Penn State vs. Duquesne Preview
Ryan Stevens, Tyler Feldman and Nick Diecidue host this week's Pregame Show Podcast looking at Wednesday's match-up between Penn State and Duquesne. Read Michael Katz' in-depth game preview below.
Penn State rebounded from two straight losses, with a win at home against Marshall on Saturday. Now, they hit the road again, for a Wednesday matchup with the Duquesne Dukes. The game will be played at a neutral location, but it will be a home environment for Duquesne, as it will be played in Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
The Dukes are 3-3 on the season, with their last game being a six point win against UMBC at home. Their losses have come by three against New Hampshire, and double-digit losses to West Virginia and Pitt.
The Dukes are a high scoring bunch, averaging 81.5 points per game, good for 50th in the nation. They only lost two seniors from an abysmal 8-22 team last season, including leading scorer Sean Johnson.
England-born forward Ovie Soko has stepped up for the Dukes. He is averaging a double-double, with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Soko is in his first season with the program and is in his last year of eligibility, after transferring from UAB.
Tra’Vaughn White is another new face for the Dukes, who has stepped up as a scorer. The junior college transfer is averaging 15.7 points per game. The Dukes’ leading returning scorer is guard Derrick Colter, who averages 12.8 points per game.
Penn State has been much more active than the Dukes,compiling a record of 7-3 thus far. The Nittany Lions last two losses came in games where they were underdogs and still came close to winning. They lost to Ole Miss by three and were leading Pitt in the second half, before losing by nine. Guards D.J. Newbill and Tim Frazier have been sensational, averaging 19.1 points and 18.6 points respectively. The Nittany Lions have a good offense as well, averaging 81.7 points per game. The Pitt game was the only time Penn State has scored under 70 points in a game this season.
Duquesne will have a tough matchup on their hands in this game. Two of the team’s three leading scorers are less than six feet tall. Duquesne may struggle dealing with a much taller Penn State team. Both teams score around the same amount, but the Nittany Lions have played much better teams and have fared well against the tougher schedule.
Duquesne’s defense has also been lacking, as they have allowed more than 75 points in all but one game. Penn States offense has performed well against better teams, and they should be able to find success scoring on the Dukes.
Michael Katz is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mak5672@psu.edu.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
About the Contributors
Michael Katz
Junior / Broadcast Journalism
Michael is a Junior Broadcast Journalism major originally from the Washington DC area. He has done play by play and beat writing for various Penn State sports. He is a supporter of all Washington sports teams and hopes to host a sports radio show focusing on Washington teams in the future.
Ryan Stevens
Senior / Broadcast Journalism
Ryan is a senior from Bloomington, Illinois majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in english. He has been involved with numerous radio shows, play-by-plays, beat writes and producing various Penn State athletics events since his first days of being on campus in the fall of 2012 with ComRadio. Since the fall of 2013, Ryan has been involved with State College’s ESPN Radio 1450 as an assistant producer intern and high school football reporter.
During the summer of 2014, Ryan co-hosted Sports Central with Cory Giger streaming over Altoona, Pa. and State College Pa. markets. Ryan also assisted USA Basketball media coverage in New York for World Cup of Basketball exhibition games.
Ryan was the marketing & communications intern for USA Track & Field at the national office in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the media contact for the 2015 USATF Hershey Youth Outdoor Championships as well as the 2015 National Junior Olympics.
Ryan is also a member of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. He can be reached via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and following him on twitter @RyanAStevens.
Tyler Feldman
Senior / Broadcast Journalism and Marketing
Currently, Feldman is an executive producer, reporter and anchor for the Centre County Report, as well as ComRadio’s senior sports director. He also is the host of the Penn State Coaches Show featuring Guy Gadowsky, which airs live from Lettermans on ESPN Radio 1450 and GoPSUSports.com every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. Additionally, he was the first to report the hiring of Joe Moorhead as Penn State football’s new offensive coordinator on December 12, 2015.
He’s a member of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism within the College of Communications and enrolled in the Smeal College of Business.
Feldman, a Pittsburgh native, has broadcasted sporting events from a number of international and professional venues, including Estadio Latinoamericano in Cuba, Madison Square Garden, CONSOL Energy Center, Wells Fargo Center, MetLife Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, and EverBank Field.
Last spring, he traveled with the Penn State men’s volleyball team as their play-by-play man, announcing his very first NCAA tournament matches at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.
He has gained valuable broadcasting and reporting experience interning and working at WTAJ-TV, MLB Network, GoPSUSports.com, 105.9 The X, 970 AM ESPN, Big Ten Network Student U, and State College’s ESPN Radio 1450.
Feldman has a strong passion for sports and dreams to become a sports anchor/reporter in a national market and/or a hockey play-by-play announcer.
Nicholas Diecidue
Senior / Broadcast Journalism
Nicholas Diecidue aspires to one day work in a Philadelphia based sports environment. Diecidue is a fervent follower of all Philadelphia sports teams and wishes to broadcast or report on the Eagles or Phillies. He is passionate and vivacious and will bring that same lively and vigorous energy to either describing what happened the day before, or what is happening live on the field. Diecidue’s dream is to do what he loves for a living, which is talking and writing about sports.
