Hackensack/Teaneck, NJ - A longstanding rivalry renews on Saturday morning as the Wagner men's basketball teams heads across the George Washington Bridge to tangle with the defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champions, the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights, in a key conference matchup live on ESPNU.

Last Time Out: These two teams were predicted to finish one and two in the preseason poll, but the Seahawks are currently fifth at 6-5 in league play while the Knights are in second place at 8-3. Wagner will look for its first three-game win streak of the season after defeating Central Connecticut, 70-60, on Thursday evening in New Britain, CT while the Knights will look to bounce back from a 74-70 loss to Sacred Heart at home on Thursday night. This morning's contest is the earliest game of the season for both teams and while it is the first time that the Seahawks have been featured on ESPNU since February 24, 2013, when they defeated LIU Brooklyn, 94-92, at the Spiro Sports Center. For FDU, this marks the Knights' first-ever appearance on ESPNU.

All-Time Series: The Seahawks and Knights are meeting for the 105th time with the head-to-head series tied at 52. All-time, Wagner is 24-28 in Hackensack, NJ  but has won the last five meetings when taking on the Knights at Stratis Arena. The first-ever home game the Green & White played at the Spiro Sports Center was against the Knights back on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks earned a 78-56 victory. Wagner Hall of Famer Frantz Pierre-Louis poured in a game-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, which included 6-of-10 from the free-throw line in 29 minutes of action. Frank DeBlasi was the only other Seahawk in double-figures, adding 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond-the-arc in 33 minutes of action. Last season marked the second time that the Seahawks and Knights met in the league finale and the first since the 2005 season in which FDU won 58-52 in Hackensack/Teaneck, NJ.

The Coaches: Wagner's Bashir Mason, the 2015-16 Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Wagner Seahawks, owning a career record of 81-66 and a conference-record of 51-30. Mason is 7-3 all-time against Fairleigh Dickinson. Fairleigh Dickinson's Greg Herenda is in his fourth season and is 171-150 in his coaching career and 50-78 as the head coach of the Knights. Herenda is 3-6 all-time against the Seahawks.

Last Time Out Against Fairleigh Dickinson (1/5/17):  In a rematch of the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) championship game, Fairleigh Dickinson held on for a 70-69 victory over Wagner, despite 21 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, from Seahawk senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas / Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) tonight at the Spiro Sports Center in a game that was televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.  Trailing by eight at 68-60 with 2:43 left in the game, Wagner scored seven straight points to make it a 68-67 game on a jumper by junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD / DeMatha Catholic) with 46 seconds remaining. After FDU center Mike Holloway answered with a bucket in the lane to make it a 70-67 game, Carey sank a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to again make it a one-point game at 70-69. After Carey was forced to foul Earl Potts, Jr. in the backcourt at the 13-second mark, Potts missed the front end of a one-and-one which allowed the Seahawks to advance to the ball to midcourt before calling time-out with nine seconds remaining. After an FDU timeout, Wagner worked the ball around to Carey who was short on a left wing three-point try. Seahawk freshman guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA / Westfield) grabbed the rebound inside the foul line but his off-balance, potential game-winner also bounded off the front of the rim as the Knights held on for the win.  In addition to his 21 points and 22 rebounds, the 6'5" Carey's ultra-productive evening included two assists, one steal and a perfect 7-of-7 effort from the free throw line. Henson wound up with 14 points, along with three assists, while freshman guard Connor Ferrell (Conyers, GA / Rockdale County [DME Sports Academy]) was the third Seahawk in double figures, finishing with 12 points. Stephan Jiggets led a balanced FDU offensive showing with 17 points. All told, the Knights had four players hit for double digits, as Holloway finished with 16 points while Nheme Ghassan and Darian Anderson added 12 and 10, respectively.

Scouting The Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights: After winning eight of nine, the defending NEC champions have lost back-to-back games for the first time since sustaining a lengthy seven-game skid (11/20/16-12/17-16), most recently dropping their first home conference tilt against Sacred Heart, 74-70.  This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, with FDU holding off a late surge by the Green & White and earned a 70-69 victory at the Spiro Sports Center.  FDU is paced by four players scoring in double-figures with three among the top-25 in scoring. Darian Anderson is tallying 17.8 ppg (3rd in the NEC) while teammate Stephan Jiggetts is pouring in 14.1 ppg (8th) and Mike Holloway has added 11.6 ppg (24th).  As a team, FDU is averaging 73.2 ppg while shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 33.0 percent from beyond-the-arc and a league-best 75.7 percent from the free-throw line. 

In addition to being charter members of the NEC, the Seahawks and Knights have a few things in common: 

So Close: Corey Henson is at 999 Career Points: Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) is ever-so close to becoming the 43rd member of the 1,000 career points club as he enters the Fairleigh Dickinson game needing just a single point to join the club (999).  The last member to join the Wagner 1,000 point club was guard Marcus Burton ['14].

Iron Mike: Senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) is the lone member of the 2016-17 Seahawks to start in every game this season, playing in 21 straight games.

No Benchwarmers Here: In Wagner's 94-42 victory over Division III member, Staten Island back on December 22, 2016, 70 of the Seahawks' 94 points came from its bench, led by freshman guard Connor Ferrell's (Conyers, GA/Rockdale County [DME Sports Academy]) game-high 20 points.  On the year, Wagner's reserves have averaged 21.7 ppg while holding its opponents to just 17.5 a contest (455-368).

Stepping Stones To Milestones: Against the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers (1/28/17), freshman guard Connor Ferrell scored his 100th career point on a three-pointer off the feed from redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]. Speaking of Aaman, Saturday's contest against the Terriers marked the 100th career game in his career and 70th as a member of the Seahawks.  Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) dished out his 200th career assist on redshirt-sophomore forward AJ Sumbry's (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep [Quinnipiac] layup at the 13:31 mark of the first half in their contest against the Saint Francis U Red Flash on Thursday (1/26/17). 

Wagner Rewind: Central Connecticut (2/2/17): For the 40th time in his near two-year career, senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) scored in double-figures while junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) is one point shy of 1,000 for his career as the Wagner College Seahawks defeated the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, 70-60, on Thursday night at Detrick Gymnasium.   In winning back-to-back games for the second time this season, the Green & White are within a game of .500 mark at 10-11 and 6-5 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play, which currently occupies the fifth spot. CCSU is now 4-18 and 2-9 in league play.  Carey finished with a game-high 19 points, 11 of which coming in the opening stanza on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor. In playing the entire game, he tied a team-high with six caroms while dishing out three assists in his 40 minutes of action. Henson was the second Seahawk in double-figures with 13 points, all coming in the first half of action. At the conclusion of tonight's game, the third-year Seahawk is sitting on 999 career points.  Freshman guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) chipped in nine points in reserve to go along with five rebounds while junior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord), redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) and redshirt sophomore forward AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep [Quinnipiac]) each added eight points with the trio combining to pull down a total of 14 rebounds. Central Connecticut had three players in double-figures led by Austen Nehls' team-best 17 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. Khalen Cumberlander netted 14 points while Mustafa Jones added 12 points and seven rebounds. 

Swat Team: This season, the Wagner Seahawks have rejected five or more shots in a contest seven times.  Against St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17), the Green & White sent away a total of seven Terrier shots, with two rejections coming off the hands of redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) and junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic). Against Bryant (1/12/17), redshirt sophomore forward AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep [Quinnipiac]) swatted away a game-high five shots, three of which coming in the second half of action. The five rejections are the most in a single-game since fellow teammate Mike Aaman denied five shots against Robert Morris in the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinals (3/2/16). Sumbry is denying 1.24 shots a contest and has 26 rejections on the season, which is good for third in the NEC, while Aaman  (22 blocks) is rejecting 1.10 shots a game, sixth-best in the NEC. 

Double Trouble: The Seahawks have posted at least one double-double in 11 of its 21 games this season.

Simply Mr. Double-Double: Versatile 6-5 guard Michael Carey has notched 22 career double-doubles, the most recent coming in Wagner's thrilling 66-64 home victory over St. Francis Brooklyn (1/28/17) in which the 6-5 guard scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Since the 1997-98 season, Carey is just the sixth Seahawk to record double-digit double-doubles and only the fourth player in the program during this time to record 20 or more double-doubles for a career.

Controlling The Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 16 of 21 games this season. Against local rival, Staten Island (12/22), the Green & White outmuscled the Dolphins by a staggering 32, 58-26 in its 52-point victory (94-42).  Twice this season, the Seahawks and their opponents grabbed the same amount of boards, back on Nov. 30 @ UMass (31) and most recently against Sacred Heart (1/7/17) (37).  Last season, Wagner had outrebounded its opposition by double-figures in 17 games.  The Seahawks rank first in rebounding offense (39.3) and rebounding defense (31.1) and are outmuscling their opponents by +8.2 in the Northeast Conference. 

Connecting The Wins In The Nutmeg State: The 2016-17 Seahawks have enjoyed success this season against teams from the state of Connecticut, going 5-1 against programs from the Nutmeg State. It all began with an opening night victory against then ranked 18|16, UConn at Gampel Pavilion (11/11/16), in which the Green & White were victorious, 67-58. After dropping its home opener against Fairfield (11/19/16), Wagner has won four straight against teams from Connecticut. As a team, the Seahawks outscored their CT opponents by an average of nine points (69-60) while outrebounding them by sevens boards (37.8-30.8).  Four Seahawks averaged double-figures against their CT counterparts, led by Michael Carey's 15.8 ppg and 7.3 rpg while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 86.4 percent from the free-throw line. Junior guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Potomac [Mt. Zion Prep]) scored 15 in the UConn victory while classmate Corey Henson tallied 13.8 ppg while going a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. Redshirt senior Mike Aaman added 10.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg and seven blocks in those six games. 

Painting A Picture: Wagner has scored 618 of its 1418 total points from inside the paint, coming out to 43.6 percent of its total scoring. For the second time this season, the Seahawks scored 40 points in the paint at Bryant (1/12/17), matching the production set on the road at American (11/22).  For the 12th time this year, Wagner has scored at least 30 or more points from downlow in seven of its last eight contests after outscoring the Central Connecticut Blue Devils (2/2/17), 30-24. 

At The Half...: When leading at the half under fifth-year Bashir Mason, the Seahawks have posted an overall record of 61-12. This season, the Green & White have entered the intermission with the lead in 14 of the 21 games (8-6 record in these games).

Second Chance: The Seahawks are thriving off second chance opportunities. For the season, Wagner is averaging 13.9 points off second chances while their opponents are tallying 8.9 points (292-187).

Final Five: In the final five minutes of the game, Wagner is shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three-point land while connecting on 68.3 percent from the free-throw line. 

Three-Ball Galore: The men's basketball team have connected on at least one made three-pointer in 389 straight contests. The last time the Seahawks didn't convert a three-pointer was back on February 28, 2004, at home against NEC-foe, Mount St. Mary's in which the Green & White was held to 0-of-13 from three.  Against Central Connecticut (12/29), the Seahawks made a season-high 11 three-pointers.

Next Up For Wagner: The Seahawks' season-long four-game road trip ends in Western Pennsylvania as they will take on the Saint Francis U Red Flash on Thursday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. on MSG+ (FCS, Root). The conclusion of the trip is on Saturday, February 11 in Moon Township, PA against the Robert Morris University Colonials.