PITTSBURGH – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team will look to even its record on the young 2015-16 season on Monday, Nov. 16, when the Privateers take on Duquesne at the A.J. Palumbo Center. Tipoff for that contest is slated for 6 p.m. (CST) and can be heard live on the Internet at
www.UNOPrivateers.com via the UNO Showcase.
New Orleans enters Monday's game 0-1 on the year after dropping a 79-61 decision at Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon in Ohio. While the Privateers came away from the showdown with the Falcons unhappy with the way they played, head coach
Mark Slessinger said he expects to see a different team take the court against the Dukes.
"We definitely got off to a slow start yesterday," Slessinger said. "We definitely didn't play to the level that we had trained all fall and preseason as well as our scrimmages. We had really good work in our scrimmages, so I'm excited to see how we can rebound tomorrow against a really, really good Duquesne team that is one of the most efficient offensive teams in the Atlantic 10.
"We played a team in a great basketball league in the Mid-American Conference yesterday. We'll play a team out of the A-10, which is another good basketball league tomorrow. This is a good challenge for us. It'll show us some stuff that we have to fix and work on. We're not going to get any better by not going out and playing [good] people. We know that, we're excited for this challenge and we'll see where this takes us."
In the season opener at Bowling Green, junior guard
Christavious Gill scored a game-high 21 points and senior forward
Kevin Hill led all players with 13 rebounds As a team, New Orleans posted a 35.5 field goal percent from the field on 22-of-62 shooting, including a .333 clip (10-of-30) in the first half when the Privateers were 1-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, and a 65.0 free throw percentage (13-of-20). UNO finished 4-of-14 from downtown and connected on 7-of-8 free throws in the second half. The Falcons combined to shoot .455 (25-of-55) and turned 27 Privateer fouls into a 23 made free throws in 33 attempts.
Gill – who finished 7-of-15 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line – was the lone UNO player to finish with double-digit scoring totals while junior forward
Erik Thomas and sophomore wing
Michael Zeno followed with eight apiece. In addition to his rebounding total, Hill paced the Privateers with three assists and freshman guard
Cameron Reed led the defense with a pair of steals. Thomas, Zeno and sophomore
Travin Thibodeaux, meanwhile, each had a blocked shot.
"I'm excited to see how guys respond from the first game," Slessinger. It's always good to get the first-game jitters out and see how we can play and compete each time. This is a different style of team but has very established players. They've got a guy who will probably be the school's all-time assists leader and a guy that'll be the all-time 3-point leader. Those are two really good players with a cast of characters around them that are very talented offensively. We know we're going to have to rebound, guard and be a lot more efficient offensively."
Duquesne, meanwhile, enters Monday's showdown 1-0 on the year after downing Seton Hill, 96-71, at home on Thursday night. In that game, five Dukes scored in double figures as Derrick Colter, Darius Lewis and Micah Mason shared team-high honors with 15 each. Lewis completed a double-double with 11 rebounds to go with his point total while Jeremiah Jones dished out five assists. Colter had two of the team's four steals and L.G. Gill had Duquesne's lone block.
As a team, the Dukes connected on 54.7 percent of their shots of their field goals (35-of-64) and 30.0 percent of their 3-pointers (6-20) while holding Griffins to a .380 clip from the field (27-of-71). Duquesne held a 45-32 advantage in rebounds and forced 14 turnovers – turning those miscues into 17 points and tallying eight fast-break buckets.
"They're so good in offensive transition," Slessinger said. "They're one of the offensive-transition teams in the country. They averaged 16 points last year on the fast break alone. We've got to try and hold them down offensively, get back and not give up too many transition baskets. We also have to be a lot better offensively. We've got to move the ball, get it from side to side and be able to let some of our actions develop and not take quick, early shots."
Following Monday's game, New Orleans will open the home portion of the schedule on Thursday, Nov. 19, against Pensacola Christian College at 7 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. The game against the Eagles is the second half of a Privateer basketball double-header as the women's team will take on LSU-Alexandria at 5:30 p.m.
Season tickets for the UNO men's basketball team remain on sale at prices of $100 for general admission and $500 for Courtside Krewe status. UNO alumni can order season tickets for $80 while faculty and staff season tickets run $50. Single-game tickets are also available for pre-order and at the gate at $10 for general admission, $5 for children 12 and under and $7 each for groups of 10 or more. Current students can attend all UNO events free of charge with a valid ID.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or visiting logging on to the internet at UNOPrivateers.universitytickets.com/packages/PackageList.asp and clicking on "Season Tickets" in the header.
