Dec. 29, 2005
2005 DUQUESNE HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
A.J. Palumbo Center (6,200) • Pittsburgh, Pa.
Game 1: TROY (4-5) at DUQUESNE (2-7)
Friday, Dec. 30, 2005 • 6:00 p.m. (EST)
Game 2: APPALACHIAN (4-6) vs. NIAGARA (2-6)
Friday, Dec. 30, 2005 • 8:30 p.m. (EST)
CONSOLATION/CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005 • Noon/2:30 p.m.
TELEVISION: None
DUQUESNE Radio: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.redzonemedia.com or www.GoDuquesne.com
DUQUESNE HOSTS HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT: Duquesne (2-7), coming off an 81-69 home loss to No. 13 (AP) Boston College on Tuesday, closes out the year as host of the four-team Duquesne Holiday Tournament on Friday-Saturday, Dec. 30-31. (KQV-AM 1410/redzonemedia.com). In first round action, the Dukes will take on Troy (4-5) at 6:00 p.m. followed by Appalachian State (4-6) vs. Niagara (2-6) at 8:30 p.m. New Year's Eve action will begin with a consolation game at Noon followed by the title game at 2:30 p.m. The Holiday Tournament closes out the non-conference portion of Duquesne's 2005-06 schedule. DU opens Atlantic 10 play at La Salle on January 4.
DUKES AND TROJANS: This will be just the second meeting between Duquesne and Troy ... on Dec. 21, 2002, the Trojans defeated the Dukes, 73-69, in the second round of the San Juan Shootout at Caguas, Puerto Rico ... freshman Bryant McAllister scored a then career-high 19 points in that game ... McAllister is the only current Duke to see action vs. Troy.
DUQUESNE LATELY: Sophomore F DeVario Hudson has posted back-to-back double-doubles (20-11 vs. Citadel and 14-11 vs. #13 (AP) Boston College) ... in his last four games, the 6-6, Georgia native is averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks ... he is shooting 61.4 percent from the field (27-of-44) over that span (51.7 percent from the field on the season) ... senior G Bryant McAllister, who scored a team-high 17 vs. Boston College (4-of-16 from the field, 8-of-10 from the line), is averaging a team-best 16.8 points and 5.0 assists per game ... McAllister enters the BC game 19th on Duquesne's all-time leading scorer's list with 1,167 points ... he needs 47 to pass Tony Petrarca and move into the No. 18 spot ... senior Keith Gayden posted his first double-digit scoring game of the season with 15 points (7-of-11 from the field) vs. BC All-American Craig Smith.
QUICK NOTES ON TROY, NIAGARA & APPALACHIAN STATE: Troy, perennially one of the NCAA's most-entertaining teams with its wide-open style, has led the nation in 3-pointers made (just over 11 per game) in each of the last two seasons ... the Trojans, who are coming off a 78-54 loss at Xavier on Dec. 22, are averaging 12.1 3-pointers on 32.9 attempts through nine games ... Troy, which is shooting .368 from the arc (109-of-296), is led by 5-10 senior Bobby Dixon (32-71, .451), 6-3 senior Jacob Hazouri (26-57, .456) and 6-2 junior Boo Ramsey (24-of-77, .312) who account for 75.2 percent of the makes and 69 percent of the 3-point attempts ... Dixon and Hazouri led the Trojans in scoring at 16.8 and 12.8 ppg. respectively ... as a team, Troy is averaging 76.1 ppg. ... Troy, which is being outrebounded by 5.6 per game, is 0-4 on the road (and 1-0 at neutral sites) this season ... dating back to last year, the Trojans have lost six in a row on the road ... three of Troy's five losses have come down to a final shot at the buzzer (73-71 at Columbia, 71-68 at Southeastern Louisiana and 88-77 in OT at Mississippi State) ... in all three cases, Dixon had the final shot for Troy ... Troy is 1-3 all-time vs. schools that make up the current Atlantic 10 Conference ... Niagara made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 35 years last season ... the Purple Eagles return two starters and seven lettermen from that 20-10 team ... the Purple Eagles are led by 6-3 guard/forward Charron Fisher (18.4 ppg.) ... Fisher, a 225-pound sophomore, is also averaging 8.4 rebounds per game ... he has three double-doubles already this season ... 6-0 junior guard Lorenzo Miles (15.1, 16 3-point field goals), who scored a career-high 28 points in a win over St. Bonaventure, is averaging 37 minutes per game ... the Purple Eagles, with no regulars taller than 6-7, are outrebounding opponents by 5.1 per game ... NU's aggressive offensive is averaging 23.9 free throw attempts per game (145-of-191) ... five different Niagara players have attempted 20 or more free throws on the season ... Niagara, which defeated A-10 member St. Bonaventure 101-88 at home on Nov. 21, brings a deceptive 2-6 record - and a six-game losing streak - into the tournament ... four of the Purple Eagles' six losses have come by 13 combined points (67-61 at St. John's, 66-63 to Bucknell, 76-75 to Siena and 87-84 in overtime to Saint Peter's) ... Niagara is coming off an 80-59 loss at Notre Dame on Dec. 21 ... it was NU's first double-digit loss of the season ... Appalachian State, located in Boone, N.C., went 18-12 last season ... the Mountaineers are picked to finish tied for second in the SoCon North Division ... ASU, which has played its last four games on the road, is coming off a 78-63 loss at Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 20 ... the Mountaineers have played a challenging non-conference schedule with losses at Wake Forest (91-78), Tennessee (89-81) and NC State (92-68) ... 5-8 junior guard leads Appalachian with a 17.7 ppg. scoring average ... the Raleigh, N.C. native is 31-of-83 from the 3-point arc ... he also has a team-high 47 assists (4.7 apg.) and 24 steals ... 6-2 junior guard Nathan Crawford (11.2 ppg.) is 28-of-72 from the arc.
BOSTON COLLEGE LEFTOVERS: Leftovers from Duquesne's 81-69 loss to #13 (AP) Boston College on Tuesday ... Duquesne assisted on 20 of 27 field goals ... in the last two games, DU has assisted on 76.8 percent of its total field goals (43-of-56) ... the Dukes, who were outrebounded 52-24 in an 88-70 loss at BC last year, totaled 41 boards to Boston College's 43 ... senior Keith Gayden, going head-to-head against 6-7, 250-pound All-American Craig Smith, tied his career scoring high with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting ... Gayden set the high last year vs. West Virginia ... DeVario Hudson posted his second consecutive double-double with 14 points and a career high-tying 11 rebounds ... it was the fourth double-double of his career ... true freshman Aaron Jackson added 10 points, 7 rebounds & 6 assists (0 turnovers) in 33 minutes ... the Dukes were without senior guard Jack Higgins who was not in uniform (coaches decision) ... all nine players for the Dukes saw playing time in the first seven minutes of the game ... DU committed a season-low nine turnovers and posted a season-high five dunks - including three by Hudson.
DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES: Duquesne has used six different starting lineups in nine games ... the Dukes have yet to use the same starting five for more than two consecutive games ... senior guard Bryant McAllister missed the opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff while serving a one-game suspension for an off-court incident over the summer ... sophomore swingman Chauncey Duke missed the game at Oakland to return to Missouri for his grandmother's funeral and junior pivotman Kieron Achara missed the Akron game with foot and shoulder injuries ... Achara - who played 20 minutes vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 13 - had surgery on his shoulder on Dec. 15 and will be out for the remainder of the season ... nine different players have started at least once ... sophomore forward DeVario Hudson is 27-of-44 (61.4%) from the field and averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in DU's last four games ... he has posted double-doubles in each of DU's last two games (20-11 vs. The Citadel and 14-11 vs. #13 (AP) Boston College) ... the 11 boards tie his career (done twice as a freshman) ... he is shooting a team-high 51.7 percent on the season ... Bryant McAllister, who led the Dukes in scoring in the first four games broke out of a two-game, 21-point slump with a team-high 22 vs. The Citadel ... he followed that with a team-high 17 points vs. Boston College despite going 4-of-16 from the floor (he was 8-of-10 from the foul line) ... McAllister is the only Duquesne player averaging over 30 minutes per game (31.9) ... he leads the Dukes in assists (40) and steals (10) ... he has had at least five assists in six of the eight games he's played this year ... freshman point guard Aaron Jackson, who handed out a season-high seven assists vs. The Citadel, has turned it over just nine times in 223 total minutes (24.8 min/g.) ... the 6-2 Hartford, Conn. native grabbed a season-best six rebounds in 21 minutes vs. Pitt on Dec. 7 and followed that by hitting 5-of-6 shots in scoring a season-high 12 points at WVU ... he has 27 assists on the season and ranks tied for third on the team with six steals ... his 3.0-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is the best on the team ... is coming off a 10 point, 7 rebound, 6 assist (with zero turnovers) effort in a season high-tying 33 minutes vs. Boston College.
DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY TENTATIVE STARTERS VS. TROY
# P Name Ht Cl Pts Reb G/GS Hometown4 F Chauncey Duke 6-6 So. 4.9 5.1 8/8 Springfield, Mo.45 F DeVario Hudson 6-6 So. 11.8 6.7 9/7 Decatur, Ga.34 C Keith Gayden 6-8 Sr. 6.4 4.1 9/6 Chicago, Ill.22 G Bryant McAllister 6-3 Sr. 16.8 3.9 8/8 Pittsburgh, Pa.1 G Aaron Jackson 6-2 Fr. 6.0 3.3 9/4 Hartford, Conn.
Off the Bench13 F Brian Kelly 6-7 Fr. 2.8 1.4 9/1 Decatur, Ga.25 F Sean McKeon 6-10 So. 2.6 1.8 5/0 Phoenixville, Pa.32 F Ronnie Thomas 6-9 Fr. 2.2 2.3 6/0 Middlebury, Ind.31 G Adam Souply 6-1 Sr. 0.0 0.0 3/0 Fayette City, Pa.23 G Jack Higgins 6-5 Sr. 9.3 3.0 8/6 Pittsburgh, Pa.
