Men’s Basketball: Pitt and Duquesne square off in last college basketball game at Mellon Arena

For one last time, Mellon Arena will board up its ice for a night and host a college basketball… For one last time, Mellon Arena will board up its ice for a night and host a college basketball game as the Pitt men’s basketball team takes on Duquesne tonight at 7.

Out of the 77 times the City Game has been played, 34 games have taken place at Mellon Arena, the last a 78-63 Pitt win on Dec. 22, 2001.

“It’s very special to play the last game at Mellon Arena,” junior guard Brad Wanamaker said Monday. “It’s great for the city, for both teams and the universities.”

The Panthers (5-1) have dominated the rivalry, both recently and throughout its history. Pitt holds a 46-31 lead all-time, including the last eight victories. The longest winning streak on either side was when Pitt won nine in a row from 1982-1988. The Dukes’ (5-1) longest winning streak is four, which they’ve achieved on three separate occasions.

However, the last time Duquesne beat Pitt was at the Mellon Arena on Dec. 21, 2000. The Dukes won 71-70. Duquesne’s Aaron Lovelace hit a shot to give the Dukes a lead with a little more than two seconds remaining. After Duquesne accidentally sent six defenders on the court after a timeout and were called for a technical foul, Pitt’s freshman guard Julius Page went to line for a would-be game-tying free throw, but missed.

“That was unique,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who at that time was still an assistant coach under Ben Howland. “It was a tough loss.”

While those were the last two times the City Game was at Mellon Arena, Pitt has played there a few times since. Pitt won its first two games of the 2002 NCAA Tournament at Mellon Arena, 71-54 against Central Connecticut State and 63-50 against California. All-time at Mellon Arena, Pitt is 61-51. Duquesne, which used Mellon Arena as its home from 1964-1988, is 247-107 in the building.

Even though the two teams only play once in the regular season, the players are quite familiar with one another.

“They play against each other all the time,” Dixon said.

Wanamaker said players compete during the summer league in Greentree, at open gyms and in pickup games with one another. Even though he added that he thinks Pitt and Duquesne players are closer and talk more than in past years, it’s still a rivalry.

“Anything we do with them is personal, so playing with them in a game with referees is going to be even more intense,” Wanamaker said.

Dixon is close with Duquesne coach Ron Everhart, even saying that he roots for Duquesne “when they’re not playing us.” Still, Dixon said this game is more for the players than coaches.

“This is for bragging rights in the city,” center Gary McGhee said.

If McGhee wants the bragging rights this year, he figures to be a big factor tonight, as he’ll partly have the task of guarding Duquesne forward Damian Saunders.

“He can play on the perimeter, but he’s their biggest guy on the floor,” Dixon said.

Saunders is averaging 16.8 points per game and is second in the nation with 15.5 rebounds a game.

“He usually starts out on the wing, just runs in and gets a lot of tip-out rebounds,” McGhee said.

The Panthers also have to worry about guarding Bill Clark, who averages 18.3 points a game. The Dukes leading scorer is Melquan Bolding, who is averaging 25 points a game after playing in just the first game this year and then breaking his right wrist.

Dixon also said the Dukes “play small.” Of the six players averaging more than 10 minutes a game, Saunders is the tallest at 6 feet 7 inches, but even he doesn’t spend too much time down low.

“He’s very versatile,” Wanamaker said. “Gary and Nas [Robinson] are going to have to step out on the wing and guard him. It’s going to be a challenge for all of us.”

Duquesne plays with a fairly uptempo offense and likes to run a lot.

“They play with no post,” Dixon said. “Teams that do that are planning to shoot the three and spread the floor.”

Clark is the most likely to shoot from beyond the arc, leading the team in 3-pointers taken (46) and 3-pointers made (14). Jason Duty is next most likely to shoot a 3-pointer, hitting 9-of-29 attempts this year. B.J. Monteiro hasn’t taken many 3-pointers, only nine this year, but he has hit four of them for a 44.4 shooting percentage from long range.

For the Panthers to win, they must cut down on turnovers. In two of Pitt’s last three games, it has finished with more turnovers than assists. Oddly enough, the only game where that didn’t happen, Pitt had the same number of assists-to-turnovers and lost 78-62 to No. 3 Texas.

“Our main goal has been improvement throughout the year, and through six games this year we’ve improved,” Dixon said.