Nov. 27, 2013

Game Notes

GAME 5 / PITT (6-0) VS. DUQUESNE (2-2)
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013 • 1:00 EST
Pittsburgh, Pa. • CONSOL Energy Center (19,000)


Radio: WPGB-FM 104.7 Ray Goss (`58) & Jarrett Durham (`71)
Streaming Audio
Television: CBSSN with Brad Johansen & Steve Wolf




QUICK NOTES

• Duquesne, which has been idle since a 70-59 win over Albany on Nov. 20, returns to action to face Pitt in the annual City Game at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 at CONSOL Energy Center. The game will be televised nationally by CBSSN with Brad Johansen and Steve Wolf describing the action.

• This will be the 82nd meeting between Pitt and Duquesne. DU has only faced two schools - St. Bonaventure (110 times) and West Virginia (88 time) - more often than the Panthers.

• Three of the Dukes' top four scorers are first year players: UAB transfer Ovie Soko (18.3 ppg.), JC transfer Tra'Vaughn White (15.8) and JC transfer Dominique McKoy (10.3). Six of DU's top eight point producers are new to the roster in 2013-14.

• DU, which is averaging 82.0 ppg., has four players scoring in double figures. Six players have scored 10 or more in a game. DU has had at least four double-digit scorers in three of four games. Stanford (67) is the only team to score more than 58 against Pitt this season.

• The Dukes will have nine scholarship players in uniform for the Pitt game. Sophomore guard Micah Mason (8.8, 2.8), DU's top 3-point shooter, suffered a broken hand vs. Albany and is currently in a cast. In addition, a pair of 3-star Canadian recruits are also out. Six-seven, 220-pound Isaiah Watkins is recovering from October knee surgery and 6-8, 255-pound Jordan Robinson has not been certified as eligible and has yet to practice.

• Duquesne is in its second season under head coach Jim Ferry. Ferry, who came to DU after leading LIU Brooklyn to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2011 & 2012), is the 16th coach in school history. This is the 98th season for Duquesne basketball.

• Only three scholarship players are back from last year's 8-22 team: returning starters Derrick Colter and Jeremiah Jones along with senior Jerry Jones. DU also has three first-year players with Division I experience in senior Ovie Soko (88 games for UAB from 2010-12), JC transfer Dominique McKoy (30 games at Rhode Island in 2012) and sophomore Micah Mason (30 games at Drake last year). The 12 scholarship players on the 2013-14 roster brought a combined 10 total seasons of Division I experience into the season.

• 10 of the 14 players on the current active roster are freshmen or sophomores.

• Senior Ovie Soko (18.3, 11.5) has posted three double-doubles in four games. The UAB transfer, who scored in double digits 28 times - all in his final 60 games - with the Blazers, has totaled 14 or more points in his four games as a Duke. The last Duquesne player to average a double-double for an season was Damian Saunders in 2009-10 (15.0, 11.3). Prior to Saunders, you have to go all the way back to 1981-82 (Bruce Atkins 16.1, 10.4) to find a double-double Duke.

• First-year Drake transfer Micah Mason, the top 3-point shooter in the Missouri Valley Conference last season (40-of-79, .506), was granted a waiver by the NCAA on Nov. 8 - the day before the season opener against Abilene Christian. Mason, a sophomore, hit a 3-pointer on his first touch in a Dukes uniform, 28 seconds after entering the ACU game. The western Pa. native had his breakout game with 18 points on 5-of-7 3-point shooting at WVU, before breaking a bone in his right hand in the first half of DU's 70-59 win over Albany three day's later. Mason, who is 9-of-17 from the arc with two turnovers in 96 total minutes, will be out indefinitely.

• Sophomore guard Derrick Colter, who became just the fifth player - and first underclassman - to lead the Dukes in scoring and assists when he averaged 13.4 ppg. and 5.3 apg. last season, scored a team-high 23 in the opener against Abilene Christian. It was the fifth 20-point game of his young career. Colter (11.3 ppg.) leads the team with 12 assists.

• First-year JC transfer forward Dominique McKoy, who is shooting .652, ranks second to Soko with an 7.8 rpg. average. McKoy has scored in double digits in three of four games.

• First-year transfer guard Tra'Vaughn White, who led the nation's JC's in scoring last year with a 25.9 ppg. scoring average, has picked up where he left off with 20, 18, 10 & 15 points in his four games at Duquesne. White, who is shooting .535, has converted five traditional three-point plays on the young season.

• Four players posted 40-plus inch running vertical jumps in July testing. The four highest-leaping Dukes are: Jeremiah Jones (42.5"), Derrick Colter (42.5"), Ovie Soko (40.5") and Desmond Ridenour (40.5").

• Freshman forward Isaiah Watkins, who underwent leg surgery on January 31 in his hometown of Toronto, had additional arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Oct. 3. He is currently cleared for limited participation in practice. His return date is to be determined.

• A second Canadian freshman forward, 6-8, 255-pound Jordan Robinson, has not been certified as eligible by the NCAA and has yet to practice.

• The Dukes have five first-time opponents on the 13-game non-conference schedule in Abilene Christian, UMass Lowell, New Hampshire, NJIT & Texas-Pan American.

• The Dukes are facing teams from the ACC (Pitt), Big 12 (L, West Virginia) and Big Ten (Penn State) as well as additional traditional rivals Robert Morris and Saint Francis, Pa. in non-conference play.

• DU will play George Mason (2013 CBI finalist), La Salle (2013 NCAA Sweet 16), Saint Louis (2013 NCAA Third Round) and St. Bonaventure twice in Atlantic 10 play. Mason, La Salle and SLU all won at least 22 games last season. Duquesne and George Washington are the only schools who will face two of the Atlantic 10's three returning 2013 NCAA tournament participants home-and-home. DU, GW and St. Bonaventure are the only schools with three 2013 post-season participants in their four-team pod.

THE SERIES
This is the 82nd meeting between Duquesne and Pitt in a series that dates back to Jan. 13, 1932 ... Pitt holds a 50-31 advantage overall ... this is the fourth meeting at CONSOL Energy Center ... No. 3 (AP) Pitt defeated Duquesne 80-66 in the inaugural game at CONSOL in 2010, in 2011 the No. 17 (AP) Panthers defeated the Dukes 80-69 and last year Pitt took home a 66-45 win ... four years ago, the Dukes and Panthers played in the final basketball game at Mellon Arena, with Pitt emerging with a 67-58 double overtime win ... Duquesne, which never trailed in regulation, led by 16 with 17:32 left ... the seven games before that alternated between Pitt's Petersen Events Center and Duquesne's A.J. Palumbo Center ... 2013-14 marks the 44th consecutive season the two teams have met ... the last time Duquesne and Pitt did not play was in 1969-70 ... DU snapped an eight-game Pitt win streak with an 80-69 win on Feb. 5, 1998 and won again at Mellon Arena on Dec. 21, 2000 by a 71-70 count, giving the Dukes wins in two of the past 16 meetings ... Pitt has won the past 12 ... the 12-game streak is a series high for either team ... DU head coach Jim Ferry is 0-2 against Atlantic Coast conference schools with a 90-86 loss at Virginia on Nov. 22, 2002 (his first season at LIU Brooklyn) and a 101-87 NCAA Tournament loss to No. 7 North Carolina in Charlotte, N.C. on Mar. 17, 2011.

DUKES AND THE ACC
This is Duquesne's first game against an ACC opponent since a memorable 116-108 double overtime loss at Virginia Tech in the first round of the 2009 NIT. Aaron Jackson scored a Cassell Coliseum opponent record 46 points in the defeat. DU's last win over an ACC opponent was on Dec. 28, 2006 in overtime at Boston College (98-93). Jackson also figured prominently in that game with 19 points and 7 rebounds. The win, in addition to being Duquesne's first ever on an Atlantic Coast Conference school's home floor, was also DU's first victory over an ACC team since a 91-84 home win over No. 10 (AP) Florida State on Dec. 15, 1992. BC was in the "others receiving votes" category of the AP poll at the time of the game. DU is 6-22 against the ACC, including a 1-4 mark at neutral sites. This is Duquesne's first neutral-site game vs. an ACC opponent since a 74-65 loss to Duke in the NC State Holiday Doublheader in Raleigh on Dec. 28, 1977.

70 BELOW
Duquesne is 9-7 under Jim Ferry when scoring 70 points or more and 1-17 when held under 70. Duquesne hasn't scored 70 or more in the past 12 Pitt games (58.8 ppg. over that span). The last time DU scored 70 or more against the Panthers was in the Dukes' last win, 71-70 at Mellon Arena on Dec. 21, 2000.

THE CENTURY MARK
Duquesne was the first team to top the century mark in the series with a 100-66 win at the Civic Arena on Dec. 9, 1967. The Dukes topped 100 again in a 100-94 win on Dec. 6, 1974. The 194 points scored in that game stand as the most total points ever scored in a DU/Pitt clash. Pitt has topped 100 on two occasions - in a 102-77 win on Jan. 12, 1987 and in a 102-91 victory on Dec. 91, 1992.

UP NEXT: Duquesne begins a three-game homestand vs. UMBC on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m.