Monmouth Hawks (7-15, 3-7 MAAC) vs. Niagara Purple Eagles (14-10, 7-4 MAAC)
Sunday, February 4, 2018 | 2:00pm ET
OceanFirst Bank Center, West Long Branch, NJ
 
Please find PDF of full notes attached.
 
MEDIA INFORMATION
TV: ESPN3/Watch ESPN
Play-by-Play: Eddy Occhipinti
Analyst: Steve Bazaz
Sideline: Suzi Mellano
RADIO
WMCX 88.9FM
 
LIVE STATS
http://statb.us/b/197394

SCOUTING THE PURPLE EAGLES
Niagara sits at 7-4 in the MAAC, and comes off a loss at Saint Peter's to start their New Jersey road trip. Two of the league's top three scorers play for Niagara in Kahlil Dukes and Matt Scott, and NU topped Monmouth earlier this season by one.

A BIG NIGHT FOR BIG ZAC
Zac Tillman exploded against Fairfield, registering a career-best 18 points in just 20 minutes and going a perfect 10-10 from the foul line. Tillman's previous career-high of 17 came against Marist as a true freshman, over four full years ago.

SOLID FOUL SHOOTING
In three of the last four games, Monmouth has had a player go perfect from the foul line in eight or more attempts. Against Siena, Austin Tilghman was 8-for-8 before going 11-for-11 against Marist. In the home game against Fairfield, Zac Tillman set a career high with 10 made free throws, going 10-of-10 from the stripe.

TIGHT LOSSES
Monmouth has lost six games by one possession or less, including three one-point losses this season. The Hawks have dropped four league games (at Quinnipiac, at Niagara, vs. Iona, vs. Fairfield) by a total of seven points combined.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE... AT GUARD
Austin Tilghman has now totaled four double-doubles, the most on Monmouth and fourth most in the MAAC. Tilghman posted double-doubles in consecutive games for the first time in his career and has posted the second most such games in the league for a guard, behind only Niagara's Matt Scott, who has seven. Tilghman nearly made it three in a row, finishing with 14 points and nine assists against Fairfield. The last time two Hawks posted the stat in consecutive games came on last year's Buffalo trip, when Justin Robinson did it with 21 points and 11 assists at Niagara before Chris Brady went for 22 points and 10 boards vs. Canisius. Deon Jones was the last individual Hawk to post back-to-back double-double, doing so on 1/16/14 at Quinnipiac (16 pts., 11 rebs.) and 1/19/14 vs. Canisius (20 pts., 11 rebs.).