12/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2006
WEST VIRGINIA (6-1) at DUQUESNE (2-5)Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006 • 7:00 p.m. (EST)
A.J. Palumbo Center (5,358) • Pittsburgh, Pa.
TELEVISION: None
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.RedZoneMedia.com
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DUKES HOST WVU IN THIRD-STRAIGHT RIVALRY GAME
Duquesne (2-5), coming off a 73-56 loss at #2 (AP) Pitt on Wednesday, completes its own version of "rivalry week" by hosting West Virginia on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:00 p.m. (KQV radio 1410 AM and on the internet at www.RedZoneMedia.com). Duquesne's current stretch of three local rivals in a week began with a 73-72 loss at Robert Morris last Saturday.
LONG TIME, NO SEE
The West Virginia game is Duquesne's lone home game between Nov. 22 and Jan. 10. The Dukes, who dropped a 67-53 decision to Oakland on Nov. 22, won't play at home after the WVU game until conference play when La Salle visits on Jan. 10. That's eight of nine on the road if you're counting.
CLOSE CALLS
Six of the past eight Duquesne vs. West Virginia games have been single-digit affairs with Duquesne winning four times. The past four games at Duquesne have been decided by fewer than 10 points with the teams alternating wins. In the last Palumbo meeting, Tyler Bluemling's 3-point attempt at the buzzer glanced off the rim as WVU - that season's NCAA Cinderella - defeated DU 72-69. Keiron Achara, a sophomore at the time, came off the bench to score 13 points and grab six rebounds in 33 minutes. Achara, who is recovering from stress fractures in his foot, missed last year's game with a shoulder injury.
DUQUESNE LATELY
- The Dukes, who are looking to snap a five-game losing streak, are home for the first time since Nov. 22
- The Dukes received a lift when 6-10 junior F/C Kieron Achara played 18 minutes at Pitt on Wednesday ... Achara, who missed all but three games last season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, was diagnosed with three stress fractures in his left foot on Nov. 10 ... he resumed practice on Monday, Dec. 4 and was a surprise addition for the Pitt game ... it was Achara's first game action since last Dec. 3 vs. Robert Morris (he underwent shoulder surgery last Dec. 15)
- Duquesne is currently competing with nine scholarship players
- A freshman has led DU in scoring in each of the team's first seven games ... 6-6 freshman Robert Mitchell, Duquesne's first two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week since 1998-99 (Nov. 26 & Dec. 4) & Scott Grote have led the team for and three times respectively ... Mitchell is averaging a team-best 18.0 ppg. and Grote 13.9 ppg.
DUKES & MOUNTAINEERS
This is the 82nd meeting between Duquesne and West Virginia ... it also marks the 34th consecutive season (since 1973-74) the Dukes and Mountaineers have met at least once on the hardwood ... WVU leads the series, which dates back to Jan. 30, 1915, 45-36 ... in games played at Pittsburgh, Duquesne leads 22-14 ... in 11 Palumbo Center meetings WVU holds a 6-5 edge ... Duquesne has held its own as of late with four wins in the past eight meetings ... in 1998-99, the Dukes defeated the Mountaineers 59-50 at the Palumbo Center and followed that with a 94-80 win at Wheeling, W.Va. in a game that was moved due to asbestos abatement at WVU Coliseum ... in 2000-01, Duquesne - which returned from a tournament at Hawaii the afternoon before the game - dropped an 81-73 decision to West Virginia at the Palumbo Center ... five year's ago Danny Nee's inaugural Duquesne team snapped a 22-game road and 18-game arena losing streak with a 68-61 win at WVU Coliseum ... in 2002-03 the Dukes took an 86-82 decision at the Palumbo Center ... three year's ago - in a game during which Duquesne led by as many as 16 points in the first half and nine at the half - Drew Schifino scored 27 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead West Virginia to an 88-84 overtime win at Morgantown ... Schfino's effort prevented DU from winning three in a row at WVU for the first time since the early 1930s ... in the last meeting at the Palumbo Center, Tyler Bluemling's 3-point attempt from the deep corner rimmed out as time expired to preserve a 72-69 WVU win ... last year WVU led from wire-to-wire in an 86-66 win at Morgantown.
EVERHART VS. WEST VIRGINIA/BIG EAST
This is the third game against West Virginia for first-year Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. Everhart, a native of Fairmont, W.Va., first faced the Mountaineers on Dec. 4, 1999, when his McNeese State team lost to WVU 93-84 at Wheeling. Coincidentally, the 1999-00 Mountaineers were coming off a 94-80 loss to Duquesne in the previous game - also in Wheeling. On Nov. 29, 2003, Everhart's Northeastern Huskies traveled to Morgantown and handed WVU a rare non-conference home defeat, 91-84. Northeastern finished the 2003-04 season 19-11, while John Beilein's Mountaineers went 17-14 including two wins in the NIT. Everhart is 2-8 all-time vs. the Big East, with all ten games on the road. Everhart's other Big East win came on Jan. 5, 2003 when he led Northeastern - minus two starters - to Chestnut Hill, Mass. and posted one of the biggest road wins in school history by defeating Boston College 72-67. It marked just the third time in 35 meetings that Northeastern defeated BC (it was also the last meeting between the two schools).
QUICK NOTES
- Head coach Ron Everhart has used four different starting lineups in the Dukes first seven games ... eight different players, including three true freshmen, have started at least once ... the average age of the 13 players currently dressing for games is 20.0
- DU, which has 105 team assists and 100 turnovers on the season, has assisted on 58.3 percent of its field goals ... DU's past two games (at Robert Morris and at Pitt) marked the first two times this season the Dukes had more turnovers than assists (13-21 at RMU and 15-16 at Pitt)
- Duquesne is averaging 21.4 three-point attempts per game
- Freshman Robert Mitchell has scored in double digits in all seven games ... he has topped the 20-point mark in three of Duquesne's past five games ... freshman Scott Grote and sophomore Aaron Jackson have scored 10 or more four times each ... seven different players have scored in double digits at least once ... Mitchell (three times), Grote (twice) and Aaron Jackson (once) have all topped the 20-point mark
- Aaron Jackson, who averaged 3.2 rebounds per game last season, is the Dukes' second-leading rebounder at 5.4 rpg. ... the 6-2, 180-pounder posted double-doubles in DU's first two games (12-11 vs. Youngstown State & 15-10 vs. UNC Asheville) ... he has a total of 17 boards in DU's past five games ... Jackson had five games with five or more rebounds in 27 outings last year, he has four in seven games this season ... as a team DU has been outrebounded in all seven games ...
- 6-10 junior forward/center Kieron Achara, who was diagnosed with three stress fractures in his left foot on Nov. 10, discarded the protective boot he had worn for the past three weeks on Dec. 2 ... the Stirling, Scotland native began practicing on Monday, Dec. 4 and made an unexpected return at Pitt on Wednesday ... Achara scored four points and grabbed four rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out ... it was his first game action since Dec. 3, 2005 vs. Robert Morris (he played in just three games last season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder ... he had season-ending surgery last Dec. 15)
- Duquesne's opponents, who shot a combined 54.4 percent in the Dukes' first five games, have been held to 43.6 percent in the past two games (Robert Morris 27-64, 42.2% & Pitt 28-62, 45.2%)
- Scott Grote, who was 25-of-33 from the foul line in DU's first four games (that's 8.3 free throws attempted per game), has had just two free throw attempts in the Dukes past three games
- Robert Mitchell, despite a 3-of-11 outing at Pitt on Wednesday, is 25-of-42 (59.5%) from the field in his past three games ... Mitchell is shooting an even 50 percent for the season.
