WASHINGTON -- Duquesne has a big problem.

And, to a degree, it just might be holding these Dukes back -- on both ends of the basketball floor.

As Duquesne (11-11, 2-6 Atlantic 10) prepares to play at George Washington (12-9, 2-6) in a conference game this afternoon, Dukes coach Ron Everhart has, with just eight regular season games remaining, failed to see one of his three centers step in and make anywhere near a huge impact.

As the season was set to begin, there was a concern about cultivating a big man -- and to a large degree, it still has not happened.

In fairness, Duquesne plays a system wherein they rely more on athletic wing players who can storm up and down the floor, but when Duquesne has tried to infuse one of the three players on its roster who stand 6 feet 8 or taller -- Morakinyo Williams, Rodrigo Peggau and Oliver Lewinson -- the results have been mixed, at best.

Williams, who has played 14 games and plays the most minutes of the three (10.4 per game) is averaging 1.8 points a game and 2.1 rebounds.

Peggau, who averages nine minutes a game, is averaging 1.4 points and grabbing 1.9 rebounds a contest.

And Lewinson, who plays 7.1 minutes per game, scores 1.0 point on average and lassos in 1.7 rebound.

That is an average -- on the offensive end -- of fewer than five points and fewer than six rebounds per game from the combination of the three biggest guys on the roster.

But what the three have given the Dukes on offense this year might not be where the greatest predicament lies.

The larger quandary could be what the Dukes have been unable to do, from a defensive standpoint, when the opposition has a formidable center.

Look at Wednesday in Philadelphia as the latest example, as 6 foot 9 Lavoy Allen virtually did what he wanted in the low block, scoring 14 points and pulling in 15 rebounds.

"I just think that our guys have to understand something," Everhart said. "If they will be more physical and rebound the ball and not give up so many easy ones, then we'll have a chance. Obviously [against Temple] we weren't willing to do that.

"I thought we guarded them pretty well, I really thought we did. But at the end of the day, the good defensive possessions we had, they just got on the glass and outrebounded us and stuck it back in the basket."

Although Williams has made momentous strides in recent weeks, it still remains the case where Damian Saunders -- at "just" 6-7 -- is asked to guard the center from the opposing team, in some part because of the failure of the Dukes' three largest players to come along this season.

When the other team steps on the court with a solid big man, what happened against Temple has been the norm.

In a win against Radford earlier this season, Artsiom Parakhouski, at 6-11, scorched the Dukes for 26 points and 20 rebounds.

In a loss at IUPUI, 6-8 Robert Glenn had 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Jaguars.

Gerald Lee, a 6-10 post player for Old Dominion, ate up the Dukes for 24 points in leading his team to a win.

And in conference play, before Temple's Allen hurt Duquesne in the low block, some more big-bodied players had already exposed the Dukes.

In a buzzer-beater win against St. Bonaventure, 6-9 Andrew Nicholson had 29 points and seven rebounds, and then, in a blowout loss against Xavier, it was double trouble for the Dukes.

The Musketeers used two big guys against Duquesne, as Jason Love (6-9) had 17 points and nine rebounds and Kenny Frease (7-0) had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

This trend is something that is easily identifiable, and something that has also become frustrating to these Dukes -- even the ones who play out on the perimeter, such as Melquan Bolding, who feels as if part of this is his fault, too.

"These teams are not physically stronger than us, I know that, I am telling you," Bolding insisted. "Sometimes it is lack of effort, and that's on my part too, on everybody's part. We have to go out and play, everybody play, all of us play, and play hard all the time."

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