NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara Purple Eagles continue their two-game road swing on Friday when they play the Wyoming Cowboys as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
Scene Setter
• The Purple Eagles began play in the Fort Myers Tip-Off with a defeat to 2018 Final Four participant Loyola Chicago on November 14. The Ramblers used a 25-4 run that spanned both halves to break open a close game.
• Niagara and Wyoming will meet for the second time ever and for the first time since the 1961-62 season.
• After playing Wyoming, Niagara will host the four-team regional as part of the tournament featuring Grambling, IUPUI, and St. Francis (NY).
• The Purple Eagles are looking to improve to 2-1 which would be their best start since the 2009-10 season.
Tipoff Tidbits
• Niagara defeated St. Bonaventure, 80-72, in the season opener for the second straight season. The Purple Eagles have won consecutive season openers for the first time since the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
• Marvin Prochet is averaging a double-double (17.0 ppg & 10.5 rpg) after picking up consecutive double doubles to start the season. Prochet will attempt to become the first Purple Eagle to start the season with three straight double-doubles since Bilal Benn in the 2009-10 season. Prochet has 11 career double-doubles, including 14 career 10-rebound games.
• James Towns is Niagara’s leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. In Niagara’s last game, Towns set a season-high in points, scoring a game-high 19 points with 14 coming in the second half, and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds.
• Dominic Robb established a new career-high in blocks with eight, including seven in the first half, which tied for the second most blocks in a game in program history. Robb has three of the top-8 most blocks in a game in Niagara history.
• Dominic Robb swatted four shots against Loyola on November 14 to add to his nation leading total of 12 blocks through two games. Robb is two blocks away from tying Juan Mendez ’05 for fourth on the career blocks list.
• Keleaf Tate established a new career-high in points with 17, had a game-high three steals which are a career-high, and shared team-high marks in assists with three versus St. Bonaventure.
• Marvin Prochet is 81 points away from becoming the 47th member of the 1,000 point club.
• The Purple Eagles are one of six teams (Cincinnati, Fairfield, North Carolina Central, Southern Illinois and Western Carolina) to open their respective seasons against two participants in the 2018 NCAA Tournament (St. Bonaventure, Loyola Chicago).
• Last season, the Purple Eagles won 10 true road games which led the MAAC and tied the school record in the modern-era.
On The Court
Wyoming Cowboys (1-2, 0-0 MWC)
• The Cowboys return five letterwinners from last season’s team that went 20-13.
• Wyoming was picked seventh in the MWC Preseason Poll and senior guard Justin James was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
• Justin James leads the Cowboys in scoring (20.3 ppg) and in rebounds (9.3 rpg). Hunter Maldonado (14.3 ppg) and Jake Hendricks (11.7) are second and third, respectively, in the scoring.
• The Cowboys lost their first two games of the season (UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State) before earning their first win of the season versus Grambling State on November 14.
Against the Cowboys (Wyoming Leads 1-0)
• Niagara and Wyoming will meet for the second time ever and the first since the 1961-62 season.
Last Meeting – December 28, 1961
Wyoming 69, Niagara 59
Against The Missouri Valley Conference
• Niagara is 0-4 versus current members of the Mountain West Conference.
• The Purple Eagles’ most recent meeting against an MWC member was Air Force during the 2009-10 season.