Feb. 25, 2016
QUICK NOTES
• Duquesne (15-13, 5-10) returns home to face Richmond (14-13, 6-9), in its second-to-last regular season home game, on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 6:00 p.m. (ASN with Tim Neverett & Jan van Breda Kolff). As part of the last weekend home game, DU will be honoring seniors Derrick Colter, Nick Foschia, Jeremiah Jones and Micah Mason in a pre-game ceremony.
• DU, which is 10-4 at home, is looking to end a six-game losing streak. Three of the losses have come by four or fewer points, with a fourth coming in overtime. Richmond, which is 17-1 in the regular season against Duquesne since joining the Atlantic 10, is 4-6 on the road.
• Guards Micah Mason (17.8 ppg., 480 points) and Derrick Colter (17.6 ppg., 492 points), who are one and two on the team in scoring for the second consecutive season, are closing in on joining all-time greats Si Green and Dick Ricketts as the only other Duquesne duo to score 500 or more points in the same season. Green (551 points) & Ricketts (523) both scored over 500 in leading DU to the 1955 NIT title. Green and Ricketts were both named consensus first team All-Americans that season.
• Mason, the second-leading 3-point shooter in NCAA history (.470, 287-611), is 33-of-66 (.500) from the arc in his past seven games. To put Mason's 3-point prowess in perspective, he could miss his next 23 attempts (the A-10 recognizes Mason's Duquesne attempts only, .464, 247-532) and still break the A-10 career mark held by Saint Joseph's Matt Carroll (.445, 294-661 from 2002-05).
• Colter & Jeremiah Jones - who were part of Jim Ferry's first recruiting class - have never missed a game in their Duquesne careers (Jones prior to his career-ending injury). Mason, who transferred to DU after one season at Drake, is on pace to be the second most-accurate 3-point shooter in NCAA history (.470). Colter (1,578 points) and Mason (1,303 points) have combined for 232 games played and 210 starts. Jones had 761 points in 103 games (95 starts) at the time of his injury.
THE SERIES
Series Record: Richmond leads 18-9
At Pittsburgh: Richmond leads 8-4
A-10 Regular Season: Richmond leads 17-1
SERIES QUICK NOTES
• This is the 28th meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 12, 1937 ... DU led the series 8-0 when Richmond joined the Atlantic 10 in 2001-02 ... the Spiders promptly reeled off 14 consecutive wins before DU ended the streak with an 81-72 win at Palumbo Center in 2012 ... UR defeated the Dukes, 86-55 last year in Richmond to give the Spiders a 17-1 record against Duquesne in A-10 regular season games (18-1 including the A-10 Championship).
• Duquesne has topped the 70-point mark once in 11 meetings (1-10) against Chris Mooney-coached Richmond teams ... that was in DU's lone win - an 81-72 decision at the Palumbo Center on Feb. 4, 2012 ... in fact, DU has scored 70 or more just two times against Richmond since the Spiders joined the A-10 in 2001-02, the other was in a 72-71 loss at Richmond on Feb. 1, 2005 ... that game was decided when Richmond's Daon Merritt answered a Martin Osimani 3-pointer by racing the length of the court in the final six seconds to hit an acrobatic layup with eight-tenths of a second remaining.
ON THE SPIDERS
• Richmond is 4-6 on the road, including a 3-4 mark in A-10 road games (conference wins at Fordham, George Washington and Saint Louis) ... 6-8, 240-pound senior forward Terry Allen leads the team at 18.1 ppg. ,,, 6-9 junior forward T.J. Cline is averaging 17.1 ppg. with 106 assists ... 5-11 junior guard ShawnDre' Jones, who came off the bench to score 27 vs. DU last year, is averaging 15.0 ppg with 105 assists.
LEFTOVERS FROM ST. BONAVENTURE
Leftovers from DU's 80-76 loss at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday: Micah Mason - who had a streak of consecutive 20-point games snapped at six - led a season-high six Dukes in double figures with 16 points ... it was the fifth consecutive game Mason has led DU in scoring ... Eric James had 15, Derrick Colter 13 and L.G. Gill, Darius Lewis and TySean Powell had 10 each for the Dukes who finished with one more field goal (and two more 3-pointers) than the Bonnies ... St. Bonaventure outscored DU 22-14 from the foul line ... in the second half alone, SBU went 16-21 from the stripe to 5-8 for DU ... the Dukes outrebounded the Bonnies 48-37 ... Lewis had 9, Powell 8 and James 7 ... Duquesne finished with 22 offensive boards ... DU shot .388 to .397 for SBU ... Duquesne's largest lead was +8 (49-41) with 13:36 left ... St. Bonaventure's largest lead was +5 (77-72) with :50 left ... there were seven ties and eight lead changes ... Duquesne led for 22:53 and SBU for 10:07 ... the game was tied for 7:00.
TRENDING
• DU ranks sixth in the nation (through Feb. 24) in defensive rebounds per game at 29.43.
• Duquesne, whose defensive field goal pct. was .434 last season, is limiting opponents to .410 shooting. The mark is the best by a DU team since the 1970-71 NCAA Tournament squad held opponents to .389. It is the best by a DU team since the shot clock was introduced in 1985-86.
• DU's current 79.5 ppg. scoring average is its highest since 2008 (82.3).
• The Dukes have outrebounded 16 of 27 opponents and are 13-3 in those games.
• Senior guard Derrick Colter enters the Richmond game needing 22 points to reach 1,600 and 11 assists to reach 500 for his career.
• Duquesne has scored 70 or more in each game during its current six-game losing streak. DU's record when scoring 70 or more prior to the streak was 14-3 (now 14-9).
• DU led twice and was tied once with five minutes left in three of its past five games - led at Dayton and vs. UMass and tied at St. Bonaventure - and has had double-digit second half leads in three of its past five games (Dayton, UMass & GW).
NEXT UP: Duquesne hosts Fordham on Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the final regular season home game of 2015-16.
