Jan. 5, 2006

TELEVISION: Atlantic 10 TV with Dave Weekley & Jack Armstrong
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.RedZoneMedia.com

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DUQUESNE HOSTS UMASS IN A-10 HOME OPENER

Duquesne (2-10, 0-1), which opened Atlantic 10 play with an 84-61 loss at La Salle on Wednesday, returns home to face Massachusetts (5-5, 0-0) in an Atlantic 10 television game (Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh locally) set for 2:05 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7 (KQV-AM 1410/redzonemedia.com). The Dukes are looking to snap a four-game losing streak against a UMass team that is coming off back-to-back losses to St. John's and Boston College. This is the first Atlantic 10 game for the Minutemen who are 0-4 on the road this season.

DUKES AND MINUTEMEN

Massachusetts leads the overall series 30-21, however Duquesne has won three of the last five meetings ... the regular-season series has been one of home court advantage with UMass leading 16-5 at home and DU holding a 13-9 advantage at Pittsburgh ... Duquesne snapped a 16-game series losing streak (dating back to 1991) with a 78-69 win over the Minutemen on February 6, 2002 at the Palumbo Center ... the Dukes dropped a 70-55 decision at Amherst in 2003 before bouncing back to take two in 2003-04 (88-62 at Pittsburgh and 79-76 at Dayton in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship) ... UMass defeated DU 69-64 at Amherst last season ... Duquesne has won the last two meetings at Pittsburgh, with the last UMass Steel City win coming on Jan. 27, 2000 ... the last time Duquesne defeated Massachusetts three consecutive times at Pittsburgh was in 1989 (105-74), 1990 (70-69) & 1991 (68-67)... all three wins came at the Palumbo Center where DU is 5-6 all time vs. UMass.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Freshman Aaron Jackson posted career high 16 points (5-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line) and added a career-best 8 rebounds in the game at La Salle on Wednesday ... the 6-2 point guard ranks second on the team in both assists (36) and steals (8) ... his 2.12-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks fourth in the A-10
• Senior guard Bryant McAllister, who scored a career high-tying 30 points vs. Troy on Dec. 30, is averaging a team-best 18.4 ppg. ... the Pittsburgh native enters the UMass game 18th on Duquesne's all-time leading scorer's list with 1,235 points ... he needs 101 to pass Emmett Sellers and move into the No. 17 spot ... McAllister, who is seeing extensive playing time at the point this season, is also averaging a team-high 5.2 apg. ... he has tied his career assist high twice in his last five games with nine vs. both The Citadel and Appalachian State ... McAllister, who has 32 assists & 13 turnovers in his last five games, ranks second in the A-10 in both scoring and assists.

MORE ON UMASS

The Minutemen are led by 6-9, 255-pound junior center Rashaun Freeman who is averaging 15.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game ... a preseason first team All-Atlantic 10 pick, Freeman has five double-doubles in 10 games this season ... Freeman ranks 10th in the A-10 in scoring, second in rebounding and second in field goal pct. (.541) ... 6-8 junior Stephane Lasme (10.0, 7.1) ranks third nationally in blocked shots per game at 4.5 ... Lasme, a career 64.3 percent free throw shooter, tied the UMass school record by hitting 14-of-14 from the line (16 pts.) in the Minutemen's 69-64 win over DU at Amherst last season ... DU and UMass share a common opponent in Boston College ... the Minutemen lost at No. 11 (AP) BC 91-62 on Jan. 3, while Duquesne dropped an 81-69 decision to the then-No. 13 Eagles at home on Dec. 27.

HOW 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. He ranks second on DU's all-time shot blocking list (81) and is also the seventh-most accurate shooter in school history at 52.4 percent. 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 four 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.). Duquesne's current roster has just three true guards (Bryant McAllister, true freshman Aaron Jackson and fourth-year former walk on Adam Souply) "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."

LA SALLE LEFTOVERS

Leftovers from the Jan. 4 game at La Salle ... Duquesne finished the game with 19 turnovers, while La Salle turned it over just five times ... the Explorers outscored the Dukes 25-2 in points off turnovers ... Bryant McAllister (8-of-16, 22 points) and Aaron Jackson (5-of-10, 16 points) were a combined 13-of-26 from the field with 38 points ... two Dukes fouled out (Keith Gayden at 8:44 and Sean McKeon at 1:48) ... a third Duquesne player, DeVario Hudson (22 total minutes), finished the game with four fouls ... the first half saw six ties and six lead changes ... Duquesne, which led by 11 with 2:58 left in the first half, enjoyed a 34-26 at intermission ... La Salle outscored DU 58-27 in the second half ... Duquesne went 2-of-12 from the 3-point arc.

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Duquesne has used six different starting lineups in 12 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 five 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 saw a modest streak of double-double games snapped at two with six points and five rebounds at La Salle ... Gayden, who 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, fouled out of the La Salle game with 8:44 remaining ... his 19 points and 12 rebounds vs. App. State were both career highs ... he also tied career bests for blocks (3) and minutes played (31) vs. the Mountaineers ... Gayden scored 15 points (7-of-11 from the field) vs. #13 (AP) Boston College - and its All-American forward Craig Smith - on Dec. 27
• Bryant McAllister, who has led the Dukes in scoring in eight of 12 games, is averaging 22.7 ppg. in Duquesne's last three games ... he is shooting is 49.0 percent from the field (24-of-49) and 45.0 percent from the 3-point arc (9-of-20) over that span ... he tied his career scoring high with 30 points vs. Troy in the first round of the Duquesne Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30 ... he has tied his career high of nine assists in two of the Dukes' last five games (vs. The Citadel and Appalachian State) ... McAllister ranks second in the A-10 in both scoring (18.4 ppg.) and assists (5.2 apg.) ... the only Duquesne player averaging over 30 minutes per game (31.5), McAllister leads the Dukes in assists (57) and steals (14) ... he has had at least five assists in eight of the 11 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, who has 24 assists and 13 turnovers on the season, scored two points in 28 minutes at La Salle on Wednesday
• 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 followed that with six points on 3-of-7 shooting in 22 foul-plagued minutes at La Salle ... he is shooting 47.4 percent from the field on the season
• Freshman point guard Aaron Jackson, who handed out a season-high seven assists vs. The Citadel on Dec. 20, has turned it over 17 times in 328 total minutes (27.3 min/g.) ... the 6-2 Hartford, Conn. native grabbed six rebounds in 21 minutes vs. Pitt on Dec. 7 and followed that by hitting 5-of-6 shots in scoring 12 points at WVU ... he has 36 assists on the season and ranks second on the team with eight steals ... his 2.12-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is the best on the team and ranks fourth in the Atlantic 10 ... Jackson scored 10 points and added seven rebounds and six assists (with zero turnovers) in 33 minutes vs. No. 13 (AP) Boston College ... followed the first scoreless game of his career (0-of-5, 0 points) vs. Appalachian State with a career high 16 points and career-best eight rebounds in 37 minutes at La Salle
• Sophomore Sean McKeon is 9-of-16 from the field (56.3%) with 23 points and seven blocks in his last five outings
• Freshman forward/center Ronnie Thomas is averaging 16.2 min./g. in five games since Ryan Lambert left the team on Dec. 20
• Former walk-on Adam Souply who was 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 six games this season (40 total minutes) ... played in a total of five games (11 total minutes) in his first three seasons with the Dukes ... Souply is one of just three true guards (along with McAllister and Jackson) on the current nine-man roster.

FOUL PLAY

It took 12 games to accomplish, but Duquesne has finally gotten its free throw attempts (142-of-195) even with the number of free throws opponents have made (195-of-274). Bryant McAllister (57-of-75) has accounted for 38.5 percent of DU's total free throw attempts, with Keith Gayden second at 33 (24-of-33). DU, which shot a season low six free throws in the loss at Youngstown State on Dec. 17, 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.