Jan. 16, 2012

Duquesne Game Notes

GAME 19 / UMASS (14-4, 3-1) at DUQUESNE (11-7, 2-2)
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 • 7:00 EST
Pittsburgh, Pa. • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,406)
Radio: WPGB-FM 104.7
Ray Goss (`58) (pxp), Jarrett Durham (`71) (analyst), Greg Linnelli (`03) (producer)
Streaming Audio: www.RedZoneMedia.com
Television: None
Streaming Video: www.GoDuquesne.com
Gametracker: www.GoDuquesne.com

• Duquesne (11-7, 2-2) bounced back from a 28-point loss at Xavier to defeat Rhode Island 78-71 on the road on Saturday ... the Dukes now return home to face surprising Massachusetts (14-4, 3-1) at the Palumbo Center on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7:00 p.m. ... UMass, winner of eight of nine, enters Wednesday night's game in a three-way tie for first in the A-10 ... the Minutemen were picked to finish 12th in a preseason poll of league coaches and media.

• DU, which scored a season-low 50 points at Xavier, scored 41 in the first half of the win at URI ... UMass (77.3 ppg.) and Duquesne (76.2 ppg.) began the week as the two top scoring teams in the A-10 ... the Dukes (+6.6) and Minutemen (+3.3) rank first and third in the conference in turnover margin ... UMass leads the conference in steals at 9.9 spg. ... the Minutemen have attempted 440 3-pointers (24.4/g.) - 44 more than any other A-10 team.

• UMass leads the overall series 34-24 ... last year, DU defeated the Minutemen 81-63 at Amherst giving the Dukes wins in three of the past four meetings ... two years ago, UMass rallied from a 50-34 deficit with 17:16 left to defeat the Dukes 84-80 in overtime at Palumbo Center ... the regular-season series has been one of home court advantage with UMass leading 18-7 at home and DU holding a 13-12 edge at Pittsburgh ... DU head coach Ron Everhart is 4-3 against UMass (3-3 at Duquesne).

• The Dukes, who led the nation is assists (17.8), steals (9.9) and turnover margin (+6.7) last year are averaging 16.4 assists and 8.3 steals ... DU (+6.1) began the week ranked third in NCAA Division I in turnover margin behind top-ranked Syracuse (+7.4) and Ohio State (+6.2).

• T.J. McConnell leads the A-10 in assists (6.2 apg.), steals (2.9 spg.), ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (2.3-to-1) and third in 3-point pct. (.481) ... his 2.9 steals per game average ranks second nationally ... McConnell is one of eight D-1 players with a triple-double this season (15-10-11a vs. University of the District of Columbia on Nov. 18) ... it was the second triple-double in school history (Shawn James went 17-11-10b vs. Saint Joe's on Feb. 6, 2008) ... he has come close on two other occasions this season with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists vs. St. Bonaventure and 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists at Rhode Island.

• Duquesne is 7-2 at home (includes a win over Penn State at CONSOL Energy Center) ... the Dukes are 53-26 at the Palumbo Center under Ron Everhart, including a 48-17 mark over the past five seasons ... over the past five seasons, the Dukes are 21-11 in conference home games at Palumbo.

• Duquesne returns to the road to face Saint Louis on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Following the SLU game, the Dukes will have a week off before hosting La Salle on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m.

THE SERIES: Massachusetts, which leads the overall series 34-24, had won four in a row prior to DU's win at Amherst in 2009 (94-77) ... the win at UMass snapped an 11-game Minutemen home win streak over the Dukes dating back to Jan. 14, 1989 ... DU followed that with a 91-81 win in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship to post back-to-back victories over the Minutemen for the first time since 2004 ... two years ago, UMass rallied from a 50-34 deficit with 17:16 left to defeat the Dukes 84-80 in overtime at Palumbo Center ... the regular-season series had been one of home court advantage until recently (UMass leads 17-7 at home and DU holds a 13-12 edge at Pittsburgh) ... Massachusetts has won the past three in Pittsburgh, while Duquesne has won two in a row at Amherst ... DU's current streak at UMass is the schools longest since 1984 & 1985 ... Danny Nee's Dukes snapped a 16-game series losing streak (dating back to 1991) with a 78-69 win over the Minutemen on February 6, 2002 at the Palumbo Center ... since then, UMass has won six and Duquesne has won five.

EVERHART VS. UMASS: DU head coach Ron Everhart is 4-3 all-time vs. Massachusetts (3-3 at Duquesne) with an 84-68 win at UMass on Dec. 1, 2004 while at Northeastern, a 101-87 loss at Amherst in 2007, a 94-80 defeat at the Palumbo Center in 2008, a 94-77 win at Amherst & a 91-81 win over the Minutemen in the first round of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship in 2009, an 84-80 overtime loss at Palumbo Center in 2010 and an 81-63 win at UMass last year.

MINUTEMEN THIS YEAR: UMass, picked to finish 12th in the A-10 in a preseason poll of league coaches and media, is making a strong case for "most improved" team in the Atlantic 10 ... the Minutemen (14-4, 3-1), who went 11-3 in non-conference play with wins over Boston College, Utah and Siena, are one win shy of matching last year's victory total (15-15) ... UMass, which is 10-0 at home, is 2-2 on the road including an 0-1 mark in A-10 road games (an 82-75 loss at La Salle) ... the Minutemen have been bolstered by the arrival of first-year Hofstra transfer sophomore Chaz Williams (16.2 ppg, 5.9 apg.), who has arguably made the biggest impact on any A-10 team in 2011-12 ... the 5-9 Brooklyn native, who is shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point arc ranks among the nation's top 25 in steals per game (2.3) ... the Minutemen rallied from a 20-3 deficit to defeat Saint Joseph's 71-62 on Saturday ... UMass, which was led by Williams' 22 points, outscored the Hawks 21-9 off turnovers.

RHODE ISLAND LEFTOVERS: Notes from Duquesne's 78-71 win at Rhode Island on Saturday ... Mike Talley came off the bench to score 11 of his 13 points in 13 second-half minutes to rally the Dukes ... T.J. McConnell had another strong floor game with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 36 minutes ... he posted his eighth assist with 9:36 left and eighth rebound with 5:48 to go ... B.J. Monteiro came off the bench to add 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in 29 minutes ... it was his first game since Dec. 31 vs. Houston Baptist ... Monteiro, who had 25-30 stitches removed from this left hand on Jan. 12, played with the hand wrapped ... Andre Marhold had 8 rebounds in 30 minutes ... DU outscored URI 22-2 in fast break points ... Duquesne, which turned it over seven times in the first 10:33, finished with 14 turnovers ... DU turned 17 URI turnovers into 27 points ... the Dukes outshot the Rams 49.1 percent to 40.6 percent.

0 • Andre Marhold
Junior Andre Marhold has started 12 times after coming off the bench in 38 games as a freshman and sophomore ... scored a career-high 17 points vs. Green Bay ... posted double-digit rebounds vs. Tennessee Tech (career-high 11) and Robert Morris (10) ... just under half of his rebounds (38-of-80) have come on the offensive end ... shooting .532 from the field and .400 from the foul line ... leads the team with 14 dunks and 29 blocks, including a career-high four vs. both Houston Baptist and at Xavier ... had two of his three blocks vs. St. Bonaventure in a span of 25 seconds to fuel a big 13-0 second half run ... averaging 7.0 rebounds in 27.0 minutes in DU's past three games.

1 • Mike Talley
Fifty-two of sophomore Mike Talley's 137 points have come from the foul line (52-of-77) ... a .389 3-point shooter as a freshman, Talley is shooting .255 from the arc (13-of-51) ... he is at .350 from the field ... has scored in double digits four times with a season-high 16 at Western Michigan ... had 14 vs. UDC, 12 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette ... scored 11 of his 13 points in the win at Rhode Isand in 13 second-half minutes ... DU is 13-1 all time when Talley scores 10 or more ... has tied his season assist high (4) three times in the past five games.

2 • P.J. Torres
Freshman P.J. Torres has seen action in five games ... hit a 3-pointer in his first career field goal attempt at Valparaiso ... also scored three points in three minutes late in the loss at Xavier.

3 • Eric Evans
Senior Eric Evans has played in 106 career games with 52 starts ... he enters the UMass game with 943 career points and 279 assists ... has 49 assists and 19 turnovers (2.58-to-1 ratio) this season ... has scored in double digits in 12 of 18 games ... Evans, who entered the Robert Morris game 4-of-27 from 3-point, hit 3-of-6 in scoring 16 points ... he followed that by setting a new season high with 20 points vs. Penn State (9-of-11 from the line) ... is 57-of-73 from the foul line (.781) ... has scored in double digits 47 times and has reached the 20-point mark on three occasions for his career ... the 20-point game vs. PSU was his first since a career-high 23 vs. Fordham on Mar. 5, 2010 (his sophomore season) ... came off the bench to score all 12 of his points in the second half of DU's 75-64 win at George Mason ... has 20 assists and six turnovers in 205 minutes in his past eight games ... is 0-of-8 from the 3-point arc in his past five games ... his last 3-point make was Dec. 28 vs. Bowling Green.

4 • Danny Herrera
Freshman Danny Herrera, who had two points in two games, scored 8 points in 6 minutes vs. HBU ... he went 2-of-2 from the 3-point arc ... has played in five games.

5 • Jerry Jones
Sophomore Jerry Jones, who scored 25 points in 26 games last year, eclipsed that point total in DU's seventh game ... grabbed a career high seven boards (six offensive) in 19 minutes vs. Robert Morris and followed that with a then career-high 14 points vs. Penn State ... it was just the second double-digit scoring game of his career (he had 10 in 15 minutes off the bench vs. Louisiana-Lafayette) ... topped that with 19 points (on 8-of-9 shooting) in 21 minutes off the bench vs. Houston Baptist ... has just 12 turnovers in 17 games ... shooting 13-of-35 (.371) from the 3-point arc ... hit three "3's" vs. both Louisiana and Houston Baptist ... was 3-of-18 from the arc last season ... has started five of the past six games.

22 • Kadeem Pantophlet
Freshman Kadeem Pantophlet scored a career high 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting (4-of-4 from 3-point) at Valparaiso on Nov. 20 ... he had two points in four games prior to the outburst ... added three 3-pointers in scoring 11 in the A-10 opener vs. Saint Joseph's ... added a season-high six rebounds against the Hawks ... scored eight and added four rebounds in 16 minutes at Western Michigan ... had three assists in five minutes at Rhode Island ... made his first career start at George Mason and followed that with a second start vs. Bowling Green ... has bounced back from an 0-of-6 start to shoot .364 from the 3-point arc ... is 12-of-27 from the arc (.444) in his past 13 games ... tied with T.J. McConnell for the team lead with seven charges taken.

20 • T.J. McConnell
Sophomore guard T.J. McConnell has a 2.40-to-1 career assist-to-turnover ratio (252-105) ... leads the team in assists (6.2 apg.) and steals (2.9 spg.) ... his steals per game average ranks second nationally ... his current assists/g. average in on pace to set a DU single-season record ... is averaging 2.88 steals per game for his career (144 in 50 games) ... has started 48 of his 50 career games played ... is shooting .508 for his career (.526 this season) ... posted the second triple-double in school history with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists vs. the University of the District of Columbia ... had near misses against St. Bonaventure (13-7-8a) and at Rhode Island (16-8-8a) .... began the week as one of eight D-I players to post a triple-double this season ... the 11 assists vs. UDC, in addition to being a career high, were one shy of the school record ... it was the second 10+ assist game of his career ... also threw down his first career dunk against UDC ... posted his 100th assist of 2011-12 in game 16 vs. St. Bonaventure (13 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists & 4 steals) ... is one of nine players in school history with multiple 100-assist seasons (he had 140 in 32 games as a freshman) ... matched the 15 points vs. UDC with 15 more against No. 17 (AP) Pitt... tied his career high with 20 points (7-of-11) against Bowling Green ... hit a then career-high four 3-pointers (4-of-7) against the Falcons ... topped that with 28 points, including 5-of-6 from 3-point, in an 84-82 OT loss to Saint Joseph's ... had five steals in back-to-back games vs. Green Bay & UDC and again at Western Michigan ... has had at least two steals in 16 of 18 games ... has led or tied for the team lead in assists 17 times ... handed out nine assists with one turnover vs. Houston Baptist ... is 15-of-23 (.652) from the 3-point arc and .547 (35-of-64) from the field in his past eight games.

23 • B.J. Monteiro
Senior B.J. Monteiro, who scored a career-high 28 points (11-of-14 from the field) againt Bowling Green, followed that with 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds vs. Houston Baptist to earn Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors on Jan. 2 ... he completed his double-double vs. HBU with four minutes left in the first half ... averaged 26.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists on 66.7 percent shooting for the week ... Monteiro, who added a career high-tying five assists vs. Houston Baptist, became the 35th member of DU's 1,000-point club with the first of two free throws with 15:40 to go in the first half ... he suffered an off-the-court injury following the HBU game that required stitches in both his left hand and chin ending his team-high streak of consecutive games played at 77 ... he missed DU's first three A-10 games before returning at Rhode Island (12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals in 29 minutes off the bench) ... is 31-of-51 (60.8%) from the field in his past four games ... he has attempted just ten 3-pointers in his past six games, after attempting 30 in his first nine ... Monteiro, who shot .376 as a freshman, .465 as a sophomore and .464 as a junior, is shooting .514 through 15 games ... Monteiro, who entered the season a .502 career free throw shooter, is 37-of-65 from the line (.569) this year ... has scored in double digits 52 times in 108 career games and has topped the 20-point mark seven times ... has started 74 times ... scored 24 points vs. UDC on Nov. 18 .... added 25 vs. Tennessee Tech on Dec. 3 ... pulled down nine boards vs. Penn State ... had a career-high four steals at George Mason on Dec. 21 ... ranks fifth on DU's all-time blocked shot list with 67.

32 • Sean Johnson
Sean Johnson has scored in double digits in 17 of 18 games ... opened the season with an 11-game double digit scoring streak which was snapped with four points vs. Robert Morris ... is averaging 16.0 points on 11.3 shots/g. ... has attempted a team-high 93 free throws (.806) ... came off the bench in 59 of 62 games as a freshman and sophomore ... has started 16 of 18 games this year ... has recorded his first three 20-point games this season: 24 vs. Akron, 25 vs. Tennessee Tech & 24 vs. Houston Baptist ... scored eight points in 38 seconds during a game-changing 13-0 second-half run in the 66-52 win over St. Bonaventure on Jan. 7 ... converted two three-point plays during the outburst ... has a team-high 19 career "and-ones" (has made good on 19 of 25 career opportunities including 5-of-5 this year) ... has hit eight free throws in a game three times in 2011-12 ... entered the season shooting .442 from the field including .290 from 3-point ... has upped those percentages to .466 & .338 this year.

34 • Mamadou Datt
Freshman Mamadou Datt had his best game as a Duke with eight points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes in his first career start to help DU to a 75-64 win at George Mason ... went 4-of-8 with three dunks vs. the Patriots ... had not scored more than two points in his 11 previous games ... had four points and two rebounds in 16 foul-plagued minutes in his second career start vs. Bowling Green ... grabbed 10 rebounds in DU's first two games (five each vs. Arizona and Green Bay) ... attempted just 12 field goals in 11 games prior to his breakout at George Mason ... has attempted 24 field goals in his past seven games (36 for the season) ... has gone scoreless with four rebounds in his past three games.

35 • Derrick Martin
Redshirt freshman Derrick Martin has seen limited action (18 total minutes) in five of DU's past six games ... had 4 points, 3, rebounds and 2 blocks in 9 minutes vs. Houston Baptist ... has played in eight games.