Duquesne heads to Washington, D.C. to face George Washington on Wednesday, for the final night of a three-game road trip. The Colonials have been plagued by injuries lately, but it will nevertheless be one of the best George Washington teams the Dukes have faced in a while.
The Colonials are riding an 11 game home win streak, and they are undefeated this year at the Smith Center. Duquesne, who doesn’t shoot well on the road, will need to shoot better than usual if they want to give themselves a chance to win.
George Washington had a run of five straight Atlantic 10 wins before losing to Dayton on Saturday, 75-65. The streak matched the longest by a GW team since 2006-07, the year it captured the conference regular season championship and went to the NCAA tournament. The loss to Dayton seems much worse than it really is though, after taking injuries into account for the Colonials.
Against Dayton, GW was missing guard Keith Savage, starting point guard Joe McDonald, and leading scorer Maurice Creek. McDonald will likely miss the game against Duquesne with a hip injury he suffered on a hard fall in his team’s 69-47 loss to LaSalle last week. Creek, however, was ill and will likely return to the floor Wednesday. Even though the Colonials may be missing two important players, the team is still second in the conference in field goal shooting, hitting about 47 percent of their shots.
Patricio Garino is the most efficient shooter on the team, hitting about 58 percent from the field and averaging just over 10 points per game. The 6-6 sophomore from Argentina started all 30 games as a freshman last year, leading the team in steals. Garino has become a much more efficient shooter this season, and has put up big numbers in a couple games despite missing significant time early on. His ability to shoot from the inside and the perimeter makes him very difficult to guard. He missed four games in December and three in November, but proved how dangerous he was against VCU in January, when he dropped 25 points, his season high. He scored 13 against Dayton this weekend, but had to take more shots than usual due to his team’s lack of depth.
Maurice Creek, a graduate student playing out his last year of NCAA eligibility, is a new addition to the Colonials. Creek, who graduated from Indiana University last May, is one of the main reasons George Washington is a contender for the Atlantic 10 title this year.
Creek was an instrumental part of the Hoosiers’ 2010-11 Sweet 16 run, where he averaged over 8 points per game through 18 games. Three of his four seasons, however, were hampered by injuries, leading the NCAA to grant him another year of eligibility with George Washington. This year, Creek has only missed one game, and averages 14.4 points per game as the Colonials’ leading scorer. He has four 20+games this season, including 25 in a narrow victory over Maryland in early December.
Forward Isaiah Armwood is the defending team leader in scoring. Armwood ranked 25th in the Atlantic 10 in scoring last year, and is right on pace to score just as many points as he did last season.
George Washington, like Duquesne, is a different team than they were last year, with an improved backcourt and more experience. The Dukes will need to play well in transition and take the Colonials out of their comfort zone if they want to win, although it will be difficult to do on the road. If they let Garino, Creek and Armwood control the game, Ferry and his team may be in trouble.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
