Happy Valentine's Day! Instead of flowers we're delivering a look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball Thursday, and the two scheduled games.
Don't forget to us Twitter hashtag #A10MBB when tweeting about tonight's games!
ON TAP FOR THURSDAY (2/14)
DUQUESNE Dukes (7-16, 0-9) at TEMPLE Owls (16-7, 5-4) 7:00 pm | Liacouras Center Series: Temple leads 40-14 Gamenote: This is the 55th meeting.Temple has won all eight meetings at the Liacouras Center and nine in a row at home. The last Dukes win at TU came at McGonigle Hall on Jan. 30, 1995 (62-55). Temple has won five of the last six in the series, and 16 of 19 overall. Duquesne’s last win came on Jan. 15, 2011, a 78-66 victory at the Palumbo Center.
MASSACHUSETTS Minutemen (16-6, 6-3) at (RV) VCU Rams (19-5, 7-2) 9:00 pm | Seigel Center | CBS Sports Network Series: First Meeting Gamenote: UMass is the third of just four A-10 schools that the Rams had never faced entering this season. Duquesne, Fordham and Temple are the other three. UMass’ Chaz Williams, a transfer from Hofstra (former conference foe of VCU’s) will face the Rams for the first time. During the 2009-10 matchup with the Pride, Williams was injured and sat out VCU’s 81-68 win in Hempstead.
WEEKLIES
Above are the weekly highlights (NEW: 2/14). The 16 A-10 head coaches had their weekly teleconference Monday. Listen to their thoughts by clicking on the AUDIO ARCHIVE.
ON THE TUBE
Thursday, February 14 Massachusetts at VCU* | 9:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
Saturday, February 16 Xavier at Dayton* | Noon | ESPN2 Saint Joseph’s at La Salle (Palestra)* | 1:00 pm | NBC Sports Network Butler at Fordham* | 4:00 pm | CBS Sports Network Temple at Massachusetts* | 6:00 pm | CBS Sports Network Charlotte at Saint Louis* | 7:00 pm | FOX Sports Midwest George Washington at VCU* | 7:30 pm | CSN Mid-Atlantic
A-10 SCOOP
>>The Atlantic 10 currently has 10 teams in the top 80 of the RPI, (RPIRatings.com) which is the second most of any league behind the Big East (11).
>>The Atlantic 10 has five teams in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology. He lists Butler, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple and VCU. Jerry Palm’s (CBSSports.com) latest bracketology also has the same five teams dancing.
>>The Atlantic 10 has nine different players who’ve scored 30 or more points in a game this season, including two in Wednesday’s games. Kendall Anthony (UR), Darien Brothers (UR), Troy Daniels (VCU), Ramon Galloway (LAS), Carl Jones (SJU), Jesse Morgan (UM), Xavier Munford (URI), Scootie Randall (TU) and Khalif Wyatt (TU) have all broken 30 this season. Wyatt actually surpassed 30 thrice this season.
>>The A-10 has one team in the Top 25 in both national polls. Butler is No. 11 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches’ Poll. In addition, the A-10 has six other teams that have received votes in the AP and ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Polls. La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, and Xavier have all gotten votes in both polls as have Saint Louis and VCU which are receiving votes this week.
>>Senior Darius Theus joined the 400 career assists club, now sits at 404 for his career, tied for eighth on VCU’s all-time assists list.
>>UMass is playing the shutdown defensive game, and the defense has started to gel. The Minutemen have held four of their last five opponents below 40 percent shooting.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Pierria Henry scored 17 points to lead Charlotte to a 71-67 win over No. 11 Butler on Wednesday night.
Chris Braswell and Willie Clayton each had 11 points for the 49ers, who ended a two-game skid.
Rotnei Clarke scored 18 and Roosevelt Jones had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (20-5, 7-3 Atlantic 10), who hadn't lost at home in 12 games.
The 49ers (18-6, 6-4) went on a 7-1 spurt late in the game.
Butler played without Andrew Smith, who was out with an abdominal injury sustained in a 59-56 victory over George Washington on Saturday.
CINCINNATI (AP) - Justin Martin scored 16 points and set the tone with several gritty plays on Wednesday night, sparking Xavier to a 79-66 victory over Fordham and keeping the Musketeers unbeaten at home in Atlantic 10 play.
Semaj Christon scored 19 points, and Xavier (14-9, 7-3) had five players in double figures while remaining perfect at home in A-10 games. Xavier is 52-1 in A-10 games at the Cintas Center since the 2007-08 season.
The Musketeers have won their last 11 games against the Rams (6-19, 2-8), and lead the series 23-3.
Mandell Thomas scored 23 points for Fordham, which has lost five in a row and eight of its last nine games while missing one of its top players.
The Rams played their seventh straight game without senior forward Chris Gaston, an A-10 preseason first-team choice. He's been bothered by an injured knee.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Carl Jones scored 17 points and Ronald Roberts posted his 11th double-double of the season to help Saint Joseph's hold off Richmond 61-55 Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference game.
Roberts finished with 16 points and 10 boards for the Hawks.
Richmond (14-11, 4-6) led the majority of the first half and took a 36-27 advantage into the break but Saint Joseph's scored the first 15 points of the second half to grab a 42-36 lead.
From there, Richmond tied the game four times and cut the deficit to one three times, including 53-52 with 5:32 left, but Saint Joseph's (14-9, 5-5) held the Spiders to just three points the rest of the way.
Saint Joseph's outshot Richmond 42 percent (19 of 45) to 32.2 percent (19 of 59).
Kendall Anthony paced Richmond with 13 points. Leading scorer Darien Brothers was held to six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) - Xavier Munford scored 18 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer, to lift Rhode Island over Atlantic 10 Conference-foe Dayton for the sixth straight time, 75-72, Wednesday night.
Dayton (13-11, 4-6) rallied from an eight-point deficit to tie it 72-72 on Kevin Dillard's 3-pointer with 8 seconds left. But Munford answered with a 3 of his own with 3.3 seconds remaining to give Rhode Island the victory.
Nikola Malesevic posted 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Mike Aaman came off the bench for 11 points and Mike Powell tallied 10 points, five boards and five assists for Rhode Island (7-16, 2-8), which snapped a six-game losing streak.
Dayton was led by Dyshawn Pierre's first career double - 15 points, 10 rebounds. Dillard, the Flyers' leading scorer, had 15 points but made just 4 of 13 shots.
Rhode Island made 16 of 26 second-half shots compared to 14 of 26 for Dayton.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Ramon Galloway scored 23 points to go with six boards and five assists and La Salle won its third straight game, beating St. Bonaventure 69-66 in overtime Wednesday.
Tyrone Garland scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half and Steve Zach grabbed 10 boards.
La Salle (17-6, 7-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) led 16-14 before reeling off 10 straight points and taking a 38-27 advantage into intermission. St. Bonaventure, which trailed by as many as 16 in the first half, outscored the Explorers 34-23 in the second half to force overtime.
Charlon Kloof tied the game at 65 with 1:33 left in overtime but the Bonnies (11-12, 4-6) were outscored 4-1 the rest of the way. Eric Mosley was fouled on a 3-point attempt with two seconds remaining, trailing 68-65, but missed two of three free throws.
Mosley led four in double figures for St. Bonaventure with 15 points.
