Metro Atlantic Athletic foes will lock horns when the Niagara Purple Eagles (5-14) face the Canisius Golden Griffins (9-10) at Gallagher Center. Action begins at 7:00 pm ET on Friday, Jan. 22 and can be seen on ESU and ES3.
The Purple Eagles are hoping to rebound after their 69-64 loss to Manhattan in their last matchup. Matt Scott was the team’s leading scorer with 21 points. The Golden Griffins, meanwhile, are coming off a 63-53 win against Quinnipiac in their last game. Jermaine Crumpton was the game’s top scorer, accounting for 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
Canisius takes on Niagara as a four-point favorite. The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is sitting at 141 points. While the Purple Eagles haven’t been very good Straight Up (SU) (5-14), they’ve been better Against The Spread (ATS) with a 10-5-1 record. They have a solid 6-1-1 ATS record over their last 10 games, but have not fared as well SU (2-8).
In the other locker room, the Golden Griffins have records of 7-8-1 ATS and 9-10 SU. Offensively, they average 80.2 points per game, which is good for 44th in the country. The Golden Griffins rely heavily on three-pointers on offense, ranking 28th in the nation with 176 made (9.0 per game). The Golden Griffins have controlled the offensive glass with an average of 13.2 offensive rebounds per game, 44th in the country.
These conference foes will be squaring off for the first time this season. In their most recent meeting a season ago, Niagara came out on top, bumping its SU record to 6-4 over Canisius in their most recent meetings. The teams are even ATS, with a 5-5 record. In these last five matchups, each team was able to hold the edge in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers once.
Predictions: SU Winner – Can, ATS Winner – Can, O/U – Over
Notes
Niagara is 2-9 SU in its last 11 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Niagara’s last 6 games.
Niagara is 8-17 SU in its last 25 games at home.
Niagara is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games when playing Canisius.
Niagara is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Canisius.
The Canisius Golden Griffins hold a split 4-4 SU record against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference teams, but the Niagara Purple Eagles have a poor 3-5 SU record in such matchups.
Canisius scores 75.6 points per away game (ranked 56th). Niagara ranks a poor 167th in points allowed at home, allowing 67.6 points.
With 67.2 possessions and .939 points per possession, the Niagara Purple Eagles perform worse on both metrics than the Canisius Golden Griffins. Canisius averages 72.5 possessions and 1.106 points per possession.
The Canisius Golden Griffins average an effective field goal percentage of 49.2% this season. The Niagara Purple Eagles have a subpar record of 1-5 when opponents have an eFG% of 49.2% or greater.
On average, the Niagara Purple Eagles attempt 18.0 three point field goals per game and the Canisius Golden Griffins attempt 27.0. In games where they attempt at least 20 threes, Niagara is winless (0-7), while Canisius is 8-10.
Canisius ranks 60th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.27. Niagara is ranked lower at 340th with an A/TO of .72.
The Canisius Golden Griffins average 6.4 steals per game. When giving up 6 or more steals, the Niagara Purple Eagles have a losing record (4-7) this season.
