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Staten Island, NY - Wagner (8-9; 4-2 NEC) is looking to snap a two-game losing streak when the Seahawks welcome Quinnipiac (12-5; 4-2 NEC) to the Spiro Sports Center tonight at 7:00 pm in a game that will be televised by Time Warner Cable.

ON THE TUBE
The game will be televised by Time Warner Cable. Wayne Fidelman will be calling the game with Joe Nugent and Tim Gannon providing the color. Alexa Datt completes the coverage as the sideline reporter. Live twitter updates will also be provided by Wagner Athletics.

SETTING THE SCENE
Wagner is currently in a three-way tie with Quinnipiac and Robert Morris for second place in the NEC and a win would further separate the Seahawks from their conference rivals in the hunt for a playoff berth.

KEY MATCH-UP
“Play Your Game.” While it is a tired cliche, Wagner must revert to the basketball it played en route to its 4-0 NEC start. Take good shots, protect the ball, take advantage of second chances while limiting second opportunities for the opposition. The Seahawks also need freshman Latif Rivers to return to high-scoring ways as the play-making guard has been limited to just four points over the last two games.

COACHING MATCH-UP
Head coach Dan Hurley is 8-9 (4-2 NEC) will be squaring off with fourth-year Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore, who is 65-46 (30-20 NEC), highlighted by a school-record 23 wins and a school's first-ever trip to the NIT a year ago.

WITH A WIN
Wagner would hand Quinnipiac back-to-back losses for the first time this season while sweeping the season-series for the first time since the 2008-2009 season. The Seahawks are also looking to give the Bobcats just their second road loss of the year (6-1).

ALL-TIME HISTORY
Wagner leads the all-time series by a 14-12 count, including going 8-5 against Quinnipiac at home. However, the Bobcats have won three of the last four meetings at the Spiro Sports Center.

RPI UPDATE
In the RPI, the Seahawks are ranked No. 118 while the Bobcats are 151st.

REUNION OF SORTS
Assistant coach Luke Murray began his collegiate coaching career at Quinnipiac back during the 2007-2008 season, helping the Bobcats to a 15-15 record, including an 11-7 ledger in the NEC.

LAST TIME VS. QUINNIPAC
Wagner outscored Quinnipiac 12-3 over the final 2:42 en route to the upset victory over the Bobcats. The defending regular season champion Bobcats had won five in a row and were picked to win the regular season title for the second-straight year while the Seahawks were prognosticated to take 11th. Junior Tyler Murray connected on his first five shots en route to a career-best 28 points while converting on 7-of-10 from the floor, 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and 9-of-11 from the line.  Down four with 2:54 to play, the NEC's leading scorer deflected a pass before coming up with the ball. Following a timeout, Murray drilled a three to bring the Green & White to within one. Then after Justin Rutty missed a pair from the line, Murray answered with a lay-up on the other end while putting Wagner up for good. The Seahawks would push the lead out to six before claiming the 73-68 win.

CLOSING IT OUT
In Wagner's game-ending 12-3 run win at Quinnipiac, the Seahawks converted all three of their shots while forcing the Bobcats into just 1-of-5 shooting.

IN THE WIN ...
Wagner exploited the Quinnipiac defense for 11 three pointers, which is the highest single-game total allowed by the Bobcats on the year ... The Seahawks also converted 57.1 percent (12-21) of their shots in the decisive half ... The Green & White have made good on at least 50.0 percent of their shots after halftime five times, going 4-1 during that time.

TROUBLING TRENDS
For Wagner to bounce back against Quinnipiac they will have to improve on a few areas. The Seahawks are currently the worst ranked rebounding team in the league, pulling down an average of 30.1 rpg while the Bobcats are the best at 43.1 rpg. In the team's first meeting, the Green & White lost the battle of the boards by 10 but allowed the preseason favorites only a +3 advantage in second-chance points. Wagner will have to again protect the ball as in the first meeting the Seahawks committed just 10 miscues - second fewest by a Quinnipiac opponent this year - while holding a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers. However over the last two games, Wagner has committed 37 turnovers while allowing the opposition into 45-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

QU IMPROVEMENT
Quinnipiac has allowed the opposition to make good on just 27.5 percent (11-40) from beyond the arc over the last three games ... Wagner converted 45.8 percent (11-24) in the team's first meeting.

ODD
In the last meeting, Wagner converted a season-high seven first-half three pointers while converting at a 53.8 percent (7-13) clip, but made good on just 26.3 percent (5-19) of its two-point attempts ... In the second half, the Seahawks switched things up converting on a 1985 Villanova-esque 80.0 percent (8-10) from inside the arc and just 36.4 percent (4-11) from outside the arc.

RUTTY-LESS BOBCATS
While Quinnipiac has raced out to a 4-2 NEC record, it has hardly been an easy journey. The Bobcats last had reigning Player of the Year Justin Rutty against Wagner. Since then, Quinnipiac has gone 3-1 during league-play with each game decided by 10 points or less. While the Bobcats hold the fifth-best overall field-goal percentage (.424) in the league, that number plummets to a league-low .454 during league play. Quinnipiac also holds the second-best three-point field goal percentage defense (.308) and the fourth-best three-point percentage offense (.338) in the overall rankings, but are 10th in three-point defense (.378) and 10th in three-point offense (.290) in NEC-games. However, the stabalizing force for the defending champions has been on the glass as Quinnipiac is 10th nationally with a league-best 43.1 rpg and second during league-games at 39.8 rpg.

LAST TIME OUT
Wagner dropped its second-straight game, falling 84-54 to Long Island as the Blackbirds outscored the Seahawks by 27 points in the decisive second half while shooting 63.3 percent from the floor. Junior Tyler Murray led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting while freshman Orlando Parker notched his second double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

TYLER / TEAM COMPARISON
During Wagner's recent two-game funk, junior Tyler Murray averaged 19.5 points per game while shooting a respectable 30.0 percent (3-10) from beyond the arc and 70.0 percent from the line (14-20). The rest of the team misfired on all 11 three-point attempts and went to the line just 15 times, hitting on nine, for a 60.0 percent conversion rate. Freshman Latif Rivers, who suffered from flu-like symptoms last week, was held to four points in the last two games while converting on just 2-of-18 from the floor, including 0-of-7 from beyond the arc. At LIU, the Green & White went just 8-of-12 from the line, both of which were season-lows.

NEED FOR THREE
Wagner is 0-4 this year when hitting on two three pointers or less and 0-3 when converting on 25.0 percent or less of its three-point attempts.

DID YOU KNOW?
Since converting 12-of-21 from beyond the arc in the 81-53 win over Saint Francis (PA), Wagner is just 3-of-21 over the last two games.

OP CONTINUES STRONG PLAY
Despite the 30-point loss at LIU, freshman Orlando Parker continued his strong play, notching 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the year.

PARKER PICKING IT UP
Freshman Orlando Parker averaged 11.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last week while scoring in double-figures in back-to-back games for the first time in his Seahawk career. He has now hit for double-digits three times over the last four games after doing do so just twice in the first 13 games. Parker, who has paced the team in rebounding a team-best five times, is averaging 9.8 points and 8.0 rebounds over the last four games while shooting 48.6 percent (17-35) from the floor.

THIRD OPTION
While junior Tyler Murray has hit for double-digits 16 times and freshman Latif Rivers has 10 times, the rest of the Seahawks have gone for double-figures just 17 times in the season's first 17 games. Over the first 16 games, no Wagner player besies Murray & Rivers recorded back-to-back double-digits scoring games. Freshman Orlando Parker became the first Seahawk player to record back-to-back double-figure scoring games after notching 13 at St. Francis (NY) and 10 at LIU.

METHODICAL MURRY
Junior Tyler Murray has legitimized himself as a Player of the Year candidate with his stellar play over the last six games. The Canadian native is averaging 21.7 points per game while shooting 54.3 percent (38-70) from the floor, 58.1 percent (18-31) from beyond the arc and 78.3 percent (36-46) from the line while notching at least 20 points in four-straight games.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
According to the most recent NCAA Rankings, Wagner is ranked 12th in the nation in free throw shooting at 76.6 percent and 36th in three-point shooting (.387). Freshman Latif Rivers, who made his first 31 free throws, is fourth nationally at 93.8 percent (60-64) from the line. Junior Tyler Murray is 61st nationally in scoring with his league-best 17.9 ppg and 120th at the charity stripe (.824). Murray leads the NEC in three-point shooting at 50.0 percent but doesn't have the 2.5 makes/game to qualify for the rankings. Freshman Naofall Folahan is among the leaders, ranking 69th in blocks with a NEC-best 1.8 bpg.

THE TYLER & LATIF SHOW
In the overtime win over Robert Morris, Junior Tyler Murray and freshman Latif Rivers combined for a season-high 48 points on 14-of-31 shooting from the floor, 6-of-14 from beyond the arc and 14-of-16 from the line while handing out eight assists. The twosome picked it up in the final five minutes and overtime, combining for 17 points - including 15 of Wagner's 20 overtime points. On the year, Murray (17.9 ppg) and Rivers (13.0 ppg) are the second-ranked scoring duo in the NEC, averaging 30.9 points per game and are shooting 40.2 percent (155-386) from the floor, 42.1 percent (72-171) from beyond the arc and 86.7 percent (144-166) from the charity stripe. The duo is also accounting for 47.4 percent of the team's offense.

SECOND-HALF STOPPER
Sophomore Josh Thompson is averaging 4.4 of his 7.4 points per game in the second half of games while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor. In the first half of games, he has scored just 2.8 ppg while shooting an anemic 30.0 percent. The highlight of his second-half play was an 18-point performance in the win over Albany, capping a career-best 24-point performance.

RECRUITING PAYING DIVIDENDS
Head coach Dan Hurley's first recruiting class has been paying dividends since day one and the Northeast Conference is paying attention. Freshman Latif Rivers collected Wagner's fifth Rookie of the Week citation in the season's first nine weeks for the week ending January 9. The Garden State native has four NEC Rookie accolades with Naofall Folahan garnering one.

MURRAY ALL-TIME LEADER
Junior Tyler Murray leads NEC in three-point percentage at 50.0 percent (39-78). For his career, he is the all-time Wagner leader in the same category (min. 100 three point attempts), converting on a blistering 43.8 percent (95-217).
 
OVVVVVVERTIME
Wagner has played in 2 overtime games this season, winning them both. Over the last five seasons the Seahawks have played in 12 overtime games with a record of 8-4.

UP NEXT
Wagner hosts Sacred Heart on Saturday, January 22 at 7:00 pm.