March 15, 2016
QUICK NOTES
• Duquesne (16-16) hosts the University of Nebraska Omaha (18-13) in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. at Palumbo Center. This is the third CBI appearance for the Dukes (2010 & 2011) and first post-season appearance for DU under fourth-year head coach Jim Ferry. It is the program's first post-season appearance since 2011.
• DU is 1-2 all-time in the CBI with a 65-51 loss at Princeton in 2010 and an 87-74 win at Montana & 77-75 loss at Oregon in 2011. This is the Dukes' first CBI home game. In the eight-year history of the CBI, home teams are 42-22 in first round games. Duquesne was the only road team to post a win in the entire 2011 tournament (home teams went 16-1 overall that year).
• Nine current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference (including Duquesne) have participated in the CBI: Duquesne (2010 & 2011), George Washington (2010), Rhode Island (2011), Richmond (2008, 2009 & 2013), St. Bonaventure (2011) and Saint Louis (2010). Davidson participated as a member of the Southern Conference in 2011, George Mason played as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association in 2013 and VCU took the court as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association in 2010. Three current A-10 members have advanced to the Championship Series with VCU defeating Saint Louis in 2010 and George Mason losing to Santa Clara in 2013.
THE SERIES
First Meeting
SERIES QUICK NOTES
• Duquesne is 2-4 all time against schools that comprise the current Summit League (0-1 vs. Denver/last 12/22/02, 1-1 vs. IUPUI/last 12/18/10, 0-1 vs. North Dakota State/last 11/20/12 and 1-1 vs. Oral Roberts/last 2/16/80) ... head coach Jim Ferry has faced one Summit League school in his coaching career ... in his fourth game at DU, Ferry's Dukes were defeated by North Dakota State, 57-43, at the Palumbo Center in the Legends Classic on Nov. 20, 2012.
NOTING OMAHA
• The Mavericks (18-13), picked to finish seventh in the Summit League preseason poll, ended up third with a 10-6 record.
• UNO, which was seeded third, is coming off a 78-70 loss to sixth-seeded Denver in the quarterfinal of the Summit League Championship.
• Omaha, which ranks fourth nationally in scoring at 84.4 ppg., has four players averaging over 12.0 ppg.
• Like Duquesne, UNO has two players averaging over 17 points per game in 5-11 senior guard Devin Patterson (17.4 ppg.) and 6-8, 235-pound senior forward Jake White (17.3 ppg.).
• Junior guard Tra-Deon Hollins - the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year - leads the nation in steals per game at 4.03. As a team, UNO ranks fifth nationally at 9.4 spg.
• Hollins (187 assists/125 steals) was named First Team All-Summit and White and Patterson earned Second Team all-conference honors.
• Omaha is 7-8 on the road.
• UNO is averaging 19.1 free throws made per game. The Mavericks' 592 free throws made rank 18th nationally. UNO has four players who have attempted over 130 free throws, led by Patterson's 180.
• Four Omaha players: Jake White (11), Devin Patterson (10), Tre'Shawn Thurman (6), Tra-Deon Hollins (4) and Randy Reed (1) have combined to score 20 or more points 32 times this season. Duquesne has had five players combine to score 20 or more 27 times: Micah Mason (14), Derrick Colter (9), L.G. Gill (2), Eric James (1) and Jeremiah Jones (1).
NOTING THE CBI
• The Duquesne vs. Omaha winner will face the winner of Morehead State at Siena on March 21 (site and time TBD).
NOTING THE DUKES
• The Dukes are in their fourth season under head coach Jim Ferry. Ferry, who came to Duquesne after leading LIU Brooklyn to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2011 & 2012), is the 16th coach in school history. Ferry notched his 300th career win at George Mason on Jan. 22. The 2015-16 Dukes have posted the most wins by a Ferry-coached team at Duquesne (previous was 13-17 in 2014).
• Senior guards Micah Mason (568 points/142 assists) - a Third Team All-Atlantic 10 pick & Derrick Colter (565/143) have scored more combined points (1,133) and handed out more assists (285) this season than any duo in school history.
• Colter - who, along with Jeremiah Jones, was part of Jim Ferry's first recruiting class - has started every game in his DU career (school-record 123). Mason, who transferred to DU after one season at Drake, is on pace to be the fourth most-accurate 3-point shooter in NCAA history (.466). Colter (1,651 points) and Mason (1,391 points) have combined for 240 games played and 218 starts.
• Mason (18.3 ppg./568 points) & Colter (17.7 ppg./565 points), who are one and two on the team in scoring for the second consecutive season, have joined 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. Colter & Mason are the first Duquesne teammates to average 17 or more points per game in the same season since Mickey Davis (19.0 ppg.) and current DU radio color man Jarrett Durham (18.0 ppg.) did it in 1970-71.
• Mason, the fourth-leading 3-point shooter in NCAA history (.466), could miss his next 20 attempts and still break the A-10 career mark held by Saint Joseph's Matt Carroll (.445, 294-661 from 2002-05) (A-10 recognizes Mason's attempts at Duquesne only, .461, 263-571). With every make, Mason adds to school single-season record (he has 110 this season/old record was 99).
• Colter is the fourth Duke with over 500 career assists (513). The others: Norm Nixon (577), Clayton Adams (573) & Aaron Jackson (505).
• Duquesne, whose defensive field goal pct. was .434 last season, is limiting opponents to .416 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.
• The Dukes are on school-record pace for 3-pointers per game at 9.4. The current mark of 8.7 was set in 2008-09. DU's 301 3-point field goals have broken the previous school record of 296 set in 34 games in 2008-09.
• DU's current 78.5 ppg. scoring average is its highest since 2008 (82.3) ... the Dukes have outrebounded 17 of 31 opponents and are 14-3 in those games.
• A guard has either led, or tied for the team lead in scoring, in 55 of the Dukes' past 63 games over the past two seasons. A guard has either led - or shared the team lead - in scoring in 27 of 32 games this year.
• DU, which is 10-6 at home, is looking for its 11th home win, which would be the most since 2011 (11-4).
