Duquesne Faces St. Joe's in A-10 Opener

It's back to work for the Dukes who travel to Philadelphia for a Wednesday night Atlantic 10 Conference game against Saint Joseph's at 8:00 p.m. in the Hawks' Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

DUQUESNE (4-7) at SAINT JOSEPH'S (7-5)
Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007 • *8:00 p.m. (EST)
Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (3,200) • Philadelphia, Pa.
* - game will start approximately 20 minutes after 6:00 women's game

TELEVISION: None
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
INTERNET BROADCAST: www.RedZoneMedia.com

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DUKES OPEN A-10 SEASON AT SAINT JOSEPH'S

Duquesne (4-7), winner of back-to-back road games for the first time since 1994, opens the 2006-07 Atlantic 10 season at Saint Joseph's (7-5) on Wednesday, Jan. 3 (KQV radio 1410 AM and on the internet at www.RedZoneMedia.com). The game is the second of a doubleheader following a 6:00 p.m. women's game between Saint Joseph's and Villanova.

Duquesne, which snapped a seven-game losing streak with a last second 72-71 win at Saint Francis, Pa. on Dec. 22, followed that game with a 98-93 overtime victory at Boston College on Dec. 28. The win over BC was the first ever for a Duquesne team in an ACC arena in 12 tries. DU pulled off the upset without the services of first-year head coach Ron Everhart, who was hospitalized in Pittsburgh with a gastrointestinal ailment. Everhart, who admitted himself on Christmas Day, was discharged from the hospital on Friday and is expected to be with the Dukes on the road trip.

The game is also the fourth of five consecutive road games for the Dukes. It is also the seventh-straight season Duquesne has had to open Atlantic 10 play on the road (DU is 1-5 in those games with the lone win coming in double overtime at Dayton two years ago). Saint Joseph's is coming off a 58-53 win over Boston U. in the consolation game of the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. The Hawks, the preseason pick to finish eighth in the A-10, are 4-1 at home.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Duquesne, which opened the season with seven scholarship players, is currently competing with nine
• The Dukes are looking to post their third consecutive road win for the first time since December of 1985
• DU swept the Atlantic 10's weekly awards for the just the second time in school history when Aaron Jackson was named Player and Scott Grote Rookie of the Week following the 98-93 OT win at Boston College
• Head coach Ron Everhart will be back with the team for the Saint Joseph's/Saint Louis road trip ... Everhart was hospitalized for five days (Dec. 25-29) with a gastrointestinal ailment ... his was in Pittsburgh's Passavant Hospital for the BC game
• A freshman has led DU in scoring in 10 of 11 games ... 6-6 freshmen Robert Mitchell & Scott Grote have led the team seven and three times respectively ... Mitchell, who was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week in each of the first three weeks the award was handed out this year, is averaging a team-best 18.3 ppg.
• 6-10 junior F/C Kieron Achara, who missed all but three games last season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, and the first six games of this season with three stress fractures in his left foot, is shooting 61.5 percent from the field in five games back.

DUKES AND HAWKS

This is the 42nd meeting in a series that dates back to Feb. 25, 1938 ... Saint Joseph's leads the series 32-9, including a 17-1 mark vs. the Dukes at Philadelphia ... DU's lone win on Hawk Hill came on Feb. 15, 1992 by a 77-74 margin ... the Dukes' last series win was at home on Jan. 17, 1998 by a 88-77 count ... SJU has won the past nine meetings and 15 of the past 16 ... the Hawks' average margin of victory in the last seven wins has been 18.1 ppg. ... SJU has won the past seven at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

EVERHART VS. THE A-10

First-year head coach Ron Everhart brings a 2-5 all-time record against Atlantic 10 schools with him to Duquesne. Everhart dropped an 86-76 decision at Dayton while at McNeese State in 1995-96. In five seasons at Northeastern, Everhart's Huskies went 2-4 against A-10 schools with a home win over Fordham and a victory at UMass. Three of the four losses were to Rhode Island (two on the road) and the fourth loss came at Fordham. This is Everhart's first meeting against both Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis.

QUICK NOTES

• Head coach Ron Everhart has used seven different starting lineups in the Dukes first 11 games ... the current starting five of Robert Mitchell, Scott Grote, Kieron Achara, Aaron Jackson and Reggie Jackson has started the past two games - both wins ... nine different players, including three true freshmen, have started at least once
• The average age of the 13 players currently dressing for games is 20.0
• DU, which has 174 team assists and 169 turnovers on the season, has assisted on 59.6 percent of its field goals ... Duquesne is averaging 21.5 three-point attempts per game
• Freshman Robert Mitchell saw his streak of double-digit scoring games snapped at nine with his seven points at Saint Francis ... he bounced back to post a team-high 20 in the win at Boston College ... Mitchell scored in double digits in his first nine collegiate games ... he has topped the 20-point mark in six of Duquesne's past nine games
• Sophomore Aaron Jackson and freshman Scott Grote have scored 10 or more seven and five times each respectively ... eight different players have scored in double digits at least once ... Mitchell (six times), Grote (twice), Aaron Jackson (once) and Kieron Achara (once) have all topped the 20-point mark
• Aaron Jackson, who led all Atlantic 10 returnees with a 1.73-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season, has 45 assists and 22 turnovers this season ... his 2.05-to-1 ratio began the week ranked No. 4 in the A-10 ... his 4.09 assists per game average also ranks fourth ... Jackson, who averaged 3.2 rebounds per game last season, posted double-doubles in DU's first two games (12-11 vs. Youngstown State & 15-10 vs. UNC Asheville) ... Jackson, who has seen more action at the point as of late, had five games with five or more rebounds in 27 outings last year, he has six in 11 games this season ... he leads the team with 31 offensive boards, including a spectacular put-back dunk at Boston College ... Jackson, the A-10 leader in minutes per game (36.6), put together one of the top stat lines by an A-10 player with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and a career-high five steals at Saint Francis, Pa. ... he was named A-10 co-Player of the Week (Dec. 24) for his effort ... he followed that with 19 points and seven rebounds in DU's 98-93 OT win at Boston College to earn A-10 POW honors for the second consecutive week ... in the process he became just the seventh player in school history to win conference Player of the Week honors twice in one season
• 6-10 junior forward/center Kieron Achara, who was diagnosed with three stress fractures in his left foot on Nov. 10, discarded the protective boot he had worn for the previous three weeks on Dec. 2 ... the Stirling, Scotland native began practicing on Monday, Dec. 4 and made an unexpected return at Pitt two days later ... Achara scored four points and grabbed four rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out ... it was his first game action since Dec. 3, 2005 vs. Robert Morris (he played in just three games last season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder ... he had season-ending surgery last Dec. 15) ... Achara made his first start on Dec. 9 vs. West Virginia and went 6-of-6 from the field in scoring 15 points in 25 minutes and followed that by scoring 13 of his 17 points in the second half (8-of-12 from the field) at Niagara ... he topped both outings by hitting a game-winning 3-pointer from the top of the key with 0:00 left to give the Dukes at 72-71 win at Saint Francis, Pa. on Dec. 22 ... Achara finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds ... he added 17 points in 29 minutes before fouling out at Boston College
• Duquesne's opponents, who shot a combined 54.4 percent in the Dukes' first five games (141-of-259), have been held to 45.6 percent in the past six games
• Scott Grote, who was 27-of-35 from the foul line in DU's first five games (that's 7.0 free throws attempted per game), went to the line once in the Dukes next five games before hitting 10-of-11 from the charity stripe, including 5-of-6 in overtime, in scoring 19 points in DU's come-from-behind 98-93 OT win at Boston College ... Grote, who is 3-of-22 from the 3-point arc in DU's past five games, made his last one count as he drilled a trey from the right wing with 8.2 seconds left in regulation to force an extra frame in the win at BC ... Grote, who hit 13 of his first 29 3-point attempts (44.8%), scored 17 of his 19 at BC in the second half to earn A-10 Rookie of the Week honors on Dec. 31 ... the 3-pointer at BC was the second dramatic late-game shot for Grote, who converted a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left to give the Dukes a 77-76 win over UNC Asheville on Nov. 18
• Gary Tucker ended a three-game scoreless streak with seven points in 13 minutes at Boston College
• Phillip Fayne has come off the bench to score 17 points in 26 minutes in DU's past two games ... he is 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc over that span
• Duquesne leads the Atlantic 10 in free throw percentage (.763) and assists (15.8 apg.) ... the Dukes are third in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.03-to-1)
• DU is 4-0 when leading at the half.

BC LEFTOVERS

The 98-93 overtime win at Boston College marked the first time (in 12 tries) a Duquesne team has won in an Atlantic Coast Conference team's home arena ... it was also DU's first win over an ACC team since a 91-84 win over No. 10 (AP) Florida State at the Palumbo Center on Dec. 15, 1992 ... Duquesne's 98 points were its most in a road game since a 116-105 loss at Xavier on Feb. 24, 1996 ... the Dukes trailed by 10 (75-65) with 4:43 left in regulation ... DU, which earlier this season scored 16 points in the first half vs. Oakland, scored 21 points in the five-minute overtime ... the win gave DU back-to-back road wins for the first time since December of 1994 ... the last time a Duquesne team won three in a row on the road was the last two road games of the 1984-85 season followed by wins in the first three road games of the 1985-86 campaign ... assistant coaches Kim Lewis, Richard Pitino and Daryn Freedman ran the team in Ron Everhart's absence.

DUKES ON THE ROAD

The road hasn't been kind to Duquesne in recent seasons, however first-year coach Ron Everhart's Dukes look to change that. DU won back-to-back road games for the first time since December of 1994 with a last-second 72-71 win at Saint Francis, Pa. on Dec. 22 followed by a 98-93 overtime victory at Boston College on Dec. 28. The win over Saint Francis snapped a 17-game nonconference road losing streak dating back to a 71-68 overtime win over Florida International on Dec. 28, 2002 in the title game of the FIU New Years Classic. The win over BC was the first-ever by a Duquesne team in an Atlantic Coast Conference team's arena (in 12 tries). Earlier this season, DU showed glimpses of reversing its fortune on the road in a 73-72 loss at Robert Morris (the Dukes led by seven with 2:51 left) and a 78-74 setback at Niagara (Duquesne had a potential game-tying layup roll of the rim with under five seconds left). Duquesne has won two or fewer games on the road in nine of the past 11 seasons (DU won three road games in 2004-05 & 2003-04). The last time a DU team won more than three road games was in 1994-95 (5-8). Duquesne has yet to beat just one current Atlantic 10 member (not including Charlotte and Saint Louis) on the road in league play in Richmond (0-4). The Dukes had the Spiders on the ropes two years ago, only to fall when UR scored with eight-tenths of a second left to win 72-71 at Robins Center. DU's top road victims in A-10 play are: Rhode Island (9 wins, 2003-04 last), St. Bonaventure (9 wins, 2005-06 last), George Washington (6 wins, 1999-00 last) and UMass (5 wins, 1988-89 last). The Dukes are 2-4 on the road this season.

ON THE GLASS

The Dec. 16 Niagara game marked the first time this season that Duquesne outrebounded an opponent (40-39). The Dukes, who were down nine rebounds and seven points at the half, outboarded the Purple Eagles 23-13 in rallying from a 12-point second half deficit to within a basket in the closing minute in the 78-74 loss. In the next game, at Saint Francis, Pa., DU matched the Red Flash with 31 boards. Duquesne continued its streak of improved rebounding with a 42-39 advantage on the glass at Boston College. The improved rebounding has come with the return of Kieron Achara, who has started the past four games.

DU'S IMPROVED REBOUNDING

SPAN            DU-OPP (total reb.)     MARGIN
First 8 g.      27.8-43.8 (222-278)     -7.0 rpg.
Past 3 g.       37.7-36.3 (113-109)     +1.4 rpg.