Complete notes in .pdf format
DUQUESNE (16-10, 6-7) at TEMPLE (16-12, 9-5)
Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2008 • 7:00 p.m. (EST)
Liacouras Center (10,206) • Philadelphia, Pa.
TELEVISION: CSTV Regional Syndication with Tom McCarthy and Vince Curran
game will air live on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh locally
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
DUQUESNE INTERNET AUDIO BROADCAST: redzonemedia.com
ADDITIONAL MEDIA: Streaming video and GameTracker available at OwlSports.com
The Dukes broke out of a shooting slump by hitting 8-of-19 3-pointers in the second half at Charlotte, but it was not enough to overcome a double-digit UNCC second half lead. DU's 82 points were its most since a 101-84 win at La Salle on Feb. 9. Reggie Jackson scored 15 of his 17 in the second half to lead DU.
Temple, which is 9-4 at home this season, has won seven of its past 10, including two in overtime. The Owls are coming off a 57-56 win over Saint Joseph's at the Palestra on Sunday. Temple's Dionte Christmas ranks second in the A-10 in scoring at 19.8 ppg. The Owls are averaging the second-fewest turnovers in the A-10 at 12.8/g.
Duquesne's Shawn James injured his right shoulder at Charlotte and is questionable for Wednesday's game. The 6-10 junior, who has 438 career blocked shots, needs four rejections to pass Connecticut's Emeka Okafor (8th), five to pass Fairfield's Deng Gai (7th) and seven to pass Ohio State's Ken Johnson (6th) on the NCAA Division I all-time list.
DUQUESNE LATELY
- Duquesne's 16-11 record is its best since the 1993-94 NIT team (17-13) opened with the same mark ... DU's 16 wins are its most since `94
- DU clinched its first winning season since `94 - and second winning season in 22 years - with its win at Dayton on Feb. 13
- Eight Dukes are averaging over 7.0 ppg. and 10 have at least one double-digit scoring game
- Duquesne is 1-7 in single digit games, including a 1-4 mark in games decided by three or fewer points
- The Dukes own wins over two teams currently first in their league: Cal State Northridge (Big West) and Robert. Morris (NEC)
- DU is currently ranked 3rd nationally in blocks (7.6), 4th in assists (18.4), 7th in scoring (82.3) and 12th in steals (9.5)
- Shawn James, who ranks 5th nationally in blocks per game (4.1), has more blocks (106) than nine Atlantic 10 teams (through Sunday) ... James, who injured his right shoulder at Charlotte, is questionable for the Temple game
- DU has already set school single-season records for blocks (206) and assists (497).
LAST TWO ON THE TUBE
Wednesday's game at Temple and the season-ending home game against Saint Louis on Saturday will both be carried live by Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh. Please note that the start time for the Saint Louis regular-season finale will be at 4:00. The game time was moved from 7:00 p.m. after a number of schedules were published.
THE SERIES
Temple leads the overall series 35-13, including a 18-5 advantage in games played at Philadelphia ... Duquesne has won two of the past 13 meetings ... the Dukes snapped an eight-game series losing streak with a 61-54 win in Pittsburgh on Jan. 8, 2003 ... last year DU rallied from 12 down with 11:55 left to defeat the Owls 96-92 at the Palumbo Center ... returnees Kieron Achara and Aaron Jackson led the Dukes with 22 and 20 points in that game ... Temple has won the past six meetings in Philadelphia by an average score of 78.7-50.7 (+28 ppg.) ... DU's last win at Temple was on Jan. 30, 1995 by a 62-55 score ... the closest of the past six at Temple was a 75-62 Temple win (+13) on Jan. 21, 1998 ... this is the first time the Dukes will face a Fran Dunphy-coached Temple team at Liacouras Center ... Duquesne, which had lost 26 consecutive games in the city of Philadelphia (that includes vs. Temple, Saint Joseph's and La Salle plus the Atlantic 10 Tournament), ended that streak in head coach Ron Everhart's first game at Philadelphia last year (a 111-105 win at La Salle) ... the Dukes followed that win another win at La Salle this season, marking the first time since 1995 that a Duquesne team has won consecutive games in the City of Brotherly Love.
A victory at Temple would:
- Snap a six-game road losing streak to the Owls in addition to ending a four-game overall losing streak for the Dukes.
- Be DU's sixth road win of the season which would be the most since 1985-86 (6-8).
LEFTOVERS FROM CHARLOTTE
- Sunday's 89-82 loss at Charlotte was just the second time DU lost this year when scoring 80 or more points
- Duquesne rallied from 10 down with 5:08 left to pull within two at the 1:42 mark
- Reggie Jackson, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, led the charge
- DU was down four when Jackson was whistled for his fifth foul on a charging call ... it was the first time Jackson has fouled out in his DU career
- Duquesne, which had five players foul out of its first 26 games, had three players DQ'ed at Charlotte
- Duquesne broke out of a shooting slump by hitting 8-of-19 3-point attempts in the second half (11-of-30 for the game) ... the 11 "threes" were DU's most in a game since an 11-of-30 effort in a win over Saint Francis, Pa. on Dec. 21
- DU started its 10th different lineup
- It was the first time the 6-10 duo of Shawn James and Kieron Achara started together ... James, who had a season-high four assists, injured his right shoulder with 10:20 left and did not return
- Guards Gary Tucker and Kojo Mensah had seven rebounds each.
THE STEAL CITY
Duquesne, which has posted 125 steals in conference play, has had 14 or more steals in a game six times in 2007-08. The Dukes, who rank 12th nationally with 9.5 steals per game, have eight players with 10 or more steals - and three with over 35 - led by freshman Damian Saunders with 42. Since steals were first recorded as an official NCAA stat in 1985-86, DU has posted 15 or more in a game 12 times with three coming this season.
QUICK NOTES
- The Dukes have had six different leading scorers in their past eight games and, oddly enough, leading scorer Shawn James - who has averaged 10.3 ppg. over that span - has not been one of them
- Seven different players have paced DU in the scoring column at least once this season and 10 different players have scored in double digits
- Duquesne has four first-year players in prominent roles in transfers Shawn James (Northeastern) & Kojo Mensah (Siena) and true freshmen Damian Saunders & Bill Clark
- The Dukes have assisted on 64.4 percent of their field goals this season
- DU leads the Atlantic 10 (and ranks fourth nationally) with an 18.4 apg. average
- Do-it-all swingman Aaron Jackson is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game - with a team-high 34 offensive boards - in conference play ... Jackson is shooting .533 for the season ... the Dukes are 9-3 when Jackson scores in double figures
- Reggie Jackson, who was averaging 3.6 ppg. following the Dec. 5 Pitt game, brings an 8.4 ppg. scoring average into Wednesday's game ... he is averaging 11.8 ppg. in four games after going scoreless at Dayton on Feb. 13 ... Jackson has handed out 73 assists (4.3 apg.) in his past 17 games, including a career-high nine vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 28 and at La Salle on Feb. 9 ... Jackson's top three scoring games have all come on the road (19 each at Bowling Green, at Rhode Island & at La Salle)
- It took Shawn James four games to break the Atlantic 10 and Duquesne records for blocks in a game (he had 12 blocks in 22 minutes in Duquesne's 92-77 win at Oakland on Nov. 20), 15 games to break the school mark for blocks in a season and 20 to post the first triple-double in school history (17-11-10 vs. Saint Joseph's) ... James' 106 blocks have shattered the school mark of 60 set (in 1991-92) and tied (in 1992-93) by Derrick Alston ... Alston played in 28 games in both `92 & `93 ... the previous A-10 individual record of 11 blocks in a game was set by Rutgers' Roy Hinson in 1982-83 and tied by UMass' Stephane Lasme three times last year ... the old Duquesne record of seven was set by Derrick Alston vs. Saint Joseph's Jan. 5, 1991 ... James broke the DU record when he rejected his eighth shot with 7:53 left in the first half at Oakland ... James' five career triple-doubles are one shy of the NCAA career record set by Drexel's Michael Anderson (1985-88) and tied by LSU's Shaquille O'Neal (1990-92) .... with his five rejections against George Washington on Jan. 26, James became the 18th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 400 for his career ... his 438 blocked shots in 81 career games currently ranks 9th on the all-time NCAA Division I list ... he needs four blocks to pass Connecticut's Emeka Okafor for the 8th spot on the all-time list ... James had a 20-10 double-double at Fordham before suffering a knee injury in practice on Monday, Jan. 21 that kept him in street clothes for the Jan. 23 St. Bonaventure game ... came back to score a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and five blocks vs. GW ... James, who leads the team with 32 dunks, is shooting an Atlantic 10-best .551 from the field
- Kojo Mensah has had streaks of 18 & 13 consecutive free throws made this season ... Mensah, who posted his fourth 20-point game with 22 on Dec. 28 vs. Robert Morris, is tied with James for the team lead in 20-point games ... Mensah had scored in double digits in five-straight games before scoring three on 1-of-8 shooting at St. Bonaventure ... bounced back with a team-high 19 vs. Saint Joe's ... missed DU's next game, at La Salle, with strep throat ... shot .188 from the field (6-of-32) and 1-of-7 from the 3-point arc in his first four games back (6.5 ppg. over that span) before scoring 14 in 26 minutes off the bench at Charlotte ... DU is 3-6 when Mensah scores in single digits and 12-3 when Mensah attempts six or more free throws ... Mensah's 150 free throw attempts are 43 more than any other DU player ... tied with Shawn James for team-high with 12 "traditional" three-point plays (basket and free throw) ... Mensah, whose scoring average was at 14.8 ppg. at the start of conference play, is averaging 10.2 ppg. in Atlantic 10 games ...is 4-of-25 from the 3-point arc in conference play
- Damian Saunders was named A-10 Rookie of the Week for the third time on Dec. 30 ... he is the fifth player in school history to win the award more than twice in a season ... Saunders leads the team with 42 steals and is second on the team with a 5.3 rebounds per game average ... he is third in blocks (34) and fourth in 3-pointers made (24-of-64, .375) ... Saunders had one rejection at Charlotte to pass Kieron Achara for the second-most blocks ever by a DU freshman (the record of 54 was set by Derrick Alston in 1990-91)
- Fellow freshman Bill Clark has hit three or more 3-pointers in a game four times ... Clark, at 6-6, ranks third on the team with a 4.4 rpg. average ... Clark, who hit at least one three in 13 of his first 15 games, ended a five-game streak without a 3-pointer (0-of-13 over that span) by going 2-of-6 from the arc vs. Richmond ... Clark scored all 15 of his points in 12 second half minutes in helping the Dukes rally from a 13-point deficit against the Spiders ... he went 1-of-4 from the arc both at Xavier and vs. La Salle before hitting 2-of-5 in scoring 14 at Charlotte
- Kieron Achara played just six minutes at Rhode Island after suffering a mild concussion and loosened tooth early in the second half ... with Shawn James on the bench in street clothes the Stirling, Scotland native - fresh off a pair of root canals done the previous day as a result of the tooth damage suffered in URI game - posted 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in 28 minutes vs. St. Bonaventure on Jan. 23 ... Achara had his front tooth knocked out early in the second half vs. Saint Joseph's, had a root canal the next day then delivered 21 points and a career high-tying five blocks at La Salle ... is shooting .794 from the foul line ... DU is 10-2 when Achara scores in double figures
- Gary Tucker, who had 30 assists and 29 turnovers in 28 games last season, has 55 and 33 this year (1.7-1 ratio) ... he ranks second on the team with 31 3-pointers (he was 14-of-52 last season) ... is shooting .409 from the arc (18-of-44) in 13 games away from the Palumbo Center (including neutral-site game vs. Cal State Northridge) ... third on the team - at 6-1 - with 10 dunks.
RECORDS SET
DU broke the school record for blocks in a season in its 22nd game (at La Salle). The old mark of 166 was set in 28 games in 1979-80. The Dukes enter the Temple game with 206 rejections in 27 contests. Duquesne has also set single-season records for assists (497, old record was 486) and are six steals shy of he record of 261 (set in 1992-93 and tied in 1997-98).
GIVING AND TAKING AWAY
The 2007-08 Dukes own the No. 1, 6 & 7 high assist games in school history (35 vs. Howard and 28 vs. St. Francis and at La Salle) in addition to eight of the top 11 shot blocking games - including the top three (15 at Oakland & Saint Joseph's and 13 vs. St. Francis & at Xavier). Duquesne has posted 20 or more assists in a game 12 times and registered 10 or more blocks on eight occasions. Duquesne ranks third nationally in blocks per game (7.6) and fourth in assists (18.4) (through Mar. 2).
AJAX LOOKING FOR 100
Junior Aaron Jackson, who handed out 110 assists as a sophomore, enters Wednesday's game with 96 assists this season. Only seven Duquesne players have had two or more 100-assist seasons: Norm Nixon and Clayton Adams (4), Kenya Hunter, Tony Petrarca and Mike James (3) and Martin Osimani and Courtney Wallace (2). Jackson barely missed the 100 assist mark with 97 as a freshman in 2006-07.
CLOSE ONES
Six of the Dukes 11 losses have come by a total of 18 points: 77-73 at currently nationally ranked Drake, 73-68 to then-No. 12 (AP) Pitt, 80-78 at then-No. 22 (AP) Rhode Island, 75-74 at Fordham, 69-66 vs. Richmond and 75-72 to La Salle. The Dukes, who are 1-7 in single-digit games, were 0-4 before pulling out a 63-61 win at Dayton on Feb. 13.