Jan. 2, 2006
DUQUESNE (2-9, 0-0) at LA SALLE (8-2, 0-0)
Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 • 12:00 p.m. (EST)
Tom Gola Arena (4,000) • Philadelphia, Pa.
TELEVISION: None
DUQUESNE Radio: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.redzonemedia.com or www.GoDuquesne.com
DUQUESNE OPENS ATLANTIC 10 SEASON AT LA SALLE: Duquesne (2-9), coming off back-to-back losses in the Duquesne Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30-31, takes a three-game losing streak into the Atlantic 10 opener at La Salle on Wed., Jan. 4 (noon tip on KQV-AM 1410/redzonemedia.com). This is DU's first road game since Dec. 17. La Salle, picked to finish 10th in a preseason poll of league coaches and media is off to an 8-2 start (4-1 at home). The game will feature the two top scorers in the A-10 in La Salle's Steven Smith (21.0) and Duquesne's Bryant McAllister (18.0). The unusual Noon weekday tip time was set by La Salle officials in order to extend an invitation to over 1,700 students from 13 area elementary schools.
DUKES AND EXPLORERS: La Salle leads the overall series 31-25, including a 21-6 advantage in games played at Philadelphia ... the Dukes snapped a six-game La Salle series win streak with a 72-67 victory at Philadelphia last season ... DU followed that with a 77-72 home win on Feb. 23 to complete its first A-10 series sweep of the Explorers ... the win at Philadelphia was DU's first at La Salle since Jan. 20, 1979 ... the victory also ended a streak of 26 consecutive losses for Duquesne in the City of Brotherly Love dating back to 1995 (includes games at La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph's and the Atlantic 10 Tournament) ... the home team had won 12 in a row (six each) before La Salle ended the streak with a 62-54 win at the Palumbo Center on Jan. 16, 2002 - beginning a streak of three-straight season sweeps ... the 2001-02 La Salle sweep was the first by either school since La Salle joined the A-10 in 1995-96 ... the last time DU took three in a row from La Salle was in 1970-71-72.
DUQUESNE LATELY: Senior F/C Keith Gayden posted back-to-back double-doubles (12-10 & 19-12) in earning All-Tournament honors at the Duquesne Holiday Tournament ... the 19 points and 12 boards vs. Appalachian State in the consolation game were both career highs ... he also tied his career best with three blocks vs. ASU ... senior G Bryant McAllister, who scored a career high-tying 30 vs. Troy, is averaging a team-best 18.0 points and 5.2 assists per game ... McAllister enters the La Salle game tied for 18th on Duquesne's all-time leading scorer's list with 1,213 points ... he needs 123 to pass Emmett Sellers and move into the No. 17 spot ... McAllister, who is seeing extensive playing time at the point this season, is averaging 5.2 apg. ... he has tied his career assist high with nine vs. both The Citadel and Appalachian State ... McAllister, who has 27 assists & 10 turnovers in his last four games, ranks second in the A-10 in scoring (18.0) and assists (5.2).
SERIES STREAKS: The last time Duquesne defeated La Salle three consecutive times was in 1970, 1971 & 1972 ... on Jan. 25, 1970 DU took a 67-64 decision at Pittsburgh, on Feb. 17, 1971 #10 (AP) Duquesne defeated #11 (AP) La Salle 95-86 at Philadelphia and on Feb. 20, 1972 the Dukes won 81-69 at Pittsburgh ... the last time Duquesne won two in a row at La Salle was on Jan. 22, 1977 (64-62) and Jan. 20, 1979 (90-89).
THINGS HAVE CHANGED: A quick glance at the nine-man Duquesne roster shows that things have changed dramatically since Atlantic 10 media day back on Nov. 3. Kieron Achara, the 2005 A-10 Chris Daniels Award winner (Most Improved Player) underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on Dec. 15. The 6-9, 260-pound Achara, who was a preseason Second Team All-Atlantic 10 pick, played in three games before going under the knife. Ryan Lambert, a 6-7 first-year transfer from Western Kentucky was released from the team on Dec. 20. Lambert played in the first seven games of the season with three starts. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 23.0 minutes per game. Finally, Jack Higgins, Duquesne's third-leading scorer for the past two seasons, has not been in uniform for the last three games by mutual agreement with head coach Danny Nee. Higgins, who ranks tied for second on DU's all-time 3-point accuracy list, averaged 9.3 points (16 3-pointers) in Duquesne's first eight games (six starts, 25.0 min./g.). "When I look at the team picture we took on Oct. 15," said Nee following the Duquesne Holiday Tournament, "I never dreamt that there would be that much change. We've got to play with the players we have, and I really like them, but we have to get good enough to win a game."
TOURNEY LEFTOVERS: Leftovers from the Duquesne Holiday Tournament ... the game vs. Troy (L, 78-72) in the opening round marked the first time this season that Duquesne started the same lineup for three consecutive games ... Bryant McAllister tied his career high with 30 points on 10-of-23 shooting vs. the Trojans ... he also scored 30 last year vs. UMBC ... his five 3-pointers (5-of-11) also tied his career high set last year in a 27-point effort at Xavier ... Keith Gayden's double-double (12-10) was the first of his career ... his 10 rebounds eclipsed his previous career high of nine set and tied two additional times last season ... Troy led by 10 in the first half before DU closed with a 15-7 run to make it 38-36 at intermission ... Duquesne led by six with 15:33 left ... Troy's largest lead was 11 with 7:41 left ... Duquesne hit a season-high 10 3-pointers, including the first career 3-point makes for Gayden and Brian Kelly in the 71-68 loss to Appalachian State ... Gayden, who entered the two-game tournament without a career double-double, followed his 12-10 effort vs. Troy with career highs in both points (19) and rebounds (12) vs. ASU ... Chauncey Duke tied his career-best with four 3-pointers in scoring a career-high 14 points ... Bryant McAllister also tied a career-best with nine assists ... Appalachian State's largest lead was 15 at 35-20 with 6:19 to go in the first half ... DU's largest lead was 64-54 with 7:00 left ... the loss dropped Duquesne's all-time record to 13-2 in New Year's Eve games.
DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES: Duquesne has used six different starting lineups in 11 games ... the Duquesne Holiday Tournament marked the first time this season that the Dukes started the same lineup for more than two consecutive games ... the unit of Duke, Hudson, Gayden, McAllister and Jackson has now started the last four in a row ... 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 ... senior forward/center Keith Gayden is averaging 15.3 ppg. and 8.7 rpg. in his last three games ... he is shooting 58.1 percent from the field (18-of-31) and 75 percent from the foul line (9-of-12) over that span ... Gayden posted back-to-back double-doubles vs. Troy (12-10) and Appalachian State (19-12) in earning a spot on the Duquesne Holiday Tournament all-tournament team ... his 19 points and 12 rebounds vs. ASU were both career highs ... he also tied career bests for blocks (3) and minutes played (31) vs. the Mountaineers ... Gayden started his current hot streak with a 15-point effort (7-of-11 from the field) vs. #13 (AP) Boston College and its All-American forward Craig Smith ... Bryant McAllister, who has led the Dukes in scoring in seven of 11 games, averaged 23.0 ppg. (7-of-15 from 3-point) in the Duquesne Holiday Tournament ... he tied his career scoring high with 30 in an opening round loss to Troy ... he has tied his career high of nine assists in two of the Dukes' last four games (vs. The Citadel and Appalachian State) ... McAllister began the week ranked second in the A-10 in both scoring (18.0 ppg.) and assists (5.2 apg.) ... McAllister is the only Duquesne player averaging over 30 minutes per game (31.4) ... he leads the Dukes in assists (52) and steals (13) ... he has had at least five assists in seven of the 10 games he's played this year ... sophomore forward Chauncey Duke, who entered the DU Holiday Tournament 6-of-27 (22.2%) from the 3-point arc, hit 5-of-12 in the two games including a career-high tying 4-of-6 vs. Appalachian State ... his 14 points vs. the Mountaineers were a career high ... in the two games he averaged 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds on 52.9 percent shooting (9-of-17) ... Duke has 24 assists and 12 turnovers on the season ... sophomore forward DeVario Hudson, who entered the Holiday Tournament with back-to-back double-doubles vs. The Citadel (20-11) and Boston College (14-11) saw a streak of five consecutive double-digit scoring games snapped with five on 2-of-9 shooting vs. Troy ... Hudson, who shot 30.0 percent from the field for the tournament (6-of-20), bounced back to score 12 in the consolation game vs. Appalachian State ... he is shooting a team-high 47.7 percent on the season ... freshman point guard Aaron Jackson, who handed out a season-high seven assists vs. The Citadel on Dec. 02, has turned it over 14 times in 291 total minutes (26.5 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 35 assists on the season and ranks second on the team with eight steals ... his 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is the best on the team ... scored 10 points and added seven rebounds and six assist (with zero turnovers) in 33 minutes vs. Boston College ... is coming off the first scoreless game of his career (0-of-5, 0 points) vs. Appalachian State ... sophomore Sean McKeon is 7-of-12 from the field (58.3%) with 18 points and six blocks in his last four outings ... freshman forward/center Ronnie Thomas is averaging 15.8 minutes per game in four games since Ryan Lambert left the team (Dec. 20) ... former walk-on Adam Souply who put on scholarship prior to the season, handed out three assists in a career-high 14 minutes vs. Appalachian State ... Souply, who has seen action in five games this season (32 total minutes) ... played in a total of five games (11 total minutes) in his first three seasons with the Dukes.
FOUL PLAY: It took 10 games to do it, but Duquesne has finally gotten its free throw attempts (131-of-181) higher than the number of free throws opponents have made (174-of-245). Bryant McAllister (53-of-70) has accounted for 39 percent of DU's total free throw attempts. The Dukes have been whistled for 212 fouls as opposed to 183 for opponents. DU, which shot a season low six free throws in the loss at Youngstown State, followed that by making 23 of a season-high 28 in the win over The Citadel. The Dukes have shot more free throws than their opponent three times this season with two coming in wins over Robert Morris and The Citadel.
SHARING THE BALL: Duquesne has assisted on 72.6 percent of its field goals in its last four games (77-of-106), a vast improvement on the team's 56.1 percent rate in its first seven games (87-of-155). The Dukes have also cut their turnovers by over three per game over that span. Guards Bryant McAllister (27 assists & 10 turnovers) and Aaron Jackson (21 assists & 8 turnovers) have been the catalysts with a combined 48 assists with 18 turnovers in DU's last four games. The two combined for 12 assists and zero turnovers vs. Boston College on Dec. 27:
SPAN ASTs FGs PCT AST/TOs RATIOFirst 7 g. 87 155 56.1 87-to-116 0.75-to-1Last 4 g. 77 106 72.6 77-to-50 1.54-to-1
POINT BLANK: Among those gone from last year's team 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., along with Bluemling, accounted for over half of DU's total assists and had a combined 215-to-104 (2.1-to-1) assist-to-turnover ratio last season. Bryant McAllister has inherited the point this year with newcomer Aaron Jackson being groomed to provide depth. With the transition, the Dukes struggled early with turnovers, averaging 16.6 per game through their first eight games. That looks to be improving with DU committing just 33 turnovers in their last three outings (11.0/g.). The 6-2 Jackson, who has started the last five games, is off to a solid start in the turnover column with 14 TO's in 291 total minutes (26.5 min./g.), while McAllister leads the team in both assists with 52 (5.2 apg.) and turnovers (40). McAllister has benefitted by the emergence of Jackson, as he has 27 assists and 10 turnovers in his last three games. McAllister on Jackson: "He plays hard and he plays confident. He allows me to get in the open floor. Having two guys who can push the ball makes us a lot faster."
70 IS THE KEY: Reaching the 70-point mark has meant success for the Dukes under Danny Nee. When scoring 70 or more, Duquesne is 34-18 in Nee's five seasons. Not coincidentally, DU's two wins this season have in two of the three games in which it has topped the 70-point mark (73-58 over Robert Morris & 90-61 over The Citadel).
FROM THE ARC: DU, which shot less than 30 percent from the 3-point arc in each of its first five games, finally topped the 30 percent mark at West Virginia on Dec. 10 (50%, 6-of-12). Since then, the Dukes have been over 30 percent from the arc in every game but one. Over the last six games, DU is shooting 37.4 percent (43-of-115) from the arc compared to a 27.4 percent effort (23-of-84) in games 1-5. On the other hand, despite West Virginia's 13-of-31 performance, Duquesne opponents are shooting just 30.9 percent (76-of-246) from the arc. Three-point defense has been an area of emphasis for the Dukes' coaching staff as last year opponents shot 36.7 percent.
ACHARA'S SEASON OVER: Junior F/C Kieron Achara, a preseason second team All-Atlantic 10 pick, underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Dec. 15. The surgery, which requires 4-6 months of rehabilitation, has sidelined him for the season. The left-handed Achara, who hurt the shoulder while blocking a shot in a preseason scrimmage vs. Cleveland State on Nov. 12, struggled in the early season while trying to play through the injury. The 6-9 Stirling, Scotland native, who entered the year ranked third on Duquesne's career field goal accuracy list at 54.5 percent, went 5-of-22 from the field (including an 0-of-10 effort at Oakland) in three games while trying to play with the bad shoulder. Achara, the 2004-05 Atlantic 10 Chris Daniels Award winner (most improved player), averaged 11.5 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game last season. Duquesne will apply for a medical (redshirt) hardship waiver for Achara through the Atlantic 10 Conference office at the conclusion of the season. "We are going to have to make some serious adjustments without him," said DU head coach Danny Nee. "You could see he wasn't right. He was playing at 50 percent of his ability. We were hoping he would be able to rehab the shoulder and [that] it would get better without surgery. Anytime you're losing the quality we lost, you're taking a hit. Achara's a leader in the locker room. We'll adapt and make adjustments and make changes from there."
LAMBERT RELEASED: Sophomore forward Ryan Lambert was released from the team on Dec. 20. The 6-7 Western Kentucky transfer, who played in each of the Dukes first seven games with three starts, averaged 6.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY TENTATIVE STARTERS AT LA SALLE
# P Name Ht Cl Pts Reb G/GS Hometown4 F Chauncey Duke 6-6 So. 6.3 5.2 10/10 Springfield, Mo.45 F DeVario Hudson 6-6 So. 11.2 6.1 11/9 Decatur, Ga.34 C Keith Gayden 6-8 Sr. 8.1 5.4 11/8 Chicago, Ill.22 G Bryant McAllister 6-3 Sr. 18.0 4.0 10/10 Pittsburgh, Pa.1 G Aaron Jackson 6-2 Fr. 5.4 3.1 11/6 Hartford, Conn.
Off the Bench13 F Brian Kelly 6-7 Fr. 2.9 1.5 11/1 Decatur, Ga.25 F Sean McKeon 6-10 So. 2.7 1.9 7/0 Phoenixville, Pa.32 F Ronnie Thomas 6-9 Fr. 2.1 1.9 8/0 Middlebury, Ind.31 G Adam Souply 6-1 Sr. 0.0 0.2 5/0 Fayette City, Pa.23 G Jack Higgins 6-5 Sr. 9.3 3.0 8/6 Pittsburgh, Pa.
