke, who shot 35.3 percent from the arc last year, is 2-of-10
• On the other hand, Duquesne opponents are shooting just 22.0 percent (13-of-59) from the arc.