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The Niagara Purple Eagles begin their 110th season of men's basketball on Friday, Nov. 13 against Old Dominion Monarchs at 7 p.m. as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.
 
Tipoff Tidbits
•  Head coach Chris Casey begins his third season leading the Purple Eagles. NU, which was the third youngest team in the nation last season, wrapped up the 2014-15 regular season winning four straight games. 
• NU returns six letterwinners from last season, including junior guards Emile Blackman and Cameron Fowler and sophomore guards Karonn Davis and Matt Scott.
• There will be nine new faces on the roster this season: freshmen Marvin Prochet, Romero Collier, Chris Barton and Dominic Robb, junior college transfers forwards Maurice Taylor Jr., Ali Tew and Justin Satchell.  USC transfer guard Kahlil Dukes and the top scoring freshman in NCAA Division II Kevin Larkin will have to sit out this season due to NCAA transfer restrictions.
• Emile Blackman was named to the Preseason All-MAAC Third Team and the College Sports Madness' MAAC Second Team.
 
Season Openers
•  Niagara is 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: Pitt (2014), Seton Hall (2013), Oregon State (2012) and Auburn (2009).
 
Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament
•  The Basketball Hall of Fame hosts the annual Tip-Off Tournament each November. The
Tip-Off Tournament is an NCAA exempt men's basketball tournament sponsored by the
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
• Niagara is joined by Big 4 rival Buffalo, Florida, North Carolina A&T, Old Dominion, Purdue, Saint Joseph's and Vermont in this year's field.
• NU starts its portion of the tournament at Old Dominion followed by a trip to Saint Joseph's on Nov. 15, before the tournament moves to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Nov. 21 and 22.
• The Purple Eagles will be in the Springfield Bracket with Buffalo, North Carolina A&T and Vermont.  NU opens against Vermont on Saturday and will play in either the Springfield Bracket consolation game or championship game on Sunday against Buffalo or North Carolina A&T.
•  Niagara participated in the Hall of Fame Tournament one previous time. Niagara opened its 1975-76 season at the Hall of Fame Tournament in Springfield, Mass. against Fairfield (W, 83-78) and UMass (L, 92-81).

How To Tune In

• Listen live to the game on the Niagara Sports Network via AM 1400 WWWS or PurpleEagles.com/Watch with Todd Callen, the Voice of the Purple Eagles, on the call. 

On The Court
Old Dominion Monarchs (0-0/0-0 C-USA)
•    The Monarchs return four of their top six leading scorers from last season's team that finished with a record of 27-8 and advanced to the 2015 NIT semifinals.
•    Guard Trey Freeman led ODU in both points per game (16.9) and assists per game (3.6) en route to earning C-USA Newcomer of the Year and all-conference first team honors last season.
•    Old Dominion led Conference USA in both scoring margin ( +7.8 PPG) and scoring defense (57.1 PPG) last season.
•    ODU is currently riding a 24-game home winning streak that dates back to the 2013-14 season and ranks seventh among all NCAA Division I programs.

Against the Monarchs (ODU leads 1-0)
•    Niagara's only meeting against the Monarchs was at a neutral site in 1977.  The Purple eagles lost 90-82.

Last Meeting – November 25, 1977
Niagara 82, Old Dominion 90

Against Conference USA

• NU is 5-6 all-time against current members of Conference USA. 
• The Purple Eagles hold winning records against Rice and Western Kentucky (2-1).

Niagara In November
•    The Purple Eagles are 29-31 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).

Oh Captain, My Captain! 
•    Emile Blackman and Karonn Davis were named captains for the 2015-16 season.
•    This will be the first season of captaincy for both players. 

Returning For The Purple and White
•    Six Purple Eagles return from last season: Emile Blackman, Matt Scott, Karonn Davis, Cam Fowler, David Varoli and Thomas Fleming.
•    Blackman was a dynamic contributor last season in his first season playing on the Division I level. His team-leading 13.5 points per game, .459 field goal percentage and .831 free throw percentage were 11th, 10th and seventh in the MAAC, respectively. Blackman had 20 double figures scoring games, including a Purple Eagle season-high 32 points at Quinnipiac. 
•    Scott played in 30 games, while starting in 11. He was named MAAC Rookie of the Week on January 5 after averaging 10 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in three games including a career-high 23 points against Manhattan. 
•     Davis, the floor general, led the Purple Eagles and was 11th in the MAAC with 2.8 assists per game. He is the team's second leading returning scorer at 7.3 points per game. Fowler saw action in 24 games, including draining the go-ahead 3-pointer in Niagara's double-overtime win against Quinnipiac.
Key Newcomers (Backcourt)
•    Romero Collier was a two-sport star at Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y.  where he was a three-time All-Central New York selection at point guard and played on both sides of the ball for the football team. As a senior, Collier led the Black Knights' football and basketball teams to Section III Class AA championship where he was named MVP in both championship games. On the hardwood, Collier averaged 16.9 points per game and 9.9 assists per game during his senior campaign while leading the team to a 21-2 record. He was named All-CNY Player of the Year for large schools and earned New York State Sportswriters Association (NYSSWA) Class AA all-state third time honors.
•    Barton, a 6-foot-3 guard from Auburn Hills, Michigan, averaged 20 points per game, a team-leading eight rebounds per game, four assists per game and two steals per game while shooting 44 percent from behind the arc. Barton was named to the MLive All-State Class A Honorable Mention Team, the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Class A All-State Team, and the Detroit Free Press All-North Second Team. Barton also picked up accolades from the Oakland Activities Association (First Team), the Oakland Press (All-County First Team) and was named to the BCAM's Top 20 Shooter list.

Key Newcomers (Frontcourt)
•    Marvin Prochet, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound forward from Brooklyn, New York, was highly sought after by several programs in the last few years. Prochet spent his junior and senior years playing for the Long Island Lutheran Crusaders. In his first year at LuHi, he averaged 12 points per game and eight boards per contest on his way to earning team MVP honors. The Crusaders, who were the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) champions, advanced to the New York State Federation Class AA Final. Prochet picked up individual accolades during the season. 
•     Dominic Robb, a 6-foot-8, 215 lbs. forward from Pittsburgh, graduated from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in 2014. He ended the 2014 season with several accolades, including PG First Team All-Section (WPIAL A), PIAA All-State Class A Team, PG North Fab-Five All-State, BC Times Fab-Five and Round-Ball Classic All-Star. Robb spent the 2014-15 season playing at Hunn School of Princeton, New Jersey and earned First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) and Second Team New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJISAA) Prep A All-State honors.
•    Justin Satchell, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward from Miami, played last season at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Fla. He averaged 11.5 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.3 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-pointers and 76.3 percent from the free-throw line in 29 games. Satchell helped St. Petersburg, a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I program, to a 25-6 record including an 8-1 conference mark which led to a Suncoast Conference regular-season title.  
•    Maurice Taylor, a 6-foot-7 versatile forward from Cambridge, Massachusetts, will have two years of eligibility remaining after playing at North Carolina A&T as a freshman during the 2013-14 season and most recently at Western Texas Community College during the 2014-15 season. Taylor started in all 28 games for the WTC Westerners, averaging 8.0 points per game while leading the team with 6.9 rebounds per game, which were seventh in the WJCAC, en route to earning all-conference honorable mention accolades. 
•    Ali Tew, a 6-foot-9, 215 lbs. forward, was a member of the Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif. program during the 2014-15 season, but missed the entire season after suffering an ACL injury. Tew transferred to Hancock College after one season at Utah State University Eastern in Price, Utah where he averaged 6.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in 30 games.