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The Niagara Purple Eagles and St. John's Red Storm continue their historic rivalry when they meet for the 100th time in a nationally-televised matchup on Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The Red Storm escaped Carnesecca Arena with a 70-57 win last season in the first meeting between the teams since December 2007. Niagara outscored St. John's, 22-11, through the opening eight minutes of the second half to trim the lead to 46-45 before the Red Storm responded with a 16-5 run to pull away for the win.
 
Tipoff Tidbits
•  Niagara split its conference opening weekend. The Purple Eagles defeated Quinnipiac in their MAAC opener on December 4 before falling to Monmouth on December 6.
•  Matt Scott leads the Purple Eagles in scoring (16.6 per game), rebounds (57-6.3 per game), assists (30-3.3 per game) and steals (17-1.9 per game).
•  Niagara is second in the conference with 330 rebounds and is on paced for its highest rebounds per game average (36.6) since the 2009-10 season (37.2).
•  Common Theme: NU has led at halftime in all three wins this season (Brown, North Carolina A&T, Quinnipiac).
•  The Purple Eagles made a season-high 10 3-pointers, with eight coming in the first half, against Youngstown State.
•  The Purple Eagles held Brown to a 30.7 field goal percentage, which is the lowest allowed by a MAAC team this season.
 
How To Tune In
• Wednesday's game will air live on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Go with Justin Kutcher and Jim Spanarkel on the call.
• 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.

The Niagara/St. John's Connection
•  Niagara University President Rev. James J. Maher, C.M. spent 23 years at St. John's, including his last two years as an Executive Vice President, before being named Niagara's president in March 2013.
•  Niagara head coach Chris Casey was on the coaching staff from 2004-10. Casey helped the Red Storm qualify for the Big East Tournament in 2006 and an appearance to the CBI in 2009.
•  Niagara assistant coach Will Lanier was on St. John's coaching staff from 2004-08, and assistant coach Kareem Brown played football for the Red Storm in 2002 and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from St. John's.
•  John "Taps" Gallagher, for whom the Niagara basketball facility is named, was a three-sport athlete at St. John's. He earned his 300th career win against St .John's on Feb. 13, 1954.
•  Niagara and St. John's are two of three Vincentian schools in the United States. DePaul University is the third. 
•  St. John's first-year head coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Mullin played against the Purple Eagles three times (2-1) during his career at St. John's (1981-85). Niagara upset then-No. 4 St. John's, 62-59, on Dec. 15, 1984 in Mullin's senior season; the Red Storm advanced to the 1985 NCAA Final Four that season. 
 
On The Court
St. John's Red Storm (5-3, 0-0 Big East)
•  The Red Storm recently defeated local foe St. Francis Brooklyn to improve to 5-3 on the season.
•  St. John's leads the Big East and is sixth in the nation with 6.6 blocks per game.
•  Three players are averaging double figures: Federico Mussini (14.4 ppg), Durand Johnson (11.5 ppg) and Ron Mvouika (10.4 ppg).
•  St. John's has a perfect home record, going 3-0 against Wagner (66-57), UMBC (75-53) and Rutgers (61-59).
•  Yankuba Sima earned Big East Freshman of the Week honors after helping the Red Storm to victories against UMBC and Rutgers.  Sima averaged 10.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game in those two wins.
 
Against the Red Storm (St. John's leads, 72-27)
•  The Purple Eagles and Red Storm renewed their long time rivalry last season after a seven year hiatus.
•  The first meeting between the two programs was during the 1908-09 season.
•  NU defeated St. John's in the 1972 NIT semifinals in the programs' only meeting in the NIT.
•  NU 10-42 all-time at St. John's with its last win coming on December 15, 2007.
 
Last Meeting - December 2, 2014
St. John's 70, Niagara 57
 
QUEENS, N.Y. – A furious second half run lifted the Niagara Purple Eagles back into the game, before falling short to the St. John's Red Storm, 70-57, on Tuesday night.