NIAGARA UNIV. — The Niagara Purple Eagles begin their 28th season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) on Friday when they play the Marist Red Foxes at 7 p.m.
Niagara is in the midst of a four-game road swing which started with a defeat at North Texas on November 25. Seven of Niagara’s first nine games are on the road, including this weekend’s MAAC opening weekend against Marist and Iona. Last season, Niagara won both meetings to sweep the series for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Friday night’s game features the two top leading scorers in the MAAC in Marist’s Khallid Hart (21.0 ppg) and Niagara’s Matt Scott (20.0 ppg). Hart and Scott are the only MAAC players to have four 20-point games this season. Scott is one of three MAAC players to have a 30-point game. NU is in search of its first road win since beating Marist on Jan. 18, 2016.
The Purple Eagles picked up their first win of the season with a resounding 93-74 victory over Drexel on Nov. 23. The Purple Eagles had 19 assists in the win over Drexel which are the most in a regular season game since dishing out 21 assists in a 73-61 win over Manhattan on Jan. 2, 2015. Matt Scott has led or shared team-high honors in assists in every game. Matt Scott leads the MAAC and is 24th in the nation in free throws made (40). Scott’s career-high 14 free throws at Rutgers are the most in the MAAC this season. Kahlil Dukes is the only Purple Eagle to score in double figures in every game, including a career-high 23 points at North Texas. In the last two games, Dukes is averaging a team-best 21 points on 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the field, 85.7 percent (6-for-7) from 3-pointers and 6-for-6 at the free throw-line. Dominic Robb leads the MAAC and is 23rd in the nation with 2.67 blocks per game while also leading the MAAC and is 27th in the nation in total blocks (27). Robb swatted a career-high four blocks in consecutive games (Rutgers and Drexel) to become the first Purple Eagle to have at least four blocks in consecutive games since Kashief Edwards in 2010. Robb has had at least two blocks in each game.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
