Niagara (5-6, 4-5) vs. Manhattan (4-4, 3-4)
Draddy Gymnasium, Riverdale, New York; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Manhattan looks for its seventh straight win in the head-to-head series over Niagara. In its last six wins against the Purple Eagles, Manhattan has won by an average of 9 points. Niagara’s last win in the series came on Jan. 24, 2018, a 72-63 victory.
LEADING THE WAY: Manhattan’s Anthony Nelson has averaged 14.8 points while Elijah Buchanan has put up 11.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals. For the Purple Eagles, Marcus Hammond has averaged 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds while Kobi Nwandu has put up 12.8 points.
MAAC IMPROVEMENT: The Purple Eagles have scored 64.9 points per game and allowed 62.1 points per game across nine conference games. Those are both solid improvements over the 57.5 points scored and 70 points given up per game to non-conference opponents.MIGHTY MARCUS: Hammond has connected on 37.7 percent of the 69 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 15 of 35 over the last five games. He’s also converted 78.6 percent of his free throws this season.
WINLESS WHEN: Niagara is 0-5 when scoring fewer than 61 points and 5-1 when scoring at least 61.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Jaspers have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Purple Eagles. Manhattan has an assist on 38 of 62 field goals (61.3 percent) across its previous three contests while Niagara has assists on 32 of 64 field goals (50 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Manhattan is ranked second among MAAC teams with an offensive rebound percentage of 31.8 percent. The Jaspers have averaged 12.9 offensive boards per game and 14.8 per game over their last five games.
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