FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball begins the MAAC's infamous "Buffalo trip" on Friday, Feb. 24 at Niagara. Opening tip-off from the Taps Gallagher Center in Western New York is slated for 7 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: MANHATTAN 73, FAIRFIELD 72
A hectic final sequence saw Fairfield almost pull off an improbable comeback against Manhattan last Sunday at Mahoney Arena, but a missed free throw with 0.3 seconds on the clock made up the difference as the Stags fell, 73-72. TJ Long reached the 20-point mark for the third straight game with a team-best 23 points.
 
Supreme Cook posted his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. Allan Jeanne-Rose nearly had a double-double as well with 10 points and nine boards. The Stags held a 36-25 advantage on the glass, including 14 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points.
 
Jalen Leach and Caleb Fields each added nine points, with Fields and Jeanne-Rose sharing the team high of four assists apiece. James Johns Jr. had two points on an offensive rebound and putback, and Makai Willis capped the scoring with a pair of free throws.
 
SECOND TIME AROUND
The Stags are 4-3 this season when seeing an opponent for the second time, defeating Marist, The Mount, Saint Peter's and Siena while falling to Iona and Rider and Manhattan.
 
Fairfield went 6-6 in return games last year - 5-5 during the MAAC regular season and 1-1 in Atlantic City. Those six wins include two "payback" victories over opponents who had earned a result over Fairfield earlier in the campaign.
 
THE NIAGARA UNIVERSITY PURPLE EAGLES
Niagara enters its final home weekend on a three-game losing streak, but had won five in a row prior to the current skid. The ups and downs have settled the Purple Eagles in the heart of the MAAC standings at 9-8 as a part of a 14-12 overall record.
 
Niagara is paced offensively by the MAAC's leading scorer in Noah Thomasson, who averages 18.8 points per game. Unsurprisingly, Thomasson is one of the conference's most efficient scorers as well, shooting .466 from the field, .658 from the stripe and .365 from the free throw line.
 
Aaron Gray, who poured in 30 points at Mahoney Arena last month, is also averaging in double figures for Niagara with 12.5 points per contest.
 
As a unit, Niagara ranks eighth in the MAAC with 64.5 points per game and slots third defensively with 65.1 points allowed per outing.
 
LAST MEETING
Jake Wojcik made two free throws with one-tenth of a second left as Fairfield erased a five-point deficit in the final 20 seconds to force overtime with visiting Niagara on Jan. 6 at Mahoney Arena. However, the Purple Eagles were the aggressors in the extra session, pulling away for a 77-69 decision. Caleb Fields and Supreme Cook each scored 17 points, with Cook also hauling in a career-best 17 rebounds -- tying the mark for the most boards by a MAAC player in a game this season.
 
In addition to 17 apiece for Cook and Fields, Allan Jeanne-Rose netted nine points and Chris Maidoh scored eight. Wojcik's clutch free throws capped a seven-point day, with Jalen Leach adding six and Long scoring four. Cook's 17 rebounds – matching the most by a MAAC player this season – guided the Stags to a 44-40 advantage on the glass.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
The win for Niagara last month moved the Purple Eagles' lead in the all-time series to 46-37 since 1966. Each team has put together a six-game streak in the series, with Niagara winning a half-dozen in a row from 1991-93, and the Stags winning six consecutively from 2010-12.
 
BROOMS IN BUFFALO
This season marks Fairfield's 24th proper version of the MAAC "Buffalo trip" – playing both Niagara and Canisius on the same visit to Western New York.
 
Last season, the Stags came home with just the sixth sweep of that daunting road weekend in program history. Fairfield has swept the trip in three of the last six occurrences, also doing so in back-to-back seasons in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
 
In addition to the six sweeps, Fairfield has gone 1-1 on the trek in eight seasons and has been swept nine times.
 
THE TWO POSSESSION LEAGUE
Coach Young has referred to the MAAC as the "ultimate two-possession league." This season, the Stags have had six MAAC games decided by one possession or in overtime, and a total of nine games decided by two possession or less (or in OT).
 
Of the eight games settled by more than two possessions and in regulation, five were within six points during the final three minutes.
 
20x20x20
TJ Long is the first Stag to score 20 or more points in this straight games since all-time leading scorer Tyler Nelson had 23 points in the last game of the 2017-18 regular season, then went for 28 and 27 points, respectively, in the first two games of the Stags' run to the MAAC Championship Game.
 
The last Stag with four consecutive 20-plus point efforts was Derek Needham in a four-game stretch from Jan. 30 to Feb. 12, 2010.
 
UP NEXT
The Stags complete the road slate on Sunday, Feb. 26 at Canisius. The regular season concludes on Thursday, March 2 at Mahoney Arena with a visit from Quinnipiac.