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Damian Saunders

Class: Senior Hometown: Waterbury, Conn. High School: Crosby

Height / Weight: 6-7 / 210 Position: Forward Birthdate: 11/01/1988 Prep School: Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep

Damian Saunders career recap
Photo Gallery

2009-10 NABC All-District
2009-10 First Team Team All-Atlantic 10
2009-10 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year
2009-10 Atlantic 10 All-Defense Team
2008-09 Atlantic 10 Honorable Mention All-Conference
2007-08 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team

Reigning Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year and returning First Team All-Atlantic 10 performer ... was named one of the nation's top 10 "Stat Sheet Stuffers" by Rivals.com in October of 2009 and lived up to that billing by putting together the top defensive season in school history as a junior ... ranked among the nation's top 15 in four statistical categories: steals (2nd), rebounds (6th), double-doubles (6th) and blocks (13th) last season ... was the only forward ranked among the nation's top 15 in steals per game ... was two steals shy of becoming the first player over 6-6 to lead the nation in that category ... is the only player in Atlantic 10 history to post 350 rebounds (360), and more than 50 assists (78), steals (89) and blocks (94) in a season ... already ranks among Duquesne's Top 10 in four career statistical categories: 2nd in blocks (216), 3rd in steals (205), 7th in rebounds (774) and 8th in career FG% (.511) ... has broken the school single-season record for steals in each of the past two years with 71 in 34 games in 2009 and 89 in 32 games last year ... needs 14 steals to pass Kenya Hunter (218 from 1993-96) and become DU's all-time steals leader ... will be attempting to join nine-year NBA veteran Mike James as the only other player in school history to average over two steals per game in three consecutive seasons (Saunders averaged 2.1 spg. in 2009 and 2.8 spg. last year) ... he is 14 blocks shy of breaking Derrick Alston's school career record of 229 ... three-year starter has the unique career stat line of having more assists (203), blocks (216) and steals (205) than turnovers (197) ... leads the team with 119 career dunks (20 as a freshman, 40 as a sophomore and 59 last year) ... has scored in double digits 60 times including 12 games of 20 or more ... has had 30 games with 10 or more rebounds ... all of his 27 career double-doubles have come in the past two seasons (seven as a sophomore and 20 as a junior) ... has swatted five or more shots in a game nine times and posted five or more steals in a game on six occasions ... has never missed a game in his Duquesne career ... begins his senior season with streaks of 96 consecutive games played and 69 straight starts ... averaging 31.4 minutes/g. for his career ... will be bidding to join Bruce Atkins (1981 & 1982) as the second Duke to earn First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in two consecutive seasons ... enters 2010-11 26th on Duquesne's all-time scoring list with 1,120 points ... Saunders and teammate Bill Clark, who have played a major role in the renaissance of Duquesne basketball, are bidding to become the first four-year DU players since 1975 to not experience a losing season.

As a Junior (2009-10)
Joined Eric Evans as the only other Duke to Start all 34 games ... led the team in scoring (15.0 ppg.), rebounding (11.3 rpg.), steals (school record 89) and blocks (94) ... was second on the team with 78 assists ... ranked second nationally in steals (2.8 spg.), tied for 6th in rebounding, 13th in blocks (2.9 bpg.) and 6th in double-doubles (20) ... was named NABC All-District, Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, A-10 All-Defense Team and First Team All-Atlantic 10 ... was the 12th player in school history to earn NABC All-District honors, first player in school history to be named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and first Duquesne junior to be named First Team All-A-10 since Bruce Atkins in 1981 ... was one of six Division I players to post at least 350 rebounds and 90 blocked shots ... the other five players (Baylor's Ekpe Udoh, Kansas' Cole Aldrich, Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado, Oakland's Keith Benson and St. Mary's Omar Samhan) were 6-9 or taller ... became the 33rd member of the Duquesne 1,000-point club with a steal and layup with 17:30 left vs. UMass on Feb. 11 (his 88th career game) ... finished the year 26th on the all-time list with 1,120 points ... was the first DU player in 39 years to open a season with six consecutive double-doubles ... posted 20 double-doubles in 2010, including streaks of six (to open the season) and nine in a row ... the 20 double-doubles were the most by a DU player since Bruce Atkins had 22 in 1980-81 ... didn't go more than three games without a double-double in 2010 ... set new career highs for points (27 at George Washington), rebounds (19 vs. Nicholls State) and blocks (9 at Old Dominion) and tied his career-best for steals (6 at Iowa & vs. Richmond) and assists (6 at Temple) in 2010 ... his 11.3 rebounds per game average was the best since Atkins averaged 11.7 rpg. in 1980-81 and his 2.8 steals per game average was the best in school history ... his 360 rebounds were the most by a DU player in 55 years ... only All-American Dick Ricketts (450 in 1955) has pulled down more in a season ... grabbed 15 or more boards in a game nine times ... his career high entering the season was 14 ... came within a disputed first half goaltend of posting the second triple-double in Duquesne history at Old Dominion (11-10-9) ... the nine blocks tied ODU's Constant Center arena record set by former Duke Shawn James ... James set the mark in 2006 while at Northeastern prior to his transfer to Duquesne ... had seven blocks vs. Canisius and Saint Joseph's ... led the Dukes with 59 dunks, bringing his career total to 119 ... his 100th dunk came off a spectacular fast break alley-oop pass from former high school teammate B.J. Monteiro at George Washington ... also flirted with a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks vs. Canisius ... posted six steals in a game twice (at Iowa and vs. Richmond) ... with DU down 50-40 and just over 17 minutes left, he ignited a 16-1 run with a steal and dunk followed by a second steal and assist in DU's 83-77 win at Charlotte ... finished the game with four assists and six blocks ... scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to key DU's 73-71 win over Dayton (he was scoreless until the 2:04 mark of the first half) ... struggled from the 3-point arc where he is shot .189 (18-of-95) ... he had never shot under 34 percent from arc in his two previous seasons (.348 as a freshman and .343 as a sophomore) ... played 40 or more minutes in a game eight times including all 50 in double overtime games against Canisius and Saint Louis ... was named Atlantic 10 co-Player of the Week two times (Nov. 15 & Nov. 22) ... the first came after a 17-point, 19-rebound, five-assist and four-steal performance in a season opening win over Nicholl's State ... the second followed a 16-point, 16-rebound and six-steal outing in a 52-50 win at Iowa ... the win was Duquesne's first in a Big Ten arena.

As a Sophomore (2008-09)
Started all 34 games ... was second to Aaron Jackson in minutes per game at 34.6 ... led the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg.), blocked shots (83) & steals (71) and was second in scoring (13.1 ppg.) ... ranked 22nd nationally in blocked shots per game (2.4), 43rd in steals per game (2.1) and 42nd in field goal percentage (.546) ... led the Atlantic 10 in steals per game, ranked third in blocked shots/g. and was fourth in both rebounds/g. and field goal percentage ... named honorable mention All-Atlantic 10 ... had more assists (77), blocks and steals than turnovers (68) ... his 71 steals eclipsed the school's single season record of 70 set by guard Clayton Adams in 1988 and his 2.1 steals/g. average was the best by a Duquesne player since Mike James averaged 2.2 spg. in `93 ... the blocks were the second-most by a DU player in a season and his 7.6 rpg. average was the highest by a Dukes player since Derrick Alston averaged 9.3 in 1993 ... shot .546 from the field with 37 3-pointers (.343) ... had a team-best 84 offensive rebounds ... scored in double digits 26 times and posted double-digit rebounds on eight occasions ... had seven double-doubles (20-12 at USC Upstate, 22-10 at Duke, 18-10 vs. North Carolina Central, 12-11 vs. Charlotte, 14-10 at Saint Louis, 22-14 at La Salle & 15-10 in the A-10 tournament title game vs. Temple) ... scored 20 or more six times with a career-high of 22 set at then-No. 7 (AP) Duke and tied at La Salle ... added a career-high 14 boards, five assists, three steals and three blocks at La Salle ... named A-10 co-Player of the Week following the Duke game (Nov. 30) ... had a career-best six steals vs. High Point ... set a new career high with six rejections at Saint Louis ... also had five blocks in the A-10 Championship opener vs. UMass ... blocked four shots on six other occasions ... had five steals at St. Bonaventure and four at home against Dayton ... shot better from the field (.546) than he did from the foul line (50-of-98, .510) ... led the team in scoring seven times and in rebounding 22 times ... had a team-high 40 dunks (60 career) ... blocked 13 shots in four A-10 Championship games ... the total was three shy of the Championship record set by Saint Joseph's Rodney Blake in three games in 2005 ... played 153 of a possible 160 minutes at Atlantic City and 46 of a possible 50 minutes in the double overtime NIT loss at Virginia Tech ... shot .610 from the field in four A-10 Championship games ... underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left ankle on May 7, 2008 prior to the season and was cleared to begin individual workouts in early October.

As a Freshman (2007-08)
Played in all 30 games with 19 starts on his way to earning a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team ... averaged 6.5 points in 22.3 minutes per game ... led the team with 45 steals and was second with a 5.2 rebounds per game average ... was third on the team in blocks (39) and fourth in 3-pointers made (24-of-69, .348) ... his blocked shot total was the second-highest ever by a DU freshman (the record of 54 was set by Derrick Alston in 1990-91) ... was the fifth player in school history to be named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week at least three times in the same season (Nov. 18, Dec. 23 and Dec. 30) ... had three or more steals in a game eight times, three or more blocks five times and three or more assists on seven occasions ... hit at least two 3-pointers in a game eight times ... scored in double-digits six times and led the team in rebounding seven times ... had 19 points, four rebounds, six assists, two steals and no turnovers in his first college game (vs. Howard on Nov. 9) ... did not commit a turnover until the third game of the season ... pulled down 13 rebounds in 20 minutes in DU's 92-77 win at Oakland and added 10 boards in 27 minutes at La Salle on Feb. 9 ... went 4-of-6 from the 3-point arc in scoring 14 points against Saint Joseph's ... added five assists, five rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes against the Hawks ... was second on the team with 20 dunks ... had three slams in a 3:15 span of the second half of a 101-84 win at La Salle.

Prep School
Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. (head coach Bill Barton) ... averaged 8.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and close to three blocked shots per game for a Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) team that finished 32-3 and won the national prep school championship in 2006-07 ... played alongside former Kansas State star and Miami Heat draftee Michael Beasley ... was ranked as the sixth-best postgraduate player in the nation by Scout.com ... was also rated as a four star recruit by Tom Konchalski of the HSBI Report.

High School
Crosby High School in Waterbury, Conn. (head coach Nick Augelli) ... was a member - along with DU junior guard/forward B.J. Monteiro - of Crosby's 2005 Division I state championship team ... averaged 22.5 points, 15.8 rebounds and 8.0 blocks in helping Crosby to 23 wins and a third-straight league title in 2006 ... named to the New Haven Register 2005-06 All State Team ... was named all-county three times.

Personal
Is the third-oldest of five children ... enrolled at Duquesne in late August 2007 ... also received recruiting interest from Marquette, Providence, Tennessee and Cincinnati among others ... sociology major ... full name is Damian Stewart Saunders ... date of birth: 11/1/88.

Saunders' Career Stats

High Games: Points - 27 at George Washington (Jr.); Rebounds - 19 vs. Nicholls State (Jr.); Assists - 6, 2x at Temple (Jr.) last; Blocked Shots - 9 at Old Dominion (Jr.); Steals - 6, 3x vs. Richmond (Jr.) last; Minutes - 50 vs. Canisius and Saint Louis (So.)

Saunders 2009-10 Game-by-Game (Junior)

OPPONENT	M	Fg-At	3m-At	Ft-At	O-D-Reb	PF	A	TO	B	S	Pts
NICHOLLS	*35	7-13	1-2	2-4	6-13-19	1	5	5	1	4	17
at Iowa	        *35	7-10	2-2	0-2	4-12-16	5	2	3	3	6	16
vs. Binghamton	*33	11-16	0-2	2-3	8-3-11	1	2	4	0	3	24
vs. Ark.-Mon.	*40	7-14	0-3	4-6	7-9-16	4	2	4	4	3	18
at W Carolina	*39	4-9	0-3	3-8	9-6-15	1	5	5	3	4	11
RADFORD	        *40	4-12	0-5	6-10	3-13-16	3	4	3	6	3	14
PITTSBURGH	*32	2-5	1-3	1-2	1-7-8	5	1	1	5	2	6
SAVANNAH ST.	*31	7-11	1-3	0-3	3-2-5	0	2	1	2	2	15
at W. Virginia	*25	4-8	0-1	4-6	2-4-6	4	0	1	0	3	12
ROBT MORRIS	*37	5-10	0-2	0-2	8-9-17	1	2	2	4	2	10
CANISIUS	*50	5-10	0-3	0-2	4-7-11	2	1	2	7	3	10
at IUPUI	*39	4-7	0-0	2-5	7-11-18	2	3	3	2	3	10
ST. FRANCIS	*31	6-11	1-5	5-8	4-8-12	2	3	3	4	2	18
at Old Dominion	*37	5-12	1-4	0-0	3-7-10	3	1	5	9	1	11
RICHMOND	*38	7-13	0-1	2-2	5-8-13	3	3	3	3	6	16
at Dayton	*43	9-17	1-5	2-5	5-6-11	4	2	4	2	1	21
SAINT LOUIS	*50	9-21	0-2	5-7	10-7-17	4	2	4	4	2	23
at Rhode Is.	*40	8-13	1-4	4-9	8-3-11	0	2	2	2	0	21
ST. BONA.	*38	4-11	3-6	4-6	1-8-9	1	2	3	1	1	15
at Xavier	*34	2-6	1-4	1-2	2-6-8	3	1	4	2	4	6
ST. JOSEPH'S	*39	7-12	1-5	0-4	2-12-14	2	3	4	7	1	15
at Temple	*39	3-10	0-3	3-7	1-5-6	4	6	0	2	5	9
at Geo. Wash.	*40	10-18	0-3	7-11	9-7-16	1	2	5	2	2	27
UMASS	        *41	6-17	1-4	2-6	2-5-7	2	3	3	4	5	15
LA SALLE	*33	6-13	1-3	0-0	5-9-14	3	3	4	5	3	13
at Charlotte	*33	4-8	0-1	3-4	1-2-3	2	4	4	6	2	11
DAYTON   	*32	8-17	0-3	4-7	2-3-5	4	1	2	0	3	20
at Saint Louis	*24	3-8	1-3	2-4	1-4-5	4	1	1	1	4	9
at St. Bona	*38	8-15	0-0	1-5	8-5-13	3	4	4	1	1	17
FORDHAM  	*32	7-15	1-4	2-6	3-6-9	3	2	3	1	3	17
at St. Bona	*37	8-14	0-3	2-4	5-5-10	3	2	1	1	3	18
at Princeton	*39	6-14	0-3	2-5	4-5-9	0	2	4	0	2	14
* - indicates game started

Saunders 2008-09 Game-by-Game (Sophomore)

OPPONENT	  M	Fg-At	3m-At	Ft-At	O-D-Reb	PF	A	TO	B	S	Pts
HIGH POINT	*22	8-11	3-4	2-4	3-1-4	1	3	2	3	6	21
at. St. Francis	*19	5-6	0-1	1-2	3-4-7	4	1	3	3	3	11
FURMAN	        *27	7-12	0-2	1-4	2-2-4	1	3	0	0	1	15
at SC Upstate	*34	7-12	3-7	3-4	2-10-12	4	1	1	1	2	20
at Duke	        *36	9-13	1-2	3-5	5-5-10	2	3	3	2	1	22
at Pittsburgh	*37	6-10	2-4	1-3	3-3-6	2	1	7	4	3	15
at Radford	*33	4-11	1-2	2-2	2-4-6	4	4	1	2	2	11
W. VIRGINIA	*35	7-12	0-2	2-3	3-4-7	4	1	3	2	2	16
ODU	        *37	3-8	1-2	2-2	4-5-9	3	1	4	1	0	9
RICE	        *35	5-8	1-3	2-4	3-6-9	4	3	1	1	1	13
NC CENTRAL	*31	8-10	1-2	1-3	3-7-10	3	2	8	3	0	18
at Robt Morris	*32	4-5	1-2	5-6	1-6-7	3	2	1	2	2	14
BL. GREEN	*38	7-11	1-3	1-2	2-7-9	2	1	1	4	2	16
CHARLOTTE	*33	5-10	1-4	1-5	4-7-11	5	4	0	2	0	12
at St. Bona.	*32	2-7	0-4	3-5	4-6-10	5	1	2	3	5	7
GEO. WASH.	*40	4-7	1-3	2-4	5-3-8	3	4	0	2	1	11
DAYTON	        *35	5-9	1-3	2-4	3-4-7	4	5	0	1	4	13
at St. Joseph's	*39	7-11	4-7	2-2	3-6-9	3	3	3	2	2	20
at Fordham	*35	1-4	0-1	2-5	0-9-9	3	1	4	0	3	4
ST. BONA.	*25	4-9	1-3	2-5	2-3-5	4	1	1	3	3	11
at St. Louis	*40	6-13	0-2	2-3	2-8-10	5	0	2	6	3	14
XAVIER	        *30	2-4	2-4	0-0	1-5-6	5	2 	3	3	2	6
at Richmond	*32	6-9	2-4	0-0	5-4-9	4	2	1	1	1	14
TEMPLE	        *35	6-13	0-3	1-1	1-5-6	3	3	2	2	3	13
at La Salle	*38	9-15	1-3	3-6	1-13-14	0	5	3	3	3	22
UMASS	        *40	8-18	1-5	1-3	3-4-7	1	3	2	2	4	18
RHODE IS.	*40	5-11	2-5	0-0	1-5-6	1	3	2	4	3	12
SAINT LOUIS	*32	1-5	1-2	1-2	2-1-3	4	0	1	0	1	4
at Dayton	*35	2-8	0-4	0-0	1-7-8	3	3	1	4	3	4
vs. UMass	*34	4-8	1-4	0-2	0-4-4	3	1	2	5	1	9
vs. Rhode Is.	*40	9-11	2-2	0-2	3-2-5	2	4	3	3	1	20
vs. Dayton	*39	5-9	0-3	0-0	2-4-6	3	4	0	4	3	10
vs. Temple	*40	7-13	1-4	0-1	4-6-10	3	0	1	1	0	15
at Va. Tech	*46	1-5	1-2	2-4	1-4-5	2	2	0	4	0	5
* - indicates game started

Saunders 2007-08 Game-by-Game (Freshman)

OPPONENT	  M	Fg-At	3m-At	Ft-At	O-D-Reb	PF	A	TO	B	S	Pts
HOWARD  	 20	8-11	3-5	0-1	2-2-4	0	6	0	1	2	19
WSSU	        *22	5-7	2-4	0-2	2-7-9	1	4	0	1	1	12
at Rice	         19	3-6	0-0	4-4	5-3-8	2	1	2	4	4	10
at Oakland	*20	4-8	0-4	1-2	5-8-13	0	2	1	1	3	9
NIAGARA 	 21	1-2	0-0	1-5	3-2-5	3	2	2	0	0	3
vs. Northridge	*18	1-5	1-3	0-0	0-4-4	3	1	1	2	1	3
at Drake	 19	2-4	0-1	2-2	2-4-6	3	0	3	3	1	6
PITTSBURGH	 18	2-6	0-4	0-0	0-2-2	3	0	1	0	1	4
at W. Virginia	*23	2-5	2-2	0-0	0-5-5	2	2	1	0	0	6
ST FRANCIS	 17	5-7	2-4	0-0	1-4-5	0	3	0	2	4	12
ROBT MORRIS	*29	4-7	0-2	0-1	2-5-7	0	1	4	4	2	8
USC UPSTATE	 13	1-2	0-1	0-0	0-1-1	1	0	1	1	0	2
at Bowl. Green	*23	4-6	1-1	0-0	2-2-4	0	4	1	1	3	9
FORDHAM  	*25	4-9	0-1	2-3	4-5-9	2	1	0	0	1	10
at Rhode Is.	*22	3-4	2-2	0-1	3-2-5	2	0	1	1	2	8
at Fordham	*28	0-0	0-0	1-2	0-2-2	3	1	1	0	0	1
ST. BONA.	*17	2-6	0-2	0-0	1-3-4	3	1	1	0	3	4
GEO. WASH.	 18	2-4	0-1	3-4	1-3-4	1	1	1	1	3	7
UMASS   	*25	2-7	2-3	0-3	4-1-5	1	1	0	0	0	6
at St. Bona.	 20	1-1	1-1	1-2	0-4-4	2	0	0	0	1	4
ST. JOSEPH'S	*34	5-9	4-6	0-1	0-5-5	2	5	2	1	3	14
at La Salle	*27	4-9	0-3	0-2	2-8-10	2	3	1	1	1	8
at Dayton	*30	4-10	0-4	0-0	1-3-4	1	0	0	1	1	8
RICHMOND	*25	1-3	1-3	0-0	1-2-3	2	1	2	3	3	3
at Xavier	 23	0-3	0-2	0-0	0-3-3	3	1	1	3	0	0
LA SALLE	*28	2-6	1-3	0-1	2-5-7	0	1	2	2	1	5
at Charlotte	 19	3-5	2-2	0-0	2-4-6	4	3	1	1	1	8
at Temple	*27	1-5	0-2	1-2	1-3-4	4	1	1	1	2	3
SAINT LOUIS	*26	1-3	0-2	0-0	0-4-4	4	1	1	2	1	2
vs. La Salle	*13	1-2	0-1	0-0	1-3-4	3	1	0	2	0	2
* - indicates game started