The first-place Purple Eagles have one of the youngest teams in the nation.
Juan'ya Green, shown here against Loyola in last year's MAAC Championship at the MassMutual Center, has Niagara on top of the conference standings.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference may be more than halfway through its men’s basketball schedule, but front runner Niagara isn’t ready to exhale.
“You know, it’s funny. We had a great weekend, we win at Siena, we win at Canisius and you look up and say ‘Oh boy, now we’ve got Iona and Loyola,’” Purple Eagles coach Joe Mihalich said. “Every coach does the same thing – whatever league you’re in is the toughest league in the country.”
Despite not having a senior in the starting lineup – or one that plays more than seven minutes a game – the 13-8 Purple Eagles are sitting on top of the standings at 9-1.
Niagara has won six straight games, and its only loss in the new year was in overtime at Brown.
The Purple Eagles are young, but not nearly as young as they were a year ago when they went 14-19 (8-10 in the MAAC).
“Last year, we started four freshmen and a sophomore, and now they’re a year older,” Mihalich said.
Niagara was the third-youngest team in Division I during the 2011-12 season, and while it has climbed somewhat in that category (40th-youngest), it is still the youngest in the MAAC.
Sophomores Juan’ya Green, Antoine Mason and Ameen Tanksley have started every game, and for most of the season, senior Devon White (13 starts) and freshman Tahjere McCall (12 starts) have been in the starting five.
Junior Marvin Jordan (7) and Sophomore Joe Thomas (8) have also started. On top of that, freshman T.J. Cline, son of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, has been a valuable asset off the bench.
Cline has twice earned MAAC Rookie of the Week honors, showing Mihalich is still leaning heavily on underclassmen to get the job done.
“We have two freshmen we like a lot and are in our top seven, and our sophomores don’t play like sophomores,” Mihalich said. “We’re lucky – we’ve got a couple of kids who are way beyond their years in talent and basketball skills.”
Green was MAAC Rookie of the Year last season after leading the Purple Eagles in scoring, assists, steals, field goals and free throws. His 17.7 points per game ranked second nationally among freshmen.
Green still leads Niagara in assists and steals and has twice been named MAAC Player of the Week, but Mason is carrying the scoring torch at 18 points a game (two more than Green), making for one potent backcourt.
Statistically, the Purple Eagles don’t appear too impressive. They’re not overpowering on offense, they don’t have a shutdown defense, and they’re not tremendous shooters, rebounders or shot-blockers.
But what they also don’t do a whole lot is turn the ball over, committing just 11.6 per game to rank 31st in the nation. Niagara’s turnover margin of 4.4 is 10th.
“I can throw every cliché in the book at ya, but we really do take it one game at a time. We really do,” Mihalich said. “We just try to be the best team for one night, that’s it. We respect our opponents and we know if we don’t come to play, we’re not going to win. That forces you to focus and stay on the path and all that stuff.”
Thursday’s game with Iona (14-7, 8-2) is a big one. Not only is Iona second in the MAAC, it is the only conference team to defeat the Purple Eagles, having done so in the league opener.
Niagara has not lost a MAAC game since, and it would like to see that continue all the way through the conference tournament, which will be held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield March 7-11.