The Niagara University Purple Eagles will face the Hartford Hawks on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. as part of the ninth annual ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.
The all-time series between the programs is tied at 7-7. The teams met as members of the ECAC North Atlantic Division from 1984-89. After winning three straight in the series from 2008-12, Niagara has been edged in the last two meetings. Hartford rallied to spoil Niagara’s 2014-15 home opener to come away with a 65-62 win. In last season’s meeting, the Purple Eagles trimmed a 21-point second half deficit to two points before falling 77-73.
NU started its three-game road trip with an 88-79 defeat to the Brown Bears on Sunday. Kahlil Dukes and Matt Scott are both averaging in double figures scoring. Dukes leads the team with 14.5 points per game and is shooting 50 percent (12-for-24) from the field. Scott is averaging 13.0 ppg, 4.0 rebounds per game and leads the team with 4.0 assists per game. Freshman James Towns is third on the team in scoring at 9.5 per game and scored 10 points in his first career start at Brown. Dominic Robb has had two blocks in each of the first two games. Robb led Niagara with 1.1 blocks per game last season. The Purple Eagles had 10 steals in the season opener; NU had three 10-plus steals games last season.
ESPN’s ninth annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon will feature 13 men’s and women’s college basketball games beginning on Monday, Nov. 14, and continuing Tuesday, Nov. 15, across ESPN and ESPN2, bringing more than 24 hours of game action to mark the start of the 2016-17 season. This will be the second time Niagara has participated in the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. The Purple Eagles opened their 2009-10 home schedule with a 76-69 win against Drexel, which tipped at 8 a.m. on ESPN2.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
