Jan. 7, 2011

Complete Duquesne Game Notes
Houston Baptist Game Notes
Gametracker

DUQUESNE (8-5, 1-0) at HOUSTON BAPTIST (1-12)
Sat., Jan. 8, 2011 ­• Sharp Gym (1,500) • Houston, Texas • 8:35 (EST)

DUQUESNE RADIO: WPBG-FM (104.7) with Ray Goss & Jarrett Durham
STREAMING AUDIO: RedZoneMedia.com or GoDuquesne.com
GAMETRACKER: HBUHuskies.com

DUKES CONCLUDE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE AT HBU: Duquesne (8-5, 1-0), winner of four of its past five, concludes the non-conference portion of the regular season schedule at Houston Baptist (1-12) on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 8:35 p.m. (EST). The Dukes, who are coming off a 75-63 Atlantic 10-opening win at Saint Joseph's on Wednesday, will be looking to clinch a winning non-conference record for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season. The Dukes, who are 7-5 in non-conference games, went 9-6 in non-league play last year, 9-5 in 2009 and 10-3 in 2008. The only other time Duquesne has put together three-straight winning non-conference records was under Mike Rice from 1979-81. Houston Baptist, which has played 10 of its first 13 games away from home, saw its losing streak reach six with a 72-57 loss at Texas-Arlington on Wednesday. The Huskies are 1-2 at home. Duquesne is 12-15 in non-conference road games under fifth-year head coach Ron Everhart (2-2 this year). This will be Duquesne's fourth game in the state of Texas, with all three coming since 1990 at Rice where the Dukes went 1-2. Everhart's Dukes posted the win on Nov. 17, 2007, 86-59 over the Owls at Katy, Texas. DU, which traveled to Houston directly from Philadelphia, has been on the road since Tuesday. The Dukes will return to Pittsburgh on Sunday for back-to-back home games against conference opponents Saint Louis (Jan. 12) and Temple (Jan. 15).

DUQUESNE LATELY: Senior preseason All-A10 pick Damian Saunders became DU's all-time blocked shot and career steals leader in December ... the 6-7 Connecticut native has 248 career blocks (old record of 229 was set by Derrick Alston from 1991-94) and 225 steals (old record 218 by Kenya Hunter from 1993-96) ... Saunders ranks 21st on DU's all-time scoring list with 1,269 points ... senior Bill Clark, who has hit five or more 3-pointers in a game four times, leads DU at 17.5 ppg. ... Clark ranks third on DU's all-time list with 188 career 3-pointers ... Clark (1,335 points) enters the HBU game needing five points to pass DU radio color man Jarrett Durham (1,339 from 1969-71) and move into the 17th spot on the all-time scoring list ... he needs 21 to pass Brian Shanahan (1,355 from 1986-89) and take over the No. 16 spot ... DU, which shot .261 from the 3-point arc last season (282nd nationally), is shooting .398 from long distance ... DU went 10-of-20 from the arc at St. Joe's on Wednesday ... the Dukes, who are averaging 19.1 apg., have assisted on 69% of their field goals ... freshman T.J. McConnell (11.2 ppg., 3.9 rpg., 4.6 apg., 3.0 spg., .550 FG% & .514 3-PT%) ranks among the top five in five A-10 categories: steals (1st), assist/TO ratio (3rd), FG% (4th), assists (4th) and 3-PT% (4th).

THE SERIES: This is the first meeting between Duquesne and Houston Baptist and first of a home-and-home series ... DU is 1-0 all-time against the teams that make up the current Great West Conference (a 104-64 win over Chicago State on Feb. 15, 1973) ... the Great West, formed as a I-AA football conference in 2004, became an all sports conference in 2008.

LAST TIME IN TEXAS: This will be the fourth time that a Duquesne team has played in the state of Texas ... all three previous games in the Lone Star State have been at Rice ... DU head coach Ron Everhart brought the Dukes to Houston to face Rice on Nov. 17, 2007 and emerged with an 86-59 win in a game played at Katy, Texas due to renovation work being done to Rice's on-campus facility ... the 27-point margin was the largest in a road game since an 87-58 win (+29) at Robert Morris on Dec. 22, 1994 ... it was just the second time in 35 years that a Duquesne team won a road game by more than 25 points ... seniors Bill Clark, Damian Saunders and Dave Theis all saw action in the game which was played before a crowd of 468 - the smallest crowd ever for a Duquesne game (home or away).

HOUSTON BAPTIST THIS YEAR: HBU returns 11 of 13 players - including leading scorer 6-6 senior forward Andrew Gonzalez (20.4 ppg.) - who helped the Huskies to a 9-3 second-place finish in the Great West last season ... Gonzalez, who was named the league's preseason Player of the Year, has already been named conference Player of the Week twice ... the Pasadena, Texas native, who arrived at HBU via San Jacinto JC, scored a season-high 31 points (5-of-6 from 3-point) against Louisiana Tech ... he is averaging 28.3 ppg. and not scored under 27 points at home (27 vs. UT-Arlington, 27 vs. Texas State and 31 vs. La. Tech) ... the Huskies were picked to finish second in the Great West in a preseason poll of league coaches ... HBU won six of its final eight games in advancing to the title game of the Great West tournament in 2009-10 ... the Huskies are 1-2 at home with a 74-65 loss to Texas Arlington, an 88-81 win over Texas State and 80-57 loss to Louisiana Tech ... last year, HBU defeated Fairleigh-Dickinson and lost by three to Santa Clara at Sharp Gym.

QUICK HITS

Senior forward/guard Bill Clark, who has a team-high 36 3-pointers, moved into third on DU's all-time list with his first of three 3-pointers vs. Northwestern State on Dec. 31 ... Clark enters the Houston Baptist game with 188 "threes" ... Tom Pipkins (311 from 1994-97) holds the school record ... he's followed by Tony Petrarca (287 from 1987-91) ... Clark is already alone in third in career attempts with 541 ... 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 at CONSOL Energy Center and at Penn State) ... Clark, who entered the season averaging 2.1 assists per game, is averaging 2.7 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 five times (22 at Robert Morris, 20 vs. Pitt, 21 vs. George Mason, 21 vs. Northwestern State & 24 at Saint Joseph's), 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 and third vs. Northwestern State (21-10) ... Clark leads the team with 12 charges taken ... he put together back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career vs. George Mason (21) & Northwestern State (21) ... Clark has scored in double figures in 12 of 13 games including the past six ... he is 23-of-25 from the foul line (92%) over that six-game span ... 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 Houston Baptist game with 248 blocks ... he added the DU career steals record at the 1:30 mark of the first half vs. George Mason on Dec. 22 ... his 225 career steals broke the old mark of of 218 set by current Georgetown assistant coach Kenya Hunter from 1993-96 ... Saunders, whose 20 double-doubles ranked sixth nationally last season, has two this year (20-11 vs. No. 3 (AP) Pitt and 12-11 vs. George Mason) ... 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 ... scored 13 of his 14 points vs. Norfolk State in the first half ... added four blocks against the Spartans ... had 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four blocks and two steals in the A-10 opening win over Saint Joseph's ... Saunders a 34 percent 3-point shooter his first two seasons, slumped to 18.9 percent last year (18-of-95) ... he looks to have regained his former form with a 35.5 percent success rate this season (11-of-31) ... Saunders, who entered the year a .485 career free throw shooter, is 32-of-56 (.571) from the line this year ... true freshman T.J. McConnell ranks 6th nationally in steals per game (3.0) ... he's had at least two steals in all but one game ... his 2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (60-29) ranks third in the conference ... has scored in double digits eight times with highs of 20 (18 in the second half) at Green Bay, 19 vs. George Mason and 18 vs. West Virginia ... was named A-10 Rookie of the Week (Dec. 13) after averaging 19.0 points. 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals in the Green Bay and WVU 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 eight times ... is shooting .550 from the field and .514 (19-of-37) from the 3-point arc ... has started 12 times (he didn't start at Penn State coming off a foot injury suffered against Pitt) ... fellow freshman Mike Talley, who has started 11 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 five 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 1-of-10 from the 3-point arc in his past five games but has managed to hand out 13 assists with just five turnovers over that span ... is coming off his first scoreless game of the season (zero points in 18 minutes at Saint Joseph's) ... junior guard/forward B.J. Monteiro has scored in double digits 10 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 ... tied his career high with three steals vs. UMBC and at Penn State ... third on the team with 24 offensive rebounds ... has blocked at least one shot in 10 of 13 games, including a career high four vs. West Virginia and George Mason ... has two double-doubles (17-10 vs. Bluefield State & 12-10 vs. WVU) ... Monteiro, who entered the season a 28.8 percent career 3-point shooter (23-of-80), is shooting 41 percent from the arc this season (16-of-39) ... is 13-of-18 from the field (12.0 ppg.) in his past three games ... sophomore guard Sean Johnson came off the bench to post a career-high 19 points (9-of-9 from the foul line) vs. Norfolk State on Jan. 2 ... tied his previous career-high with 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 six times ... DU is 6-0 in those games ... is 1-of-11 from 3-point in his past six games ... ended a five-game 3-point drought by hitting 1-of-2 at Saint Joseph's ... junior guard Eric Evans missed the first 10 games while recovering from Oct. 27 foot surgery ... Evans, who missed eight weeks of practice, returned to action against Northwestern State on New Year's Eve ... he posted his first double digit game with 10 points vs. Norfolk State ... 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 17 points and 23 rebounds in eight 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 ... was also held out of the George Mason and Northwestern State games ... made his return against Norfolk State on Jan. 2 ... averaging 13.4 min./g. ... 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 ... 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 ... scored nine points in nine first-half minutes vs. George Mason (finished with nine in a season high 20 minutes) had 10 in back-to-back games vs. Northwestern State and Norfolk State ... averaging 8.4 ppg. on .500 shooting (13-of-26) in his past five games ... averaged 2.4 ppg. on .333 shooting (5-of-15) in his first seven ... has attempted 38 free throws in 153 minutes is 16-of-23 (.696) from the line in his past five games ... true freshman Jerry Jones has played in all 13 games off the bench ... scored a season-high five in 10 minutes vs. UMBC ... shooting .300 (9-of-30) ... has played double-digit minutes six 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 on Nov. 22 ... blocked three shots in the opener vs. Bluefield State ... is 8-of-10 from the field with three dunks ... senior forward David Theis has scored in five of the seven games he's played ... 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 ... is 3-of-5 from 3-point ... has played in 48 career games.

NOTES FROM THE DUKES CLIPBOARD

• Duquesne, which played in the NIT in 2009 & CBI last year, is looking to make its third-straight postseason appearance in 2011 - something that hasn't occurred on the Bluff since 1968-71 (NIT, NCAA, NIT & NCAA).

• DU, which has gone 10-19, 17-13, 21-13 & 16-16 in four seasons under head coach Ron Everhart, has posted 15+ wins in three straight years for the first time since `68-73. Duquesne was coming off a 3-24 season, and had finished above .500 once (1994) in the 21 years prior to Everhart taking over in 2006-07.

• The Dukes, who are averaging 16 wins per season under Everhart, won more than 16 games once (17-13 in 1994) in 25 seasons prior to Everhart's arrival.

• Thousand-point scoring seniors Damian Saunders (First Team All-Atlantic 10, A-10 Defensive Player of the Year & A-10 All-Defense Team) and Bill Clark lead the way for the Dukes in 2011. Saunders, who ranked among the NCAAs top 15 in steals (2nd), rebounds (6th), blocks (13th) and double-doubles (6th) last season, is averaging 12.4 ppg., 7.3 rpg. and 2.7 bpg. in 2010-11. Saunders is DU's career blocked shot and steals leader. Clark, who has 188 career 3-pointers, is averaging a team-best 17.5 ppg. Both Saunders and Clark, who have never experienced a losing season at Duquesne, topped the 1,000-point mark last season. Saunders did it on Feb. 11, 2010 vs. UMass and Clark did it three days later vs. La Salle. Both reached 1,000 as juniors in their 88th game.

• The 6-7 Saunders, who was first player in DU history to be named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, finished two steals shy of becoming the first player over 6-6 to lead the nation in steals per game in 2010 (Saunders finished second nationally at 2.8 spg.). Saunders' 89 steals in 32 games shattered the DU season record of 71 he set in 34 games as a sophomore. He tied his career high with six steals (five in the first half) on Dec. 8 at Green Bay and broke the DU career record with his 219th steal against George Mason on Dec. 22.

• Saunders became Duquesne's all-time leading shot blocker with his four rejections at Penn State on Dec. 4 ... Saunders, who has 248 career blocks, broke the old mark of 229 set by Derrick Alston in 114 games from 1991-94 ... Saunders broke the record in his 101st game.

• Saunders was the first Duquesne player in 39 years to open a season with six-straight double-doubles when he turned the trick last season. He added a second in-season streak of nine in a row. His 20 double-doubles were the most by a DU player since Bruce Atkins' 22 in 1980-81. He didn't go longer than three games without a double-double in 2010. Saunders posted his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds (and five assists & three blocks) vs. No. 3 (AP) Pitt on Dec. 1 and went for 12 and 11 vs. George Mason on Dec. 22.

• The Dukes played their first 10 games (5-5) without junior point guard Eric Evans, who underwent foot surgery on Oct. 27. Evans, who had streaks of 66 games (every game of his DU career) and 32 starts snapped by the injury, was cleared to resume practice on Dec. 21. He saw action for the first time vs. Northwestern State on Dec. 31.

• DU is 60-9 (8-1 in 2011) when leading with 5:00 minutes left under Ron Everhart.

• Everhart's Dukes have posted 24 road wins in five seasons. Of the 24 wins, 17 have been by double digits. In the 10 seasons prior to Everhart's arrival, Duquesne went 17-106 on the road with three double-digit victories. Everhart's Dukes own the five largest margins of victory ever posted by Duquesne teams in A-10 road games.

• Ron Everhart's Dukes have scored 100 or more points 10 times in his five seasons. Only Red Manning, who saw his DU teams score 100 or more 23 times in 16 seasons (1959-74) has coached more triple-digit scoring Duquesne teams. Everhart's Dukes have scored 100 or more on the road five times.

• Duquesne has led at the half in 12 of 13 games, and held a lead of at least seven points at some point in every game this season.

• Duquesne's 16 3-pointers in its 110-67 season-opening win over Division II Bluefield State were one shy of the school record ... DU's 30 assists (on 41 field goals) tied the third-highest total in school history.

• The Dukes have had five or more double-digit scorers in six of their eight wins (the Dukes had four in double digits and one with nine in their 81-54 win over IUPUI & four in double digits in the win at Saint Joseph's).

• Nine players have scored in double digits, and six players have led the team in scoring (including ties), in DU's first 13 games. Six players have 27 or more assists.

• Six players have attempted at least 30 3-pointers and four (with over 10 att.) are shooting 40 percent or better from the arc: T.J. McConnell (.514, 19-of-37), Bill Clark (.439, 36-of-82), Mike Talley (.400, 18-of-45) and B.J. Monteiro (16-of-39, .410). Ten of the 12 players on the roster have hit at least one 3-pointer.

• All eight of DU's wins have been by double digits, with six by 20 or more.

• Dec. 29 marked the first time the entire 2010-11 roster was healthy for the same practice.