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The Niagara Purple Eagles will visit the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons for a Thanksgiving Eve contest on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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Scene Setter
• The Purple Eagles ushered in a new era with first-year head coach
Greg Paulus taking over the program. The former Duke standout joined the staff in May 2019 as an assistant coach after coaching stops at George Washington, Louisville, Ohio State, and Navy.
• The Purple Eagles are in search of their first win of the season after dropping their first four games. In its previous outing, NU opened its home slate with a 73-62 defeat to the Bryant Bulldogs on November 18.
• Six of Niagara's next seven games will be away from the Gallagher Center. Niagara's lone home game will be on December 8 against Colgate.
• Niagara's two home games in November and December are the program's fewest home games since the 1993-94 season. NU did not have a single home game in either November or December and played their first home game on January 6, 1994.
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Tipoff Tidbits
• Niagara had season-highs in points (80), 3-pointers (8), free throws (22), assists (16), and steals (6) against Stephen F. Austin. The Purple Eagles shot over 55 percent (55.6 %) from the field for the first time since February 23, 2018.
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James Towns netted a season-high 21 points against Bryant on November 18 for his fourth career 20-point game. Towns also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.
• Freshman
Noah Waterman led the Purple Eagles with a career-high 15 points in his first career start at Stephen F. Austin. He also grabbed three rebounds, added two assists and had one block in 35 minutes of action.
 • Five Purple Eagles were in double figures scoring –
Noah Waterman,
Marcus Hammond,
James Towns,
Raheem Solomon, and
Justin Roberts – at Stephen F. Austin for first time in the last 12 games.
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Greg Kuakumensah became the first Purple Eagle this season to record a double-double. He collected his second career double-double with 10 points and team-high 10 rebounds against Bryant to become the first Purple Eagle this season with double digit boards.
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Raheem Solomon, who has scored in double figures in three out of the four games this season, is second on the team in scoring with at 11 points per game.Â
• Niagara grabbed a season-high 35 rebounds and tied a season-high in steals with six versus Bryant.
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James Towns is 176 points away from reaching the 1,000-point threshold.
• NU faces a challenging non-conference schedule with matchups at Syracuse, Rutgers, Buffalo and St. Bonaventure. The Purple Eagles start their 20-game MAAC schedule in January and the pursuit for a MAAC Tournament title begins on March 10 at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
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On The Court
Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (3-5, 0-0 Summit League)
• Purdue Fort Wayne is 3-5 on the season with all of its wins coming at home.
• The Mastodons rank first in their conference for total 3-pointers made, total 3-pointers attempted, total assists, and total steals.
• The Mastodons also are ranked in the top-10 in the nation in total 3-pointers made, 3-pointers attempts per game and in total assists.
• Brian Patrick, Jarred Godfrey, and Matt Holba are all averaging double digits for the 2019-2020 season. Brian Patrick leads with an average of 15 points. Â
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Against The Mastodons (First Meeting)
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| The Series |
First Meeting |
| Last Game |
First Meeting |
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| Last Niagara win |
First Meeting |
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| Last Purdue Fort Wayne win |
First Meeting |
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| Last Niagara win at Purdue Fort Wayne |
First Meeting |
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| Last Purdue Fort Wayne win at Home |
First Meeting |
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| Current Streak |
First Meeting |
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Against The Summit League Conference
• Niagara is 3-1 all-time against Summit League opponents.
• The Purple Eagles have only played Denver and South Dakota State. All three wins have come against Denver and occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. NU played South Dakota State on November 21, 2011 in Macon, Georgia.
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