Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

For the second year in a row, Niagara led off the season by defeating regional rival St. Bonaventure. Monday night the Purple Eagles beat the Bonnies 80-72 before 2220 fans at the 2400-seat Gallagher Center on Niagara’s campus. After the Bonnies surged ahead just after halftime, Niagara used an 8-0 run to take the lead for good with 14 minutes left and led by double digits in the closing minutes.

Loyola has been idle since their ignominious loss on a drive and dunk by Furman’s Clay Mounce with 1.6 seconds left on Friday night. Furman’s 60-58 win over Loyola at home sent shockwaves through the mid-major ranks, and was Loyola first non-con home loss since a Dec. 16, 2015 loss to Cleveland State.

Niagara won 19 games last season, going 12-6 in conference, good for 3rd place in the MAAC behind Rider and Canisius. The Purple Eagles lost in the first round of the CIT at Eastern Michigan and finished with an RPI of 159. It was Coach Chris Casey’s fifth season at Niagara, and his first winning campaign. The two leading scorers from last year’s team have graduated, but the Purple Eagles have three seniors leading this year’s team.

Two senior forwards, Brooklyn native Marvin Prochet at 6’7 and Pittsburgh-bred Dominic Robb at 6’8”, man the frontcourt. Prochet averaged double digits in points as a junior last season, and in Niagara’s win over St. Bonaventure he had a double-double with 20 points and 10 boards. Prochet shot 38.8% behind the arc last year and made the second-most three-pointers on the team. Robb averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds last year, when he started about half Niagara’s games; he blocked 48 shots last season to lead the team.

The backcourt is led by 5’10” junior point guard James Towns, who averaged 2.1 assist per game coming off the bench last year. The Detroit native out of Henry Ford High lit up the Bonnies for 18 points on Monday, half of them coming from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Keleaf Tate had 17 points against St. Bonaventure, including two threes. Senior Chris Barton fills out the starting backcourt.

Guard Dominik Fragala, senior forward Greg King, and sophomore forward Kierell Green combined to score 13 points off the bench against St. Bonaventure.

Wednesday night’s game is part of the Ft. Myers Tip Off. Niagara will play at Wyoming on Friday night and host Grambling State on Monday.

Loyola Game Notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... df?id=7211

Niagara Game Notes: https://purpleeagles.com/documents/2018 ... df?id=6402

TV/Streaming Video: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/fbb735da ... olachicago

Vegas Odds: Loyola by 14

JCT,

Excellent preview.. Thanks for the effort.
"Ignominious" loss was a very appropriate adjective. Not sure what it means, but it sounds
appropriate for the way I feel about that game.
I felt worse when I saw Furman beat Gardner Webb last night in OT!
Then again ISU crept past Chicago State at home, so who knows....
It's early. Go Ramblers. Let's string a few here.

Thanks as always for the preview. I'm equal parts nervous and excited to see how we perform tonight. What did people think of the "players only film session" after the Furman loss? I like the leadership, but I hope the team isn't taking the loss too hard.

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I was glad to hear about the meeting, but I also saw on Twitter that Porter talked about not changing the plan, despite the loss, which I'm happy about.

I'm hoping to see a big improvement today on the turnover front. I'll be very happy coming back from the loss if we see less careless passes picked off and our guards efficiently getting the ball to Krutwig. Oh.. and made free-throws...

An hour before game time, the spread in Vegas is up to 16.5. I think it will be closer than that.

Can't bet against the Ramblers, but I agree.

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Aher needs better shot selection. And execution.

Why does Aher's shot just not look right? Why can't we make free throws? Why are we struggling so much from 3?

Hopefully we won't be asking these same questions soon enough.

Getting good looks for the most part, we just can’t hit anything right now.

Shots are all there. Just need them to go down the hoop.

Still no Negron, wondering if it’s a health issue or if he has just been having bad practices