By Paul Casey Gotham
Holloway and Evans take weekly honors
Tu Holloway turned in his second triple-double of the season and garnered A10 Player-of-the-Week honors. The junior point guard averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 2.5 steals leading the Xavier Musketeers to wins over Fordham and St. Joseph’s. Against Fordham, Holloway scored 26 on 8-of-11 shooting grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out 10 assists without turning over the ball as the Muskies downed the Rams 79-72. The triple-double was the second of the season for the Hempstead, N.Y. native. Holloway scored 14 with 14 assists and 10 rebounds when the X-Men defeated Wake Forest 83-75 back on December 18th.
Dwayne Evans grabbed rookie honors leading the St. Louis Billikens. Evans shot 61.9 percent (13-21) in two games for the Billikens. The Bollingbrook, Ill. native averaged 16 points and eight rebounds including a game-high 12 boards in the Billikens loss at St. Bonaventure.
Temple 56 Richmond 52
The Owls shot 55.6 percent (30-54) from the field including 50 percent (7-14) from behind the arc. Ramone Moore hit 4 of 5 from long range to lead the Owls with 24. Juan Fernandez hit 2-of-3 treys to tie a season-high with 20 points. Fernandez looks to be back to full strength after struggling through injuries. Temple outrebounded Richmond 33-28.
Richmond 82 St. Bonaventure 65
The Spiders celebrated senior day with a victory over the Bonnies. Last week’s conference POTW, Justin Harper led with 24 points. Dan Geriot chipped in with 17 points and eight rebounds. Darien Brothers and Kevin Anderson added 16 and 12 apiece. The Spiders shot 50 percent from the field. Demetrius Conger led the Bonnies with 17. Andrew Nicholson registered his 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
You will want to watch this entire video to see the two-hand throw down by Harper.
U Mass 66 Rhode Island 60
The Minutemen ended a four-game skid while halting the Rams two-game streak. Anthony Gurley registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Minutemen. Gary Correia, Sampson Carter and Raphiel Putney added 11 apiece for UMass. Delroy James led four Rams in double figures with 15.
Duquesne 81 UMass 63
Five Dukes posted scoring numbers in the double digits. Bill Clark hit 4-of-8 from behind the arc for a game-high 16. T.J. McConell followed with 15, and Damian Saunders added 14. Saunders led all with 13 boards. Jesse Morgan paced UMass with 14. The Minutemen outrebounded Duquesne 45-35. The Dukes had 17 steals.
St. Bonaventure 83 St. Louis 73
Ogo Adegboye connected six times from behind the arc for a career-high 29 points. Andrew Nicholson added 22, and Da’Quan Cook tied his career-high 21 points to lead the Bonnies.
St. Louis 61 Charlotte 56
Dwayne Evans leads the Billikens with a double-double.
Lavoy Allen climbs to the top
Temple has a new king of the boards. Lavoy Allen corraled 12 boards as the Owls defeated St. Joseph’s. The dozen rebounds gives Allen 1,045 for his career and a new high for Temple. The previous mark was set by John Baum (1,042 1966-69). As the team’s radio color analyst, Baum got a front row seat to Allen passing him on the all-time list.
Does it come as any surprise that Coach Baron’s favorite movie is Serpico?
2010 – 11 STANDINGS
| Conference | Overall | |||||
| W | L | PCT. | W | L | PCT. | |
| Xavier | 11 | 1 | .917 | 20 | 6 | .769 |
| Temple | 11 | 2 | .846 | 21 | 5 | .808 |
| Richmond | 10 | 3 | .769 | 21 | 7 | .750 |
| Duquesne | 9 | 3 | .750 | 17 | 8 | .680 |
| Rhode Island | 7 | 5 | .583 | 16 | 10 | .615 |
| George Washington | 7 | 5 | .583 | 14 | 12 | .538 |
| Dayton | 7 | 6 | .538 | 19 | 9 | .679 |
| Massachusetts | 6 | 6 | .500 | 14 | 11 | .560 |
| St. Bonaventure | 6 | 6 | .500 | 14 | 11 | .560 |
| La Salle | 4 | 8 | .333 | 12 | 15 | .444 |
| Saint Louis | 4 | 9 | .308 | 9 | 17 | .346 |
| Charlotte | 2 | 10 | .167 | 10 | 16 | .385 |
| Saint Joseph’s | 2 | 10 | .167 | 7 | 19 | .269 |
| Fordham | 0 | 12 | .000 | 6 | 18 | .250 |
A10 Ranked nationally
Scoring Offense
Duquesne ……………………………………..13th – 79.6
La Salle …………………………………………25th – 77.1
Scoring Defense
Temple ………………………………………… 23rd – 61.0
Richmond …………………………………… 43rd – 62.6
Scoring Margin
Duquesne ……………………………………..14th – 13.2
Temple ……………………………………………34th – 9.7
Richmond ………………………………………40th – 8.8
Field Goal Percentage
Richmond …………………………………… 23rd – .475
Field Goal Percentage Defense
Xavier …………………………………………..38th – .402
Massachusetts………………………………. 41st – .403
Temple ………………………………………….44th – .404
Three-Point FG Per Game
Duquesne ……………………………………….15th – 8.6
Richmond ……………………………………t-27th – 8.2
Three-Point FG Percentage
Richmond ………………………………………9th – .410
Duquesne ……………………………………..47th – .376
Three-Point FG Defense
Charlotte ………………………………………..9th – .293
Richmond ……………………………………. 31st – .311
Dayton………………………………………….38th – .313
Rhode Island ………………………………..40th – .313
St. Bonaventure …………………………… 43rd – .315
Free-Throw Percentage
Xavier ………………………………………….. 31st – .746
Charlotte ………………………………………39th – .739
Rebound Margin
Dayton………………………………………… 33rd – +5.2
Assists Per Game
Duquesne ………………………………………..1st – 18.6
Richmond ………………………………….t-27th – 15.7
Temple ………………………………………….40th – 15.2
Assist Turnover Ratio
Richmond …………………………………….11th – 1.44
Duquesne ……………………………………..13th – 1.40
Temple ………………………………………….18th – 1.35
Blocks Per Game
Saint Joseph’s ………………………………….11th – 5.7
Duquesne ………………………………………22nd – 5.4
Temple ……………………………………………40th – 4.8
Steals Per Game
Duquesne ………………………………………..1st – 10.0
Fewest Turnovers Per Game
Richmond …………………………………….14th – 10.9
Temple …………………………………………22nd – 11.2
Saint Joseph’s ………………………………..24th – 11.3
Xavier …………………………………………..35th – 11.7
Rhode Island ……………………………….42nd – 11.9
Turnover Margin
Duquesne ………………………………………. 1st – +7.4
Rhode Island ………………………………. 29th – +2.8
Richmond …………………………………… 37th – +2.4
Temple ………………………………………… 44th – +2.2
courtesy of Atlantic 10 weekly press release
On tap
Tuesday, February 22
La Salle at Xavier ……… FSO/CSS/TCN/7:00 pm
Chicago State at Saint Louis ………………. 8:00 pm
Wednesday, February 23
Charlotte at George Washington ……….. 7:00 pm
Rhode Island at Duquesne ………………… 7:00 pm
Fordham at St. Bonaventure ………………. 7:00 pm
Temple at Duke …………………….. ESPN2/7:00 pm
Saint Joseph’s at Massachusetts ………….. 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 26
Rhode Island at Fordham ………………….. 2:00 pm
Temple at George Washington …………… 2:00 pm
St. Bonaventure at Saint Joseph’s ……….. 4:00 pm
Richmond at Charlotte ……………………… 7:00 pm
Duquesne at Saint Louis ……………………. 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 27
Xavier at Dayton ………….ESPN/ESPN2/1:00 pm
Massachusetts at La Salle ……………………
[https://www.goxavier.com/allaccess/?media=231657]
It’s not crazy. It’s Coach Mack cutting a rug.
Live at the Cintas tonight. La Salle and the Muskies set to tip-off in 9:00.
The Explorers have played 15 games decided by 5 points or less. That ranks 2nd in the country.
11:57 remaining in the first half. Time for the Skyline Chili parachute drop.
Oh yeah, Musketeers 27 La Salle 6
Casey, who did the Dukes lose to after the Bonnies and Xavier?
Dayton beat Duquesne 64-63.
Duquesne’s stats are eye-popping. They lead the nation in assists, steals, and TO margin. What in the world do they do offensively and defensively to maintain that level of play??? Casey – you’ve seen them play, right?
Reynell.. From watching them play against the Bonnies and Xavier – they have a very athletic team. Both guards are freshman and I believe both are sons of basketball coaches – gives you an idea about their basketball IQ. I believe O’Connell has 2.55:1 assist to turnover ratio. Extremely impressive.
Defensively they get out, pressure the ball and really challenge the passing lanes. They create a lot of turnovers off that pressure. A lot of those turnovers they create on defensive end lead to easy buckets on the offensive end.
From what I can see, their Achilles Heel appears to be their free-throw shooting. I think as a TEAM, they are shooting in the mid 60s. I want to say they shot 50% (24 or 26 attempts) from the charity stripe against Xavier and lost by 8.
Ron Everheart has done a great job of building a program at the school. I believe he is losing 2 players this year – Saunders and Clark. He is quietly returning the Dukes to respectability. Of course, Casey and I listened to Freddie Coleman on ESPN radio go on about them being a hidden gem – so it looks like the word is getting out quickly.
Thanks, Smitty. Not last year, but the year before they were really good. Caused major problems in the A10 standings and I think made it to the semifinals of the conference tourney. The coach there must be doing one heck of a job recruiting and coaching. I hope I can catch them soon on TV.
Ditto everything Smitty said. The freshman backcourt tandem is Mike Talley and TJ McConnell. Remember those names. Barring injury, those kids will bring Duquesne to the Sweet 16 before they are done. The two are in constant motion on the defensive end. You know how we talk about making everything difficult for the opposition. They defend EVERYTHING! They probably get 10 deflections a game.
BUT – to add to Smitty’s comment – shooting in general might be their downfall. Or, to be specific, perimeter shooting. Yeah, they get a lot of steals and convert those into baskets. If the opponent takes care of the ball and doesn’t turn it over, the Dukes struggle to score consistently when it is 5 on 5.
The Dukes lost to Rhode Island and seem to be in a little bit of tailspin. That subpar perimeter shooting can do them in, if Rhode Island keeps the hot play up.
So let’s look at it.. How many teams from the A-10 get into the NCAA tournament?
3? 4? 5?
I am thinking 4, with Xavier and Temple probably locks to get in. That leaves 1-3 spots open and one of those is probably Richmond. So the Dukes can not afford a weak finish or they are going to find themselves in the NIT again.
Of the course the A-10 is still not there as a Major conference, so Richmond gets bounced in the first round of the conference tournament and they could find themselves in the NIT.
From here on in – a soft loss by any of these teams could be the difference from playing in the NCAA tourney or the NIT.
Richmond and Temple are playing like I thought they would be at the beginning of the season. The Owls had some injuries, and they look ready to make a run.
URI could be playing for a first-round bye. The Bonnies could be playing to host a first-round game.
I am going.