NU On ESPNU

The Niagara Purple Eagles will play their first game of 2011 inside of the legendary ‘Taps’ Gallagher Center when they host the Rider Broncs on Friday, Jan. 7 at 9 p.m. in a nationally broadcast game on ESPNU.

Niagara’s fourth home game of the season will feature one of the MAAC’s best rivalries in recent seasons and have played in some memorable contests. Niagara’s last win in the series, which it leads 19-12, was a 93-89 double overtime victory in the 2009 MAAC Championship Semifinals in Albany, N.Y.

 Ready for Action

s The Purple Eagles enter Friday’s game looking to snap a five-game skid as they play their fifth home game on the ESPN’s family of networks in three seasons.

s Niagara has won its last four games on the ESPN’s Family of Networks played in the Gallagher Center.

s The Purple Eagles are currently the 31st youngest team in the nation according to weighted playing time.

s Senior Anthony Nelson leads the MAAC in steals per game (2.8), second in minutes per game (36.3), third in assists per game (4.3) and fifth in scoring (15.3 ppg). Nelson is 11th in the nation in steals per game.

s Nelson moved into 44th place in scoring at Niagara, surpassing Phil Scaffidi, in the Quinnipiac game. Nelson needs 9 points to tie Tom Hemans for 43rd place.

s Guard Marvin Jordan is fifth in the conference and leads all MAAC freshmen with 29 3-pointers (1.9 per game).  

s Niagara was 18-for-19 at the free throw line in the win at St. Bonaventure. The 94.7 free throw percentage ranks tied for 15th in the nation in a single game.

s As an assistant coach at DeMatha High School, Mihalich coached ESPN’s Dereck Whittenburg, who will be doing the color commentary for the game, as a senior on the 1978-79 team.

How To Tune In

Friday night’s game will air live on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Doug Sherman and Dereck Whittenburg will have the call from the Gallagher Center.

NU fans can also listen live to all the action this season from “The Voice of the Purple Eagles” Todd Callen. The matchup can be heard live on WGR 550 AM. Internet listeners can listen free through Yahoo! Sports live web-streaming.

Calvin Murphy Returning To Gally

As a part of the Legends Classic, each school selected a “legend” it would like to recognize during a game on its schedule. Niagara picked Basketball Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy (‘70) as its legend and he will be honor on Jan. 7 versus Rider on an ESPNU televised game. Among the legends selected only Murphy, UTEP’s Don Haskin and Bowling Green’s Nate Thurmond are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

NU On ESPN

Niagara has done well playing on the ESPN’s family of networks in recent home contests. The Purple Eagles have won their last four games broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU at the Gallagher Center.

Niagara defeated Illinois State in the 2009 BracketBuster game on ESPN2, and then topped Siena the following week on ESPNU.  NU defeated Drexel in its 2009-10 home opener as a part of ESPN’s 24 Hours of College Basketball Tipoff Marathon and beat Siena on Feb. 12 on ESPN2 to end the nation’s longest winning streak. 

Smile For The Camera           

Niagara will play three straight games (Fairfield, Rider and Siena) on live tv and eight of its next 11 on tv. Sandwiched between games broadcast on Time Warner (Fairfield on Jan. 3 and Siena on Jan. 9) is a nationally-televised showdown with Rider on Jan. 7 on ESPNU at 9 p.m. from the Gallagher Center.

Youth Is Measured

The 2010-11 Purple Eagles are the 31st youngest team in the nation according to a weighted measuring system on KenPom.com. The metric measures the average years of Division I experience weighted by playing time.

Niagara entered the season among 50  out of 347 teams with 11 years or fewer DI experience.

On The Court

Rider Broncs (10-5, 2-1 MAAC)

Rider is in a midst of a four-game winning streak as it enters Friday’s contest. Three Broncs are averaging double-digit scoring. Guard Justin Robinson leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and assists (4.1 apg), while forward Danny Stewart leads the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg).

Against the Broncs (Niagara leads 19-12)

Niagara leads the all-time series 19-12. The Purple Eagles and Broncs have played in some memorable games in recent years. NU was edged by one in the first meeting last season, but the Purple Eagles topped the Broncs in double overtime to reach the 2009 MAAC Championship game.

Last Meeting - February 8, 2010

Niagara 62, Rider 70

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Niagara men’s basketball team (13-13, 6-8 MAAC) dropped a road conference contest at Rider (14-12, 7-7 MAAC) on Monday, 70-62. The Purple Eagles took a 14-point lead into halftime, but allowed 47 points in the second-half.

De Matha Connection

Before head coach Joe Mihalich became the “Dean of MAAC Basketball” he was an assistant coach at national high school powerhouse DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md. to start his career in coaching. Mihalich was there from 1978-81. One of the players Mihalich coached was Dereck Whittenburg, the former NC State star and current ESPN broadcaster.

All-Conference Numbers For Ant

Senior Anthony Nelson is putting up all-conference numbers since missing the first three games of the season due to injury. Nelson, who has scored at 24 points twice this season and set a career-high 31 points at Detroit, is fifth in the MAAC in scoring. Nelson leads the conference in steals per game, second in minutes per game and is third in assists per game.

Moving Up The Charts

Nelson currently has 948 career points, good for 44th all-time on Niagara’s scoring list.

The New Jersey native needs 232 points during the 2010-11season to become the 41st member of the Niagara 1,000 Point Club.

The point guard is closing in on Alvin Cruz’s all-time assists record. Nelson currently has 551 assists and needs 79 to tie Cruz’s 630 assists.