Duquesne Preview
December 09, 2005 04:24 PM | General
December 9, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Throw out both teams' records and forget about stats because when West Virginia and Duquesne play basketball games they’re always close. West Virginia owns a 44-36 edge in all-time series play, but the Dukes have taken four of the last seven dating back to 1999.
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| Back up guard Darris Nichols came off the bench to score 9 points on 4 of 8 shooting against UMBC Wednesday night.
AP photo |
Eight points is the most separating the winner of the two teams during that span; the last three games have been decided by three points or less.
“Each year I’ve been here it’s been a last-second game every single time,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “There was one the overtime and the other ones were decided by four points or less. It’s going to be a tough one for us.”
Duquesne comes into Saturday’s game having one just one of five decisions, most recently dropping a 71-60 game against city rival Pitt on Wednesday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
Senior guard Bryant McAllister reached his season average of 18 points against the Panthers, hitting 5 of 13 field-goal attempts. The 6-foot-3-inch guard is averaging 18.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. McAllister scored a team-high 16 points in Duquesne’s 72-69 loss to West Virginia last year in Pittsburgh.
“He’s a tremendous athlete and scorer,” said Beilein of McAllister. “He probably has as much quickness as we’ll see all year.”
Expected to join McAllister in Duquesne’s lineup are a pair of 6-6 forwards in Chauncey Duke and DeVario Hudson, 6-7 center Ryan Lambert, and 6-5 guard Jack Higgins. Higgins and Lambert are both averaging 7.8 points per game.
“They have very good athletes – they have A-10 talent,” said Beilein. “Just look at the Big East and the A-10. Certainly the Big East has gotten more teams into the NCAA tournament, but head-to-head match ups in some scenarios its always going to be a close game. When you play Duquesne you’re playing a team that is not on a level with some of the lower conferences.”
Duquesne coach Danny Nee, 40-82 in his fifth season with the Dukes, is 2-4 against West Virginia.
The Mountaineers have won three in a row after dropping three straight games to Texas, Kentucky and LSU. West Virginia is coming off its best shooting performance of the season last Wednesday night against UMBC, making 32 of 57 field goal attempts for 56.1 percent. The Mountaineers were 13 of 29 from 3-point range for 44.8 percent in an 82-53 win over the Retrievers.
Six-four forward Mike Gansey led West Virginia with 24 points, while 6-foot-11 center Kevin Pittsnogle contributed 18 points. Gansey is West Virginia’s top scorer averaging 19.8 points per game. The Olmstead Falls, Ohio, resident is shooting 61.2 percent from the floor for the season, including 46.8 percent from 3.
Pittsnogle is the only other WVU player averaging double figures at 17.8 points per game.
Saturday’s game will be televised on ESPN Plus (John Rooney and Bucky Waters) and will be shown locally on Fox Sports Pittsburgh. The game can also be picked up on ESPN Full Court.
Tip off is set for noon.
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