Dec. 20, 2010
Complete Game Notes
GEORGE MASON (8-2) at DUQUESNE (5-4)
Wed., Dec. 22, 2010 • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,406) • Pittsburgh, Pa. • *8:00 (EST)
* - doubleheader preceded by Duquesne women vs. Saint Francis, Pa. at 5:30 p.m.
DUQUESNE RADIO: WPBG-FM (104.7) with Ray Goss & Jarrett Durham
STREAMING AUDIO: RedZoneMedia.com or GoDuquesne.com
STREAMING VIDEO/GAMETRACKER: GoDuquesne.com
DUKES HOST GEORGE MASON AS PART OF HOLIDAY DH: Duquesne (5-4), coming off an 81-54 home win over IUPUI on Saturday, returns to action against George Mason (8-2) Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. at the Palumbo Center. The George Mason game will be the second game of a doubleheader preceded by the Duquesne women vs. Saint Francis, Pa. at 5:30. This is the second of four consecutive Palumbo Center games for the Dukes. DU, which has won six in a row at Palumbo dating back to last season, is 40-21 at its on-campus home in five seasons under Ron Everhart. George Mason, winner of six in a row, has been idle since an 84-54 win at Liberty on Dec. 11. The Patriots, members of the Colonial Athletic Association, are 1-0 on the road and 1-2 at neutral sites. George Mason, which ranks among the top 20 in scoring defense (17th at 57.9 ppg.) and 3-point pct. defense (11th at .266), has limited eight of its first 10 opponents to fewer than 60 points. The only two teams to score more than 60 on GMU have defeated the Patriots (NC State won 78-65 & Wofford won 82-79 in OT). Duquesne is averaging 80.7 ppg. (17th nationally), including 97.3 ppg. in three games at the Palumbo Center where the Dukes's average margin of victory has been +34.0 ppg. The Dukes are shooting .422 from the 3-point arc (10th nationally). The George Mason game is the last before DU breaks for Christmas. Duquesne's next game is on New Years Eve versus Northwestern State at 4:00 p.m.
DUQUESNE LATELY: Senior preseason All-A10 pick Damian Saunders, who became DU's all-time shot blocker with four rejections at Penn State on Dec. 4, tied Kenya Hunter's career steals record (218 from 1993-96) with a pair of thefts vs. IUPUI ... Saunders has 236 career blocks ... the old record of 229 was set by Derrick Alston (1991-94) ... Saunders ranks 22nd on DU's all-time scoring list with 1,221 points ... senior Bill Clark, who has hit five or more 3-pointers in a game four times, leads DU at 16.4 ppg. ... Clark, who has 178 career 3-pointers, needs two to pass Wayne Smith (179 from 1999-02) and move into the No. 3 spot on DU's all-time list ... Clark ranks 20th on DU's all-time leading scorers' list with 1,256 points ... DU, which shot .261 from the 3-point arc last season (282nd nationally), is shooting .422 from long distance (10th nationally) and is averaging 10.6 "3s"/g. (2nd nationally) ... the Dukes, who are averaging 19.9 assists/g. (2nd nationally), have assisted on 72% of their field goals (including 27 of 31 FGs vs. IUPUI) ... freshman T.J. McConnell (11.8 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 5.1 apg., 3.1 spg.; .586 FG% & .483 3-PT%) ranks among the top five in five Atlantic 10 statistical categories: steals (1st), FG% (2nd), assists (4th), assist/turnover ratio (4th) and 3-PT% (5th).
NOTING GEORGE MASON: George Mason leads series 3-1 ... this is the first game of a home-and-home series ... the two last met in a home-and-home in 2003-04 (80-70 loss at home) & 2004-05 (79-58 loss at George Mason) ... GMU advanced to the NCAA Final Four the year after the last series concluded ... the Patriots return all five starters, their top six scorers and seven of their top nine players from last year's 17-15 CIT team ... Mason was able to practice for 10 days prior to its tour of Italy August 18-28 where the Patriots played four games in 10 days.
PATRIOTS THIS YEAR: George Mason is on a six-game win streak ... the Patriots own a pair of convincing wins over Atlantic 10 teams: 78-56 over Charlotte on Nov. 18 and 60-46 over George Washington on Dec. 1 ... Mason has played just one true road game, an 84-54 win at Liberty on Dec. 12 ... they are 1-2 at neutral sites (including the win over Charlotte) ... George Mason has used a balanced attack in jumping out to its 8-2 start ... five players are averaging between 7.7 and 13.0 points per game ... five different players have led the team in scoring in the first 10 games, with only one reaching the 20-point mark (Cam Long had 20 in a win over Radford) ... opponents are shooting just .397 from the field and .266 from the 3-point arc against the Patriots ... Mason has held eight of its 10 opponents below 60 points ... the only time they have given up more than 60 is in their two losses (78-65 to NC State and 82-79 in overtime to Wofford) ... 6-5 sophomore forward Luke Hancock leads the team with a 13.0 ppg. scoring average ... 6-4 senior guard Cam Long is averaging 12.5 ppg. (17 3-pointers) and 6-6 junior forward Ryan Pearson is averaging 12.3 ppg.
QUICK HITS
Senior forward/guard Bill Clark, who has 26 3-pointers, currently ranks fourth on DU's all-time list with 178 ... he needs two to pass Wayne Smith (179 from 1999-02) and move into the No. 3 spot ... Tom Pipkins (311 from 1994-97) holds the school record ... he's followed by Tony Petrarca (287 from 1987-91) ... Clark is already third in career attempts with 518 ... Clark has hit five 3-pointers in a game four times this season ... all four have come away from home (at Robert Morris, at Bowling Green, vs. Pitt and at Penn State) ... Clark, who entered the season averaging 2.1 assists per game, is averaging 2.9 apg. ... he had a career-high nine in the season opener vs. Bluefield State ... Clark flirted with a triple-double with 15 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes vs. the Division II Big Blues ... Clark, who has scored 20 or more in a game twice (22 at Robert Morris and 20 vs. Pitt), posted his seventh career double-double, and first this season, at Penn State (19-10) ... he added his second double-double with 17 points and a career high-tying 14 rebounds vs. IUPUI ... Clark leads the team with seven charges taken ... senior forward Damian Saunders became DU's all-time blocked shot leader when he swatted four at Penn State on Dec. 4 ... the final block - of a Taran Buie layup with 11:26 to go - broke the previous record of 229 set by Derrick Alston in 114 games from 1991-94 ... the Penn State game was Saunders' 101st ... Saunders enters the George Mason game with 236 blocks ... his 218 career steals have tied the school record of 218 set by current Georgetown assistant coach Kenya Hunter from 1993-96 ... Saunders, whose 20 double-doubles ranked sixth nationally last season, posted his first of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds vs. No. 3 (AP) Pitt ... he added five assists and three blocks in 34 minutes vs. the Panthers ... he followed that by tying his career high with four 3-pointers in scoring 23 at Penn State ... it was just the second time in his career he has had 20 or more in back-to-back games (he had 21 at Dayton, 23 vs. Saint Louis and 21 at Rhode Island in consecutive games last year) ... Saunders had another of his typical stat-sheet stuffing games with 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists, a career high-tying six steals and three blocks at Green Bay ... Saunders a 34 percent 3-point shooter his first two seasons, slumped to 18.9 percent last season (18-of-95) ... he looks to have regained his former form with a 42.9 percent success rate this season (9-of-21) ... he has made 8-of-14 3-point attempts in his past five games ... true freshman T.J. McConnell began the week ranked tied for 5th nationally in steals per game (3.1) ... his 2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (46-22) ranks fourth in the conference ... has scored in double digits six times with highs of 20 (18 in the second half) at Green Bay and 18 vs. West Virginia in back-to-back games ... was named A-10 Rookie of the Week (Dec. 13) after averaging 19.0 points. 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals in the two games ... had 14 points and five steals vs. No. 3 (AP) Pitt ... the six-footer had 11 rebounds to go along with 10 points and nine assists in 27 minutes at Bowling Green in nearly becoming the second player in school history to post a triple-double ... McConnell played just nine minutes in the second half of the lopsided win ... it was his third career game ... has handed out five or more assists in a game six times ... is shooting .586 from the field and .483 (14-of-29) from the 3-point arc ... fellow freshman Mike Talley, who has started seven times, has hit three or more 3-pointers three times ... scored a season high 17 points in the opener vs. Bluefield State and matched that total at Green Bay (4-of-5 from 3-point) ... has scored in double digits four times ... hit five 3-pointers in the opening day win over Bluefield ... handed out a season-high seven assists vs. IUPUI ... broke out of a two-game 3-of-15 (1-of-8 from 3-point) shooting slump to hit 4-of-6 at Green Bay ... is 7-of-13 in his past three games ... junior guard/forward B.J. Monteiro has scored in double digits seven times with a high of 21 on 9-of-10 shooting at Bowling Green ... the BGSU game followed a 2-of-10, eight-point performance in the loss at Robert Morris ... has tied his career high with three steals in two of the past six games (vs. UMBC and at Penn State) ... third on the team with 20 offensive rebounds ... has blocked at least one shot in seven of nine games, including a career high four vs. West Virginia ... has two double-doubles (17-10 vs. Bluefield State & 12-10 vs. WVU) ... sophomore guard Sean Johnson has scored 27 in three starts (9.0 ppg.) and 55 in six off the bench (9.2 ppg.) ... posted a season-high 17 in a start in the opener vs. Bluefield State and had 16 off the bench at Green Bay (5-of-7 including three 3-pointers) ... has scored in double digits four times ... DU is 4-0 in those games ... sophomore forward/center Rodrigo Peggau posted career highs in points (14) and rebounds (12) in his first career double-double in the opening day win over Bluefield State ... he has 15 points and 21 rebounds in seven games since ... had a streak of 19 consecutive games snapped when he did not dress for the IUPUI game due to a concussion suffered in practice on Dec. 14 ... his status for George Mason is to be determined ... averaging 13.9 minutes per game ... has started four times ... true freshman forward Joel Wright played in the first seven games before not seeing action for the first time vs. WVU ... has played a season high 16 minutes twice (vs. Bluefield State and at Bowling Green) ... had 11 points (5-of-8 from the line) and five rebounds in 12 minutes vs. UMBC and added 11 more on 5-of-6 shooting vs. IUPUI ... is 8-of-16 (.500) from the foul line on the season ... true freshman Jerry Jones has played in all nine games off the bench ... averaging 10.1 minutes per game ... scored a season-high five in 10 minutes vs. UMBC ... shooting .273 (6-of-22) ... has played double-digit minutes four times ... sophomore Andre Marhold played double digit minutes off the bench in each of the first four games before a strained groin kept him in street clothes vs. Pitt and at Penn State ... he dressed but did not play at Green Bay ... made his return in logging six minutes vs. West Virginia ... played a season-high 17 minutes at Bowling Green ... blocked three shots in the opener vs. Bluefield State ... is 7-of-9 from the field ... senior forward David Theis has played in four games ... scored five points in eight minutes against Bluefield State, had four points in five minutes at Bowling Green and four points and four rebounds in four minutes vs. IUPUI ... has played in 45 career games. ... Duquesne is averaging 97.3 points per game at the Palumbo Center and 72.3 ppg. away from home (including two games at CONSOL Energy Center).
