This will be the final regular season home game for senior guard Eric Evans (above) and senior forward B.J. Monteiro.

March 1, 2012

Duquesne Game Notes | | Saint Louis Game Notes | Gametracker | Streaming Video

Game 30 / SAINT LOUIS (23-6, 11-4) at DUQUESNE (16-13, 7-8)
Saturday, Mar. 3, 2012 • 12:00 ET
Pittsburgh, Pa. • A.J. Palumbo Center (4,406)
Radio: WPGB-FM 104.7
Ray Goss (`58) (pxp), Jarrett Durham (`71) (analyst), Greg Linnelli (`03) (producer)
Streaming Audio: www.RedZoneMedia.com
Television: None
Streaming Video: www.GoDuquesne.com
Gametracker: www.GoDuquesne.com

• Duquesne (16-13, 7-8) welcomes second-place Saint Louis (23-6, 11-4) for Senior Day on Saturday, March 3 at Noon ... this is the regular season finale for both schools ... DU seniors Eric Evans and B.J. Monteiro will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony ... Saint Louis, which has already clinched a No. 2 seed for the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship, needs a win combined with a Temple loss to win a share of the regular season title ... Duquesne, which can finish no lower than ninth, needs a win combined with a UMass loss (hosts Rhode Island at 4:00 p.m.) to secure a first round home game for the A-10 championship ... the top four teams receive byes, while teams five through eight host first round tournament games ... Duquesne could possibly play at UMass, at La Salle, at Dayton or even at Xavier if it finishes with a ninth seed ... if the Dukes end up seeded eighth, they would host UMass on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m.

• Saint Louis, which is 5-5 on the road, won the first meeting between the two, 68-41 at Chaifetz Arena on Jan. 21 ... Duquesne is 10-4 at home (4-3 in A-10 play) ... the Dukes are 4-2 vs. SLU at the Palumbo Center ... the first loss (70-57 in 2006) came in the first A-10 meeting between the two schools ... the Billikens' other Pittsburgh win was in double-overtime (79-75) on Jan. 13, 2009 ... DU defeated SLU 67-45 at Pittsburgh last season.

• Duquesne clinched its fifth consecutive non-losing season with its 88-77win at Charlotte on Wednesday ... DU has now posted five consecutive non-losing seasons since ending a streak of 13 consecutive sub-.500 seasons with a 17-13 record in 2007-08 - head coach Ron Everhart's second year on the Bluff. The last time DU had five consecutive non-losing seasons was 1968-75 (eight seasons).

• This is the fourth consecutive season the Dukes have posted 15 or more wins ... it is the longest streak since 1968-73 (15+ wins in six straight seasons).

• Duquesne averaged 57.3 ppg. during the three-game losing streak that was snapped with the 88-77 win at Charlotte ... DU, which had had a total of four double-digit scorers during the losing streak, had five in the win at Charlotte.

• DU head coach Ron Everhart (99-87) needs one win to join Chick Davies (314-106), Red Manning (247-138) & Dudey Moore (191-70) in the Duquesne 100-win club ... Everhart enters the Saint Louis game with a 46-49 record in Atlantic 10 regular-season play ... the only coach in DU history to post a +.500 mark in conference play was Mike Rice who went 24-23 from 1978-79 through 1981-82.

• The Dukes, who led the nation is assists (17.8), steals (9.9) and turnover margin (+6.7) last year are averaging 15.4 assists and 7.9 steals ... DU began the week ranked third in NCAA Division I in turnover margin (+5.4) behind Syracuse (+6.6) and VCU (+5.8).

• Duquesne is 10-4 at home (includes a win over Penn State at CONSOL Energy Center) ... the Dukes are 56-28 at the Palumbo Center under Ron Everhart, including a 51-19 mark over the past five seasons ... over the past five seasons, the Dukes are 24-13 in conference home games at Palumbo.

• This is the fifth consecutive season the Dukes have posted double-digit home wins (currently 10-4) ... the last time DU strung together five or more consecutive seasons with 10 or more home wins was from 1967-68 through 1973-74 (seven times) ... Duquesne posted double-digit home wins twice in the 25 seasons prior to head coach Ron Everhart's arrival in 2006-07.

• Senior guard Eric Evans became the 10th 1,000-point/300 assist man in school history (1,028/304) with his 5 assists at Charlotte on Feb. 29 ... Evans reached the 1,000-point mark with a layup at the 18:13 mark of the second half against Fordham on Feb. 15.

• T.J. McConnell broke sophomore assist mark (159 by Clayton Adams in 1988-89) with his 6 assists at Charlotte ... McConnell enters the SLU game with 304 career assists (164 this season) ... McConnell's assists rank fourth on DU's single-season list (school record is 194 by Aaron Jackson in 34 games in 2008-09).

THE SERIES: This is the 15th meeting between Duquesne and seventh-year Atlantic 10 member Saint Louis ... the overall series is tied 7-7 ... in regular season Atlantic 10 play SLU leads 6-4 ... DU is 4-2 all-time vs. Saint Louis in Pittsburgh ... Saint Louis is one of three A-10 teams the Dukes face twice this season - Dayton (1-1) and St. Bonaventure (1-1) are the others ... Saint Louis took the first meeting this season, 68-41 at Chaifetz Arena on Jan. 21 ... last year the two split with Duquesne winning 67-45 at Pittsburgh and Saint Louis winning 62-51 at St. Louis ... five of the past nine meetings have been decided by a total of 11 points, including two in overtime ... fifth-year DU head coach Ron Everhart is 4-6 against the Billikens.

CONTRASTING STYLES: The Duquesne/Saint Louis game will be a classic clash of styles. DU ranks fourth in the A-10 with an 72.7 ppg. scoring average, while SLU leads the A-10 in scoring defense at 56.5 ppg. The Dukes are forcing 17.5 turnovers per game (most in the conference), while Saint Louis is turning it over just 11.0 times per contest (fewest in the conference).

BILLIKENS THIS YEAR: Saint Louis, picked to finish third in the A-10 in a preseason poll of league coaches and media, has lived up to its advance billing with a 23-6, 11-4 record ... the Billikens are assured of no lower than a No. 2 seed for the Atlantic 10 Championship and can tie for the regular season title with a win combined with a Temple loss ... the Bills have won seven of their last eight games ... SLU, which owns non-conference wins over Washington, Boston College, Villanova and Oklahoma, is 15-1 at home and 5-5 on the road (3-0 neutral) with conference losses at Dayton (OT), at Massachusetts and at Rhode Island ... senior forward Brian Conklin (14.0, 5.1, .541 FG) leads the Billikens in scoring ... redshirt junior point guard Kwamain Mitchell (12.0 ppg., 104 assists) and 6-8 junior forward Cody Ellis (10.8 ppg., 64 3-pointers) are also averaging in double figures ... Saint Louis opened the second half with a 24-3 run to pull away for a 70-59 home win over Xavier on Tuesday ... Conklin scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Billikens ... SLU trailed 39-29 at the half ..  SLU leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense (56.5 ppg.) and scoring margin (+12.3) ... the Billikens are second to Duquesne in turnover margin (+4.2) and behind only DU and Temple in assist/turnover ratio (1.2).

CHARLOTTE LEFTOVERS: Notes from Duquesne's 88-77 win at Charlotte on Wednesday ... DU shot a season-best .593 in scoring its most points since a 118-72 win over Houston Baptist on Dec. 31 ... B.J. Monteiro, who scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, led five Dukes in double figures ... Eric Evans had 17, Sean Johnson & T.J. McConnell scored 14 each and Jerry Jones added 13 points in 15 minutes off the bench ... McConnell had 5 steals and Monteiro tied his career high with 4 as DU forced 20 Charlotte turnovers (24-14 in points off turnovers) ... Duquesne outscored the 49ers 28-0 in fast break points ... there was one tie and one lead change ... DU missed its first six shots in falling behind 7-0 before mounting a 21-4 run to take a 21-11 lead ... five players combined for Duquesne's eight 3-pointers (8-of-22) ... DU shot a season-best .889 (16-of-18) from the foul line ... the 88 points were the most scored by a Charlotte opponent this season ... Charlotte entered the game limiting opponents to 67.6 ppg. on .416 shooting.