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The Niagara Purple Eagles begin their 26th season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) with a matchup at the Saint Peter's Peacocks on Thursday at 7 p.m.

The young Purple Eagles (0-1, 0-0 MAAC) opened the season with a defeat at Pitt on Friday. Redshirt sophomore Emile Blackman led Niagara in scoring with 16 points in his debut. Sophomore Ramone Snowden came close to a double-double with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

NU visits Saint Peter's (0-2, 0-0 MAAC) which has had two narrow defeats to start the season. The Purple Eagles have won five of the last seven meetings.
 
Tipoff Tidbits
•  Rayvon Harris set a career-high in minutes with 32 in the season opener at Pitt. Harris is the lone upperclassman on the roster.        
•  Niagara is 13-12 all-time in MAAC openers, but is seeking its first MAAC opening win since beating Manhattan to start the 2009-10 conference slate.
•  NU is 5-5 all-time when opening its MAAC schedule on the road. The Purple Eagles are 10-15 all-time in MAAC road openers.
•  The Purple Eagles have their home opener this Saturday against Hartford at 7 p.m. NU has won six of last seven home openers.
•  Thursday's game will be the nation's first conference game of the 2014-15 season.
 
New Look Purple Eagles
•  Head coach Chris Casey begins his second season on Monteagle Ridge.
•  In his first season at the helm, Casey picked up the program's first win against Big 4 rival Buffalo since 2008 and a victory over two-time defending SoCon champions Davidson.
•  The 2014-15 Purple Eagles will be one of the youngest teams in the nation with 13 underclassmen (five freshmen, two redshirt freshmen, three sophomores, and three redshirt sophomores) on the roster.
 
Rare MAAC November Game
•  Thursday's game will be Niagara's third-ever MAAC game played in November.
•  Niagara is 0-2 all-time in November MAAC games.
•  The Purple Eagles fell at Iona, 83-72, on Nov. 28, 2012 and to Canisius on Nov. 30 2002, 89-69.
•  This will be Niagara's earliest MAAC game in history.
 
Niagara In November
•  The Purple Eagles are 28-29 in November since the 2003-04 season
•  Seven times Niagara had a record over .500 with the last time coming during the 2009-10 season (4-3).

On The Court
Saint Peter's Peacocks (0-2, 0-0 MAAC)
•  Saint Peter's was picked fourth in the MAAC Preseason Poll.
•  The Peacocks return four starters and seven letterwinners.
•  Seniors Marvin Dominque (1st) and Desi Washington (2nd) were selected to All-MAAC All-Preseason teams.
•  SPU is 2nd in the MAAC in scoring defense (60.5 ppg) and 1st in the MAAC for rebounding defense(29.5 rpg).
 
Against The Peacocks (Niagara leads 47-29)
•  NU and SPU split their regular season meetings last season with both teams winning on home court.
•  The Purple Eagles have had winning streaks of 12 games (2000-05) and six games (2006-09).
•  Niagara has won five of their last seven games against the Peacocks.
 
Last Meeting - March 2, 2014
Saint Peter's 71, Niagara 67
 
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Niagara men's basketball team wrapped up the regular season with another nail-biting defeat on Sunday to the Saint Peter's Peacocks, 71-67.

Season Openers
•  NU dropped its season opener to Pitt on Nov. 14 and is now 10-12 in its last 22 season openers, including 5-5 in season openers on the road.
•  The Purple Eagles' last road win to begin the season was at Binghamton (71-56) on Nov. 18, 2005.
•  Niagara has lost its last four road season openers at Pitt in 2014, Seton Hall in 2013, Oregon State in 2012 and Auburn in 2009.