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Buffalo, NY - Manhattan (8-14; 3-8 MAAC) concludes its annual Western New York swing at Canisius (12-9; 5-5 MAAC) on Saturday, January 28 at 2:00 pm.
TOP STORYLINES
#1 - The Jaspers will be looking to sweep the WNY excursion for the first time 2013-2014 after besting Niagara 70-69 on Thursday.
#2 - With the aforementioned win, Head Coach Steve Masiello became the fifth coach in school history to reach 100 victories.
#3 - The game can be watched live through ESPN3 or via the Watch ESPN app.
QUICK HITS
* The last time out, Manhattan limited the Purple Eagles to just 69 points while forcing 16 turnovers and recording 11 steals.
* The Jaspers are a perfect 6-0 this year when holding teams below 70 points with all eight of their wins coming when turning over the opposition at least 15 times.
* Manhattan also improved to 4-1 when notching double-figures in steals and is now 37-6 under Masiello when hitting the standard.
* Junior Zane Waterman scored just nine points but sank the game-winning free throws before drawing the game-clinching charge with just over four seconds to play.
* Classmate Calvin Crawford scored a team-high 18 points against Niagara and is averaging 15.0 ppg over his last two games.
* Crawford averaged 19.0 ppg over two games against the Purple Eagles this year, highlighted by a season-high 20 in the first meeting.
* Freshman Na'Quan Council chipped in with a career-high 13 while junior Zavier Turner matched him with 13.
* The victory was also the first for the Jaspers when leading at the break since holding a halftime advantage against Hofstra back in November.
* Manhattan also used its ninth different starting line-up against Niagara with Turner, Walker Jr., Crawford, Waterman and junior Ahmed Ismail earning starts.
* The Jaspers will now look to avenge an earlier loss to Canisius in a game that the Jaspers scored a season-high 46 first-half points.
* Turner scored 19 points while Waterman notched a season-high in rebounds (10) and Wilson a season-best in assists (5).
* Manhattan leads the all-time series by a 54-35 count, including going 16-11 in Buffalo since Canisius joined the MAAC for the 1989-1990 season.
* The Jaspers have won three-straight in Buffalo against the Golden Griffins and 11 of the last 14.
* During its three-game winning streak over Canisius in Buffalo, Manhattan is averaging 80.3 ppg while shooting 52.3 percent (80-of-153) and 52.3 percent (34-of-65) from deep.
* Masiello holds a 15-4 record against Golden Griffins, including going 8-3 as a head coach and 7-1 as an assistant.
* Against Siena, junior Zane Waterman narrowly missed his first double-double of the year with a team-leading 14 points and nine rebounds after scoring a game-high 28 at Monmouth.
* Since the start of 2017, the North Carolina native is averaging a team-best 18.3 ppg with 6.0 rpg over nine games while shooting 52.1 percent (50-96) from the floor, 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from deep and 84.4 percent (54-of-64) from the line while scoring at least 20 points three times.
* Waterman, who scored a career-high 35 points in the win over Rider, ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (13.9 ppg-14th), rebounding (6.7 rpg-8th), FG percentage (.513-7th), 3-PT FG percentage (.403-11th) and FT percentage (.784-9th).
* His 35 markers are also the most scored by a Masiello-coached player and the most by a Jasper since George Beamon had 35 in an 84-81 win over Siena on February 13, 2011.
* Waterman, who has started 49 straight games, also scored 26 vs. Fairfield and 23 at Morgan State and has hit the 20-point plateau four times this year and six in his career.
* Turner added 23 points in the victory Rider as he and Waterman gave Manhattan two 20-point scorers for a second-straight game.
* The Ball State native then hit for at least 20 points for a fourth-straight game against Iona, finishing with a team-high 20 points.
* Turner ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (16.1 ppg-9th), free throw percentage (.891-2nd), three-point percentage (.437-5th), assists (3.4 apg-9th) and 3's per game (2.0-13th) while scoring at least 20 points eight times this year and on 14 occasions in his career.
* Turner, recorded 26 points in the win over St. Francis Brooklyn, making good on 7-of-9 from long range, after scoring a career-high 32 points at in the victory at Detroit Mercy, including 10 in overtime, to go along with six assists. He also had 30 against Saint Peter's, 28 at Temple and 23 against Quinnipiac.
* Turner scored 12 points in the final 3:53 in the first win over Niagara, going 9-of-10 from the line. In the final five minutes of games/ot, he is shooting 47.9 percent (23-of-48) from the floor and 82.9 percent (34-of-41) from the line.
* The duo of Turner and Waterman is fifth in the MAAC with 30.0 ppg, including 32.5 ppg during league play.
* Thanks to Turner's production, the seven Jasper newcomers are averaging a combined 41.5 ppg and 18.1 rpg while accounting for 57.0 percent of the offense and 48.8 percent of the rebounding.
* Freshman Aaron Walker Jr. scored 14 points with a team-high four assists against Monmouth, fueled by a highlight-reel dunk, has now hit for double-figures 10 times this year en route to averaging 8.6 ppg.
* Walker Jr. earned MAAC Rookie of the Week honors earlier this year after averaging 12.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg over three games during the week ending November 20, highlighted by a career-high 15-point effort against Hofstra.
* Junior Thomas Capuano had 13 points and six rebounds in the first win over Niagara while classmate Samson Usilo narrowly missed his second-straight double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
* At Quinnipiac, Usilo had 12 points and 11 rebounds while notching the first Manhattan double-double of the year and was joined in double-figures on the boards by junior Zavier Peart, who added a career-high 10 rebounds.
* Thanks to Usilo and Peart, the Jaspers placed two in double-figures on the boards for the first time since Emmy Andujar (11) and Ashton Pankey (10) did so in leading Manhattan to a 79-69 win over Iona in the 2015 MAAC Championship on March 9, 2015.
* Usilo, who scored 11 points against Siena, is averaging 7.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg over the last seven games after notching just 2.2 ppg and 2.6 rpg over his first 15 games.
* Capuano set a career-high with 18 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals at Morgan State.
* Senior Tyler Wilson handed out four assists, against just one turnover, in the win over Niagara while moving past Jason Wingate into eighth place on the program's all-time assist list and now has 346. Wilson notched season-highs of 10 points against Fairfield and five assists in the victory vs. Rider.
* The Bronx native had the momentum-changing three-point play that gave the Jaspers the lead for good in the win over Fordham after drawing the game-clinching charge at Detroit Mercy.
* Ismail grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in the win over Detroit Mercy while sophomore Ak Ojo scored a career-best nine. Ismail has notched nine points on a pair of occasions and has paced the squad on the glass six times while Ojo grabbed a personal-best seven rebounds against Fairfield.
* Council, who scored nine points with a career-high matching five steals against Siena, is averaging 11.0 ppg and 3.5 spg over his last two games. He also previously had five thefts with 12 points in the win over EKU.
* Manhattan concluded non-conference play with a 27-point come-from-behind victory over EKU thanks to recording a season-high 13 steals.
* The 13 thefts are the most since recording 13 in a win over Quinnipiac on March 1, 2015 while the 27-point margin of victory was the third-highest in Masiello's six years on campus.
* Over the last three-plus years, the Jaspers are 26-3 when recording double-figures in steals and 37-6 since Masiello took over prior to the 2011-2012 season.
* Manhattan has won the rebounding battle in 15 of its 22 games while ranking second in the MAAC in rebounding margin (+2.7) and rebounding defense (34.9) while registering at least 40 on seven occasions with a high-water mark of 51 at Marist, including 21 offensive caroms.
* The 51 rebounds are the most since registering the same number in a season-opening 99-90 victory at La Salle on November 9, 2013.
* The Jaspers are 3-0 this year when limiting teams to less than 60 points (EKU (54), SFBK (54) & Fordham (53) and 38-4 under Masiello.
* Manhattan opened the second half against EKU on a 23-5 run, including 12-straight at one point after ripping off a 13-4 run to start the second half against SFBK.
* The Jaspers finished non-conference play with a 5-6 record with their six losses coming to teams that have a combined 85-38 record (.691), including games against Florida State and WVU, both of whom are ranked in the top-10.
* Masiello has led Manhattan to a 100-85 (.541) record, including going 61-46 (.570) during MAAC play and 47-24 (.662) at Draddy Gym over his six seasons with three MAAC Title Game appearances, three postseason berths, two Metropolitan Coach of the Year honors and two 20-win campaigns.
* Masiello has participated in the NCAA Tournament in 13 of his 20 seasons as a player or coach, including being a part of eight conference champions and one National Title.
* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has guided the Jaspers to a pair of MAAC Titles as well as a pair of 20-plus win campaigns. In his first tenure, he was a part of two MAAC Titles and three 20-plus win seasons. All told, Masiello has been a member of four of Manhattan's five MAAC Championship teams and five of the school's 12 20-win seasons in recording a 183-121 record.
* In his 21st season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 463-231, including 342-203 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship Game appearances, two Final Fours, six Elite Eight berths, eight conference championships, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.
