Feb. 8, 2006

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DUQUESNE HITS ROAD FOR TWO

Duquesne (3-17, 1-8), coming off a 90-81 loss to Fordham on Saturday, hits the road for two games - the first of which is at Rhode Island (11-9, 5-4) on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. (KQV-AM 1410/ redzonemedia.com). Following the Rhode Island game, the Dukes will head straight to Philadelphia for a Saturday afternoon game at Temple. Duquesne, which is 1-7 on the road, snapped an eight-game road losing streak with an 86-82 win at St. Bonaventure on Jan. 28. Rhode Island, which is 8-4 at home, is coming off a 63-61 loss at Massachusetts on Saturday. The Rams, who opened conference play 5-1, are looking to put an end to a three-game losing streak.

DUKES AND RAMS

The all-time series is tied 22-22, with Rhode Island holding a 14-9 edge in games played at Kingston ... in A-10 regular-season games, the series is also knotted at 19-19 ... Duquesne has won three of the past seven meetings including two of the last three at Rhode Island ... last year, Scott Hazelton scored 23 points to lead the hot-shooting Rams (53.1%) to a 76-69 win at the Palumbo Center ... two year's ago, Jack Higgins scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead Duquesne to a 72-55 win at Rhode Island ... the 17-point margin of victory tied the largest by a Duquesne team in a conference road game (DU defeated URI 79-62 at Kingston on Jan. 19, 1994) ... the last time DU won two in a row at Rhody was in 1994 and 1995.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne, which has been dressing nine players for the Atlantic 10 season, received an unexpected setback when senior Keith Gayden sprained his left (shooting) wrist in a freak accident on campus the afternoon of the Feb. 1 La Salle game ... the 6-8, 215-pound senior has come off the bench to play with the wrist heavily taped in DU's last two games ... Gayden tripped while running up a flight of stairs in the Student Union and injured the wrist while breaking his fall
• Senior guard Bryant McAllister, ranks second in the A-10 in both scoring (18.5 ppg.) and assists (4.95 apg.) ... he enters the Rhode Island game 13th on Duquesne's all-time leading scorer's list with 1,384 points ... he needs 11 to pass Courtney Wallace and move into the No. 12 spot ... McAllister posted his first career double-double with 16 points and a school record-tying 12 assists vs. Fordham
• Freshman guard Aaron Jackson is averaging 11.0 ppg., 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists & shooting 54.8 percent from the field in his last four games ... this will be Jackson's first game against his prep school backcourt teammate URI freshman guard Jimmy Baron
• DeVario Hudson is averaging 13.7 ppg. (17-of- 29, 58.6%) in his last three games.

FORDHAM LEFTOVERS

Leftovers from Saturday afternoon's 90-81 loss to Fordham ... Duquesne, which had one more field goal than Fordham, was outscored 21-12 from the free throw line ... Fordham went 17-of-22 (77.3%) from the field in the second half ... the Rams hit 10 of their first 11 from the field and did not commit a foul in the first eight minutes of the second half ... FU's Bryant Dunston, who scored 23 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, was 8-of-9 from the field and 7-of-9 from the foul line in the second 20 minutes ... Bryant McAllister's 12 assists tied the school record shared by Martin Osimani (vs. Ohio on Jan. 7, 2004), Clayton Adams (vs. Indiana, Pa. on Dec. 3, 1987) and Brian Shanahan (vs. Iona on Dec. 14, 1986) ... McAllister, who picked up his third foul with 7:54 left in the first half, had just two turnovers in 31 minutes ... Duquesne's 22 assists were one shy of its season high ... DU assisted on 22 of 31 field goals (71 percent) ... Keith Gayden, playing with his sprained left wrist heavily taped, came off the bench to score 12 points in 18 minutes ... Gayden's spot in the starting lineup was taken by Brian Kelly, who scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds in 20 minutes ... the starting combo of Duke, Kelly, Hudson, McAllister and Jackson was Duquesne's ninth in 20 games ... Duquesne's bench, which was outscored 52-19 in the first meeting between the two (a 90-63 Fordham win in the Bronx on Jan. 15), was outscored by just one (25-24) ... DU, which was outrebounded 45-19 (-26) in the first meeting, tied the Rams in the board department with 28 ... Chauncey Duke, who was 0-of-6 from the arc in his two previous games, hit 3-of-7 3-point attempts in scoring 11 for the Dukes ... Duquesne is now 14-3 (2-1 this season) when scoring 80 or more points under head coach Danny Nee.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Duquesne, which topped the 70-point mark three times in its first 16 games, has scored 70 or more in three of its last four games. Over that four-game span, the Dukes are averaging 77.8 points and shooting 47.7 percent from the field. Unfortunately, DU's opponents are averaging 85.3 ppg. and shooting 49.4 percent from the field over that same span. Prior to the current streak, the Dukes were averaging 63.6 ppg.

DUKE FINDING THE RANGE

Sophomore swingman Chauncey Duke, who scored a career-high 21 points at Fordham on Jan. 15, hit 7- of-10 field goal attempts vs. the Rams ... Duke has been a bright spot in conference play with an 8.9 ppg. scoring average (48.3% from the field) ... Duke, who has hit at least three 3-pointers in four of his last six games, has more than doubled his 3-point shooting percentage in DU's last 10 games:

DUKE FROM THE ARC

First 9 games    7-of-33     21.2%Last 10 games   19-of-44     43.2%

GAYDEN GOING ON GUTS

Senior center Keith Gayden, who suffered ligament damage when he sprained his left (shooting) wrist in an on-campus fall on Feb. 1, has come off the bench to play in the Dukes' last two games with the wrist heavily taped. He saw nine minutes of action vs. La Salle on Feb. 1 (four points) and added 12 points in 18 minutes against Fordham. Gayden was one of the hottest Dukes prior to the injury with 17, 13 and 18 points in the three league contests prior to La Salle (a 16.0 ppg. scoring average on 54.5% shooting). In fact, the only thing that had slowed 6-8, 215- pounder - prior to his bout with the Student Union steps - was foul trouble. Gayden fouled out of four of DU's seven conference games prior to the injury. This what Duquesne head coach Danny Nee had to say following Saturday's Fordham game: "Keith Gayden, who hadn't practiced in two days, went out and showed a lot of courage. I really respect that. We plan to use him the amount he wants to be used the rest of the way. He's a senior and he knows he only has a limited amount of games left. I'm glad to have him in any regard." Sean McKeon and Brian Kelly have each started once in place of Gayden in DU's last two games.