The options would seem entirely measurable -- two and no more.

The first for the Duquesne men's basketball team is to let what happened Wednesday -- a 68-39 hammering at the hands of West Virginia -- linger with them.

The second is to forget all about it, remove all remnants from their collective memory, use it as a Mountaineers mulligan and get back out there at 7 p.m. today in a non-conference clash against Robert Morris (3-4) at the Palumbo Center.

Leave it to Duquesne coach Ron Everhart to go off the board and come up with a third selection.

"We have to respond," Everhart said. "Quite frankly, we got exposed by a really good team down in Morgantown. But we kept what I think is a top-five team in the country in the 60s, we rebounded the ball better in the second half and I thought, defensively, we gave good effort. We certainly can't dwell on that West Virginia game, but there are some things we have to take away from it."

Everhart hit on something, and the main thing the Dukes need to take away from the West Virginia game is that their offense needs to catch up to the defense.

Starting forward Damian Saunders -- the only Duquesne player to score in double figures against West Virginia with 12 -- understood Everhart's message when he brought the team in tight at the close of practice Thursday.

Stand together, fight through this, regroup and take some lessons from playing West Virginia, a team that has a shot to make a deep run come March.

"We can sit there and be mad at each other right now," Saunders said. "Or we can take what we can, move forward, get on the same page offensively and go after Robert Morris the way that we know how."

The way Duquesne most effectively can get on the same page is to eliminate turnovers.

In the easiest measure of the Dukes' ills in a season in which they have begun 6-3, consider this: Just two players -- guards Eric Evans and Jason Duty -- have more assists than turnovers. To that end, Duquesne swingman Bill Clark is coming off a West Virginia game in which he had three more turnovers (8) than he had points (5).

"If we start taking care of the basketball a little more, we are going to get things together, I am telling you," said Saunders, who has 27 turnovers to 23 assists, but in a positive measure, also has blocked 24 shots and has 20 steals. "We just need to be careful, we need to make all the possessions count when we have it. When you just give the other team the basketball, you aren't going to win a lot of games."

There's that, and the way Everhart would like to see his team play with a bit more of a rough edge.

"I think our kids, seeing that West Virginia team, and seeing Duke and Pitt last year, now understand how tough and physical you have to play, every possession, to be good at that level, at the highest level," Everhart said. "I just hope our kids can respond right away, starting with this Robert Morris game."

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NOTE -- Duquesne announced that the men's regular season-finale against Fordham was moved to noon March 5 at the Palumbo Center. The game originally was scheduled for 2 p.m. March 6. The move was made to better accommodate the WPIAL finals that are scheduled for the Palumbo Center March 5-6.

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