Jan. 21, 2016
QUICK NOTES
• Duquesne (12-7, 2-4), which saw its two-game win streak snapped at VCU on Wednesday, is in Fairfax, Va. to face George Mason on Friday, Jan. 22 at 2:00 p.m. The game, originally scheduled for 4:00 on Saturday at EagleBank Arena, has been moved up a day due an impending winter storm that is anticipated to hit the Mid-Atlantic region of the country Friday and Saturday. The game will be played at the 1,500-seat Recreation and Athletic Complex (RAC) on George Mason's campus, due to a previously scheduled event at EagleBank Arena.
• Duquesne is 1-4 on the road, with a win at Saint Francis U (67-65) at Johnstown, Pa. on Dec. 12. George Mason is 4-4 at home (0-2 in the A-10).
• Duquesne is holding opponents to their lowest field goal percentage in 45 years (.412). The defensive field goal percentage is the best by a DU team since the 1970-71 team held opponents to .389. The Dukes have held seven opponents under 40 percent this season. Only three teams - Pitt (.554), South Carolina State (.456) and VCU (.525) - have shot better than 45 percent against Duquesne this year. In six Atlantic 10 Conference games, DU's opponents are shooting .414.
THE SERIES
Series Record: George Mason leads 5-4
At Fairfax: Tied 2-2
A-10 Regular Season: Duquesne leads 2-1
SERIES QUICK NOTES
• This is the 10th meeting in a relatively new series that dates to New Year's Eve of 2001 ... Mason leads the series 5-4 (tied 2-2 at Fairfax) ... this is the fourth meeting between the two as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
• Duquesne has won three of the past four meetings, including the past to in Fairfax.
• Last year, Derrick Colter scored a game-high 16 points and Dominique McKoy grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, as Duquesne held George Mason to the lowest field goal percentage by a Dukes opponent in 29 years in posting a 62-53 win at Palumbo Center. The Dukes limited Mason to 25.8 percent shooting - the lowest since Rutgers shot 24.5 percent in a 65-54 loss to the Dukes on Dec. 6, 1986 - in ending their six-game losing streak. Isaiah Jackson led George Mason with 12 points. Six-eleven center Shevon Thompson, who entered the game averaging a team-high 13.5 ppg. for Mason, was held to five points ... DU's largest lead was 14 (34-20) with 16:38 left.
ON THE PATRIOTS
• George Mason (7-12), picked to finish 13th in the A-10 preseason poll, is 1-5 in conference play with home losses to St. Bonaventure and Saint Joseph's ... the Patriots are coming off a 73-62 loss at Fordham on Wednesday ... the Patriots are led by one of the top big men in the A-10 in 6-11, 243-pound senior Shevon Thompson (8.8, 10.5) ... Thompson, a native of Clarendon, Jamaica, was a preseason second team All-A-10 pick.
LEFTOVERS FROM VCU
Leftovers from Duquesne's 93-71 loss to VCU on Wednesday: L.G. Gill scored a game-high 18, Derrick Colter had 17 and Micah Mason added 15 for DU ... Eric James scored 13 points and had a game-high 9 rebounds for the Dukes who saw a two-game win streak snapped ... VCU, which shot .525, hit 8 of its first 11 3-point attempts (10-17 for the game) in building a 63-46 lead ... DU, which trailed 44-31 at the half, cut it to eight 1:10 into the second half before the Rams broke it open with a 13-3 run ... VCU outscored DU 19-7 from the foul line ... DU's nine free throw attempts tied its second lowest total of the season ... the Dukes' three centers (Darius Lewis, TySean Powell and Jordan Robinson) had three fouls each at the half ... DU, which finished with 18 turnovers, turned it over nine times in the last nine minutes of the first half ... VCU outscored the DU bench 36-2.
TRENDING
• DU is holding opponents to their lowest shooting percentage in 45 years. The opponent .412 mark is the lowest since 1970-71 (.389).
• Duquesne, which shot .365 in its first three conference games, is shooting .484 in its past three. DU's .525 effort vs. St. Bonaventure was its best since .531 vs. UMBC on Dec. 8.
• Junior L.G. Gill, a native of Chesterfield, Va., has 30 points and 15 rebounds in his past two games. Gill, who is 17-17 from the foul line in A-10 play, scored a game-high 18 at VCU on Wednesday.
• Sophomore Eric James is averaging 10.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in conference play. He has 29 points (13-22, .591 from field) and 17 rebounds in DU's past two games.
• The Dukes have outrebounded 12 of 19 opponents and are 11-1 in those games.
• Duquesne is the only A-10 team that is facing the top five teams in the league's preseason poll at least once on the road.
• Head coach Jim Ferry enters the George Mason game with 299 career wins.
• The Dukes are one victory shy of tying their highest win total under Jim Ferry (13-17 in 2013-14).
NEXT UP: Duquesne, which has been on the road since Tuesday afternoon, returns home to face La Salle on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7:00 p.m. on ASN.
