Feb. 15, 2008
Complete Game Notes
RICHMOND (12-10, 5-4) at DUQUESNE (16-7, 6-4)
Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008 • 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
DUQUESNE INTERNET AUDIO BROADCAST: redzonemedia.com
ADDITIONAL MEDIA: Streaming video and Gametracker available at GoDuquesne.com
DUKES HOST RICHMOND: Duquesne (16-7, 6-4), which extended its win streak to three with a 63-61 victory at Dayton on Wednesday, returns home to face Richmond (12-10, 5-4) at 7:00 p.m. Sat., Feb. 16. Richmond, picked to finish 12th in the Atlantic 10 in a preseason poll of league coaches and media, is in the thick of the A-10 race with a 5-4 conference record. The Spiders are 4-5 on the road with A-10 road wins at La Salle and Charlotte. The Spiders have never lost to the Dukes since joining the Atlantic 10 prior to the 2001-02 season. UR's 10-game mastery of Duquesne is the longest current win streak by an A-10 school over the Dukes. On Feb. 6, DU snapped a 10-game Saint Joseph's series win streak with a 102-88 win at the Palumbo Center. Duquesne, whose 16 wins are its most since 1993-94 (17-13), clinched its first winning season since `94 with the victory at Dayton. The Dukes, who are 10-2 at home, enter the Richmond game ranked fourth nationally in scoring at 84.9 ppg., Richmond is giving up just 65.0 ppg. Only two schools, current No. 1 (AP) Memphis (in an 80-63 home win) and Saint Joseph's (an 81-63 home win) have scored 80 or more against the Spiders. UR is led by 6-9 sophomore center Dan Geriot (14.0 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 20 three's). Aaron Jackson has been outstanding during DU's current three-game win streak averaging 17.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
DUQUESNE LATELY: Duquesne's 16-7 start is its best since the 1980-81 NIT team (20-10) opened with the same record ... DU's 16 wins are its most since 1993-94 (17-13 NIT) ... DU clinched its first winning season since `94 and second winning season in 22 years with the 63-61 win at Dayton on Wednesday ... five players are averaging in double figures in conference play, with a sixth (Reggie Jackson) at 8.9 ppg. ... four of DU's seven losses have come to teams with a combined record of 78-19: at Drake 22-2, Pitt 19-5, at West Virginia 17-7 and at Rhode Island 20-5 ... the losses at Drake, to Pitt and at Rhode Island were by a combined 11 points ... the Dukes own four wins over current top 100 RPI teams: Dayton (28), St. Joseph's (43), CSUN (95) and Niagara (99) ... DU currently ranks 1st nationally in assists (19.2 apg.), 4th in scoring (84.9 ppg.) & blocks (7.5 bpg.) and 13th in steals (9.7 spg.) ... Shawn James, who ranks 4th nationally in blocks per game (4.1), posted the first triple-double in DU history Feb. 6 vs. Saint Joe's (17-11-10) ... James has more blocks (90) than seven Atlantic 10 teams.
THE SERIES: Richmond leads the series 10-8, with all eight Duquesne victories coming before Richmond joined the Atlantic 10 ... Richmond, a former member of the Colonial Athletic Association, joined the A-10 prior to the 2001-02 season and has defeated the Dukes 10 straight times in league play (five at Richmond and five at Pittsburgh) ... four of the 10 (all at Richmond) have been decided by four or fewer points ... DU's last series win was on Nov. 28, 1994 at Pittsburgh by a 62-56 score ... last year, Duquesne rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a two-point lead with 47 seconds left only to see Richmond score the game's final five points to pull out a 69-66 win at Robins Center.
A victory over Richmond would:
• Give Duquesne its best start (17-7) since the 1971-72 team was 19-5 after 24 games.
• End a 10-game losing streak to the Spiders in addition to being Duquesne's first Atlantic 10 win over UR.
• Would be Duquesne's 11th home win, which would mark just the second time in the past 27 years that a DU team has won 11 or more at home (the Dukes were 12-3 in 1993-94 and 14-2 in 1980-81).
LEFTOVERS FROM DAYTON: Random notes from Duquesne's 63-61 win at Dayton on Wednesday: the win marked just the third time in the 48-game series that the Dukes defeated the Flyers in back-to-back games ... the others were in 1975 & 1976 and 1993 (when both were members of the MCC) & 1996 (the first meeting between the two with Dayton as a member of the A-10) ... DU won 93-89 at Pittsburgh last year ... the Dukes have now won two of the past three meetings at UD Arena (the other was a 94-93 2OT win on Jan. 5, 2005) ... Duquesne, which trailed by 12 with 13:09 left in the first half, took its first lead on an Aaron Jackson layup with 12:35 to go ... there were two ties and five lead changes from that point on ... it was Duquesne's first win under Ron Everhart when scoring under 70 points (DU was 0-10 overall and 0-3 this season) ... the Dukes held Dayton to an opponent season low-tying 22 second-half points (Howard scored 22 in Duquesne's 129-59 opening day win) ... the Dukes also tied their season low with eight turnovers ... Aaron Jackson led the Dukes with 17 points, six rebounds and three steals in a team-high 38 minutes ... Shawn James hit a career high three 3-pointers (3-of-4) including two in a 38 second span with under 2:30 to go ... James had hit two in a game six times (five at Northeastern and once at Duquesne) entering the Dayton game ... the win was the 200th for Dukes coach Ron Everhart.
A RECORD SET: DU broke the school record for blocks in a season in its 22nd game - at La Salle on Feb. 9. The old mark of 166 was set in 28 games in 1979-80. The Dukes enter the Richmond game with 173 rejections in 23 contests.
QUITE A TURNAROUND: When Duquesne woke up on Super Bowl Sunday, it was licking its wounds following a 74-59 loss at St. Bonaventure. The Dukes were coming off their two worst shooting performances of the season (.342 in a home loss to UMass and .362 at St. Bonaventure). DU's 59 points at SBU were a season low. On the horizon was a game with A-10 co-leader Saint Joseph's, which was coming off a 77-55 shellacking of Villanova, had defeated Duquesne 10 straight times and was giving up an average of 65.8 ppg. All the Dukes did was shoot .604 in scoring an all-time series high 102 points in a 102-88 win over the Hawks and follow that by shooting .556 in a 101-84 win at La Salle on Feb. 9. Duquesne's streak of consecutive 100-point games ended, but the win streak did not, in a 63-61 victory at Dayton on Wednesday.
QUICK NOTES: Duquesne has four first-year players in prominent roles in transfers Shawn James (Northeastern) & Kojo Mensah (Siena) and true freshmen Damian Saunders & Bill Clark ... the Dukes have assisted on 74.2 percent of their field goals during their current three-game win streak ... DU leads the nation with a 19.2 apg. average ... do-it-all swingman Aaron Jackson is averaging 17.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.7 steals in his past three games ... Jackson, who is 18-of-28 (.643) from the field over that three game span, is shooting .558 for the season ... Jackson is DU's second-leading rebounder in conference play at 5.4 rpg. ... Reggie Jackson, who was averaging 3.6 ppg. following the Dec. 5 Pitt game, brings an 7.8 ppg. scoring average into Saturday's game ... Jackson has handed out 62 assists (4.8 apg.) in his past 13 games, including a career-high nine vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 28 and at La Salle on Feb. 9 ... he has 16 assists and five turnovers in his past two games ... Jackson's top three scoring games have all come on the road (19 each at Bowling Green, at Rhode Island & at La Salle) ... it took Shawn James four games to break the Atlantic 10 and Duquesne records for blocks in a game (he had 12 blocks in 22 minutes in Duquesne's 92-77 win at Oakland on Nov. 20), 15 games to break the school mark for blocks in a season and 20 to post the first triple-double in school history (17-11-10 vs. Saint Joseph's) ... James' 90 blocks have shattered the school mark of 60 set (in 1991-92) and tied (in 1992-93) by Derrick Alston ... Alston played in 28 games in both `92 & `93 ... the previous A-10 individual record of 11 blocks in a game was set by Rutgers' Roy Hinson in 1982-83 and tied by UMass' Stephane Lasme three times last year ... the old Duquesne record of seven was set by Derrick Alston vs. Saint Joseph's Jan. 5, 1991 ... James broke the DU record when he rejected his eighth shot with 7:53 left in the first half at Oakland ... James' five career triple-doubles are one shy of the NCAA career record set by Drexel's Michael Anderson (1985-88) and tied by LSU's Shaquille O'Neal (1990-92) .... with his five rejections against George Washington on Jan. 26, James became the 18th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 400 for his career ... his 422 blocked shots in 76 career games currently rank tied for 14th (with Duke's Shelden Williams) on the all-time NCAA Division I list ... James had a 20-10 double-double at Fordham before suffering a knee injury in practice on Monday, Jan. 21 that kept him in street clothes for the Jan. 23 St. Bonaventure game ... came back to score a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and five blocks vs. GW ... is shooting an Atlantic 10-best .579 from the field ... Kojo Mensah has had streaks of 18 & 13 consecutive free throws made this season ... Mensah, who posted his fourth 20-point game with 22 on Dec. 28 vs. Robert Morris, is tied with James for the team lead in 20-point games ... Mensah had scored in double digits in five-straight games before scoring a season-low three on 1-of-8 shooting at St. Bonaventure ... bounced back with a team-high 19 vs. Saint Joe's ... missed DU's next game, at La Salle, with strep throat ... DU is 3-3 when Mensah scores in single digits and 12-1 when Mensah attempts six or more free throws ... Mensah's 127 free throw attempts are 30 more than any other DU player ... Damian Saunders was named A-10 Rookie of the Week for the third time on Dec. 30 ... he is the fifth player in school history to win the award more than twice in a season ... Saunders leads the team with 37 steals and is second on the team with a 5.4 rebounds per game average ... he is third in blocks (25) and 3-pointers made (20-of-54, .370) ... fellow freshman Bill Clark has hit three or more 3-pointers in a game four times ... Clark, at 6-6, ranks third on the team with a 4.6 rpg. average ... Clark, who hit at least one three in 13 of his first 15 games, has gone without a 3-pointer in the past five games ... he is 0-of-13 from the arc over that span ... Kieron Achara, who played just six minutes at Rhode Island after suffering a mild concussion and loosened tooth early in the second half, made his return at Fordham ... with James on the bench in street clothes the Stirling, Scotland native - fresh off a root canal the previous day - posted 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in 28 minutes vs. St. Bonaventure on Jan. 23 ... Achara had his front tooth knocked out early in the second half vs. Saint Joe's and followed that with 21 points and a career high-tying five blocks at La Salle.
