Nov. 22, 2015
QUICK NOTES
• Duquesne, coming off a 78-52 win over Penn State on Friday, heads to Southwest Florida for the eight-team Gulf Coast Showcase (Nov. 23-25 at Germain Arena, Estero, Fla.). The Dukes, who are off to their first 3-0 start since 2009-10 (Dukes started 4-0 that season), will face Pepperdine (1-2) of the West Coast Conference in a first round game on Monday at 2:30 p.m. Murray State and Milwaukee are also in Duquesne's side of the bracket. Drake vs. Western Kentucky and Central Michigan vs. Weber State are the other opening round games.
• These will be the first games away from Pittsburgh for the Dukes who opened with a pair of home games at Palumbo Center, followed by a third home game vs. Penn State at CONSOL Energy Center.
• This is Duquesne's first appearance in an in-season tournament since the four-team Iowa Realty Invitational hosted by Drake on Nov. 30/Dec. 1, 2007 (DU lost in the title game to Drake, 77-73). DU's last tournament title came at the 2002 FIU Classic in Miami (wins over St. Francis, N.Y. and Florida International on Dec. 27 & 28). Duquesne has participated in three non-tournament format events since the Iowa Realty Invitational: O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic at Cullowhee, N.C. (2010), 2K Sports Classic at Valparaiso, Ind. (2012) and the Legends Classic in Pittsburgh (2013).
DUKES VS. PEPPERDINE
Series Record: Duquesne leads 2-0
At Pittsburgh: Duquesne leads 2-0
At Malibu, Calif.: Never met
Neutral: Never met
Dec. 29, 1949 (H) -- W 60-49
Dec. 12, 1950 (H) -- W 84-50
• Duquesne leads the series 2-0 with home wins in 1949-50 (60-49) and 1950-51 (84-50).
• The Waves are off to a 1-2 start with losses at Fresno State (66-69) and UCLA (67-81) sandwiched around a home win over San Diego Christian (91-49). Pepperdine's first three opponents are a combined 8-of-53 (.151) from the 3-point arc and shooting .386 overall. Pepperdine finished second in the nation last season in 3-point field goal defense (.270).
• Pepperdine, which has gone from 10, to 12, to 15 to 18 wins in its last four full seasons under head coach Marty Wilson, was picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference preseason poll behind Gonzaga and BYU. The Waves return all five starters and 12 of the top 14 players from last year's 18-14 team.
• Pepperdine welcomes back one of the top frontcourts in the WCC in forward Stacy Davis (12.3, 6.0) and center Jeff Raines (6.7, 2.3). Davis, who is on pace to be Pepperdine's all-time leading scorer, is a two-time first-team All-WCC pick. Five-ten point guard Jeremy Major (11 assists in three games) has handed out over 100 assists in each of his first two seasons.
• Six-five junior swingman Lamond Murray, Jr., whose father played at Cal and enjoyed an 11-year NBA career, leads the Waves at 18.3 ppg. Murray averaged 6.9 ppg. last season.
• Pepperdine held opponents to 61.6 ppg. last season, the school's best defensive effort since 1962 ... the Waves defeated BYU twice and lost to nationally ranked Gonzaga by two and eight points last year.
TRENDING
• Duquesne is averaging 89.7 points on .553 shooting in its first three games. DU is 37-of-83 (.446) from the 3-point arc over that span.
• Senior guards Micah Mason & Derrick Colter have taken turns going 6-of-9 from the 3-point arc in DU's past two games. Mason did it in a career high 28-point game vs. New Orleans and Colter did it in a career high-tying 26 point effort vs. Penn State on Friday. Pepperdine has given up eight total 3-pointers (opponents are 8-of-53) in its first three games.
• DU hit a school record 17 3-pointers (17-of-34) in Friday's win over Penn State. The 78-52 win (+26) marked DU's largest margin of victory in the 47-game series.
• DU has assisted on 66 percent of its field goals (62 of 94).
• The Dukes have limited opponents to .361 shooting.
• Six Dukes: Micah Mason, Derrick Colter, L.G. Gill, Jeremiah Jones, Darius Lewis and Eric James, have posted double-digit scoring games this season.
NOTING THE GULF COAST SHOWCASE FIELD
CENTRAL MICHIGAN - First Meeting
Mid-American Conference ... in its fourth season under head coach Keno Davis, who took the team from over 20 losses in 2014 to over 20 wins in 2015 ... return all five starters and a number of key reserves from a NIT team that finished 23-9 (12-6 in the MAC) last year ... the turnaround, from 10-21 (3-15 in the MAC) in 2013-14, was the fifth-best in the nation last year ... the 23 wins were the most by a CMU team since 2002-03 (25-7) ... it was the first time since `03 that CMU won the regular-season league title, appeared in the MAC Tournament championship game and made a post-season appearance ... CMU's previous MAC West title came in 2010 ... 6-1 guard Chris Fowler (16.2 ppg. last year) was the runner-up for MAC Player of the Year last season ... the Southfield, Mich. native enters his senior year with 1,308 points and 533 assists ... he is the first player in CMU history to amass over 1,000 points, 500 assists, 250 rebounds and 150 steals for a career.
DRAKE - Series Record: Tied 1-1
Missouri Valley Conference ... series tied at 1-1 ... Drake, which was on its way to a 28-5 season, defeated the Dukes 77-73 in the title game of the Iowa Realty Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa on Dec. 1, 2007 in the last meeting between the two ... the `08 Bulldogs finished the season ranked No. 14 nationally by AP ... DU won the first meeting on New Year's Eve of 1934 by a 48-26 score in Pittsburgh ... coming off a 9-22 (6-12 MVC) season ... led by 6-1 guard Reed Timmer (team-high 11.6 ppg.) who was named to the MVC All-Freshman and All-Newcomer teams last year ... Timmer was one of 15 freshmen to average at least 11.0 points and 2.5 assists per game last season ... also return 7-foot, 246-pound junior Jacob Enevold Jensen (8.5, 5.8) ... welcome a pair of Big Ten transfers who sat out last season in 6-0 sophomore guard Graham Woodward (Penn State) and 6-8 junior forward Kale Abrahamson (Northwestern) ... has seven players 6-8 or taller ... went 1-11 on the road and 0-5 at neutral sites last season ... took a 10-day, three-game overseas tour to Denmark and Italy in August ... in its third season under head coach Ray Giacoletti ... Duquesne senior guard Micah Mason began his college career at Drake in 2012-13 under previous coach Mark Phelps.
MILWAUKEE - First Meeting
Horizon League ... finished the 2014-15 season as one of the hottest teams in the Horizon League, winning seven of its final nine games to finish 14-16 ... welcomes back six of its top seven scorers, including second team All-Horizon forward Matt Tiby (13.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and double-digit scorer Akeem Springs (10.3 ppg) ,,, also return junior forward Austin Arians, who redshirted in 2014-15 after averaging 11.1 ppg and 3.5 rpg in helping Milwaukee to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2013-14 ... in its 11th season under head coach Rob Jeter ... Jeter enters the season needing 22 wins to tie the school record ... he has led the Panthers to 20 wins in three of the past six seasons.
MURRAY STATE - Series Record: Duquesne leads 1-0
Ohio Valley Conference ... Duquesne has won the lone meeting between the two, 72-66 in Pittsburgh on Feb. 7, 1972 ... is coming off a 29-6 season (16-0 in the OVC) ... in its first season under head coach Matt McMahon who took over for Steve Prohm who took the head job at Iowa State ... lost four starters from a team that won 25 in a row last year ... top returnee is 6-4 wing Jeffrey Moss who averaged 11.2 ppg. (55-103, .423 from 3-point) last season ... welcome a pair of talented transfers in 6-5 forward Gee McGhee (Chattanooga) and 6-4 guard Demarcus Croaker (Texas) ... McGhee started 64 games and scored 715 points (11.1 ppg.) in two seasons at Chattanooga where he was an All-Freshman pick in 2013 ... Croaker, who played parts of two seasons at UT, won't become eligible until after the fall semester.
WEBER STATE - Series Record: First Meeting
Big Sky Conference ... returns all five starters from last year's 13-17 team including leading scorer Jeremy Senglin (16.4 ppg.) ... coming off its first season without a post-season appearance since 2008 ... lone senior 6-9, 235-pound Joel Bolomboy has led the Big Sky in rebounding in each of the past two seasons ... Bolomboy (13.3, 10.2) was rated the top NBA prospect in the conference by Lindy's preseason college basketball magazine ... also return one of the top guards in the conference in 6-2 junior Jeremy Senglin (16.4 ppg. and 45 3-pointer last season) ... in its 10th season under head coach Randy Raye ... Raye has led WSU to four conference championships and seven post-season appearances (two NCAAs).
WESTERN KENTUCKY - Series Record: Duquesne leads 7-2
Conference USA ... Duquesne leads the series 7-2 ... last meeting was a 74-64 Dukes win on Dec. 8, 1997 ... have met twice on a neutral floor (a 30-29 DU win in the 1940 NCAA East Regional at Indianapolis and a 69-61 Duquesne victory in the second round of the 1953 NIT at Madison Square Garden) ... finished 20-12 last season ... have eight scholarship newcomers in 2015-16 ... will be bolstered by the addition of Illinois graduate transfer guard Aaron Crosby who averaged 7.8 ppg. and 3.6 apg. last season ... have also added two-time NJCAA All-American junior guard Fredrick Edmond who averaged 18.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season at the College of Southern Idaho ... WKU and Louisiana Tech are the only schools in Conference USA to win 20 or more games in each of the last three seasons ... in its fifth season under head coach Ray Harper, who is in his 17th season as a college coach.
