LEWISTON — Niagara isn’t worried about the future, just itself.
Fresh off securing their first win of the season in a 69-61 win over St. Francis (PA) Saturday after an 0-3 start, the Purple Eagles are set to return to the Gallagher Center for the first time since facing Bucknell on Nov. 11. What awaits them are tilts with Saint Peter’s at 7 p.m. Friday and Quinnipiac at 2 p.m. Sunday to open MAAC play.
Niagara coach Greg Paulus will have a game plan detailing each opponent, but he’s more concerned about his own team, how they can improve and finding what they do well on a consistent basis. That means watching more film on their games and practices than an opponent’s and developing an identity that carries from game to game.
It’s a strategy many great coaches have applied, most famously John Wooden, and it applies to the current landscape of the MAAC.
Just five of the conference’s top-25 scorers return from last season and 13 of them have transferred to other schools. Given that it’s so early in the season and few veterans exist in the conference, there aren’t many long-term tendencies to glean.
“I haven’t watched many other games, so I’m not as familiar with them,” Paulus said. “I kind of watch us and then the team we play next and that’s been my attention. And so I’m not as familiar with the rosters or makeup of other teams. I just try to coach our guys and focus on the task at hand.”
Where Niagara is focusing — and has been for the last three weeks since last playing a home game — is developing continuity with another newly-constructed roster. It’s not quite the same overhaul as last season, but the Purple Eagles have just four players back from last year and three who are part of the regular rotation in Braxton Bayless, Lance Erving and Harlan Obioha.
While numbers haven’t improved drastically, Niagara is averaging more points and assists, while shooting a higher percentage overall and behind the 3-point line. And over the last three games, the Purple Eagles have begun to distribute the ball more evenly.
In the first two games, Ahmad Henderson II, Luke Bumbalough and Yaw Obeng-Mensah accounted for 90 of the team’s 127 points. But over the last two games, the trio has gone from 70% of the team’s points to 33.6%.
Loyola Marymount transfer Kwane Marble Jr. has tallied back-to-back games in double figures, as has Bayless, who scored a career-high 20 in a loss at Hawaii. As a result, Niagara has gone from shooting 43.4% in the first two games to 53% over the last two, including 61.4% against St. Francis.
When they haven’t found the desired high-percentage shot, the Purple Eagles have also gotten to the free-throw line more frequently. After 21 attempts against Notre Dame and Bucknell, Niagara has averaged 22 attempts in the last two outings.
The Purple Eagles shot 28 free throws and scored a season-high 73 points against Hawaii, which ranks 14th in the country in defensive rating (88).
“You can’t you can’t beat an opponent if you don’t know yourself, if you don’t know how to play within yourself,” Marble said. “So you can’t really go out there and do what you’re good at if you don’t really know what you’re good at. So it does allow us to go out there and play at our best when we are focused on what we’re doing in our circle rather than other teams around the league.”
Where Niagara has struggled during the first four games of the season is defending the paint. The Purple Eagles are holding opponents to 27% from 3-point range, but are giving up 57.9% on shots inside the arc and opponents have a 54-point edge on points in the paint.
Part of being minus 9 in rebounding is size, in that 7-footer Harlan Obioha and 6-foot-7 Yaw Obeng-Mensah are the only players consistently in the rotation taller than 6-6. Niagara ranks 350th out of 362 Division I teams in rebounding percentage, grabbing 45% of rebounds available.
The other area is pace of play. Niagara is playing slightly faster than last season with 66 possessions per game, but that still ranks 312th nationally.
The Purple Eagles have succeeded at slowing the game for both teams and have surrendered 12 fastbreak points all season, but that also gives opponents a chance to get into offensive sets and allow teams with more size to create more space in the paint, which is why Niagara is minus 12 in points off turnovers despite having just three more turnovers.
This weekend, Niagara will get tested on the glass again, facing a Saint Peter’s team that ranks 13th in total rebound percentage (57.1%) and Quinnipiac, which is 53rd at 54.1%.
“It’s just continuing to learn how to finish possessions, but we have to do it collectively,” Paulus said. “One guy is not going to get 20 rebounds. And so for us, if we could have everybody chip in with a few rebounds, get those long shots, long rebounds, try to be the first on the floor to get the 50-50 balls. That’s something that we’ve talked about, and we’ve worked on. It’s a work in progress.”
A meet-and-greet with Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas has been rescheduled from Friday to Jan. 26. He will be in the multi-purpose room from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the lower level of the Gallagher Center prior to a game against Marist.