*The Green & White, who own a 79-73 road win at Fairfield (11/17) are guided by two-time and reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year Bashir Mason (110-82, .573), the fastest coach to win 100 games in Seahawk history, who has developed 12 All-NEC selections during his tenure,

*In his seventh season at the helm of the Seahawk ship, Mason was the youngest head coach at the Division I level when he was named the 18th head men's basketball coach in school history on March 26, 2012, and at age 34, remains one of the nation's youngest head coaches, checking in as the sixth-most youthful head coach heading into the 2018-19 campaign.

*The Seahawks, who were picked fourth in the 2018-19 NEC Preseason Poll, are paced in scoring by redshirt senior guard Romone Saunders who checks in with a 16.8 points per game average, a figure that ranks 6th in the NEC.

*The 6-3 Saunders, who is second on the team in rebounding at 6.5 rpg., enters the American game with 942 career points scored, just 58 shy of becoming the 45th Seahawk to join the 1,000-point mark.

*Rugged 6-8, 230-pound redshirt senior AJ Sumbry mans the post for the Seahawks and, in addition to quarterbacking the Wagner defense, is averaging career-best numbers with 10.5 ppg. and a team-high 7.8 rpg. (3rd in NEC).

*Elijah Davis is Wagner's 6-3 senior suber-sub as the sixth man averages 15 points and 3.7 rpg. 

About the Eagles

*The Eagles enter Friday night's play with a 4-1 record and a three-game winning streak.

*American is led by Junior guard Sa'eed Nelson, the 2018-19 Patriot League Men's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year, who checks in at 18.4 ppg. and 5.8 rpg.

*Nelson is coming off a team-high 26-point effort in the Eagles' 74-64 win at VMI.

*Sam Iorio finished with his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds in 37 minutes

*Mark Gasperini finished with nine points, five assists and three rebounds in 29 minutes.

*On the sidelines, Mike Brennan, a former hard-nosed guard at Princeton University who hails from Elizabeth, NJ, is in his sixth season as head coach of the Eagles and enters the Wagner game with a record of 67-96

All-Time Series Against American

*Friday's contest is the 15th all-time meeting between the teams, with Wagner holding a 8-6 lead in the head-to-head series, including a hard-fought 71-70 road victory a season ago. The Seahawks have won the last four meetings between the schools with the most recent American win coming by a 79-72 count on December 4, 1999. 

Wagner All-Time vs. American

1953-54 77-66     W

1957-58 65-72     L 

1977-78 83-99     L

1982-83 58-71     L

1995-96 64-69     L

1999-00 72-79     L

2000-01 78-77     W

2001-02 69-58     W

2002-03 69-55     W

2004-05 49-70      L

2005-06 75-59     W

2015-16 55-48     W

2016-17 73-65     W

2017-18  71-70     W

Wagner All-Time vs. The Patriot League

American             7-6

Colgate                 -

Lehigh                12-7

Holy Cross            -

Boston University 4-2

Bucknell               8-4

Army West Point 2-3

Lafayette             3-7

Navy                     -

                            43-39

Last Time Out: 
*Sophomore forward Nigel Jackson scored 14 points to lead four players in double figures but it wasn't enough to offset a hot-shooting day from Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) preseason favorite Rider as the Broncs earned an 89-65 win last Saturday.

*Rider's Jordan Allen led all scorers with 24 points, Dimencio Vaughn had 19, while Frederick Scott and Tyere Marshall added 10 points apiece for the visitors.

*For Wagner, Jackson's 14-point afternoon, which is one shy of his career high, came on 5-of-11 shooting and was keyed by 4-of-9 accuracy from three-point range. 

*Three Seahawks finished with 10 points apiece in redshirt senior guard Romone Saunders, redshirt junior forward Tim Graham, and freshman guard Jonathan Norfleet, with the latter two being career highs.

*The 6-6 Graham, a transfer from Northwest Kansas Technical Junior College, playing in his second game as a Seahawk after sitting out the 2017-18 season, provided a 17-minute spark off the bench with his 10 points coming on 4-of-9 shooting, which included a pair of three-point jumpers, to go with three rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

*Norfleet, meanwhile, notched his career-high 10-point effort in his first career start as the quick, 6-1 Virginia Beach, VA native shot 3-of-7 from the floor while also distributing a career-high four assists in a productive and efficient 23 minutes of action.

*Another first-year Seahawk, junior guard Jeff Coulanges, also made his first career start and finished with eight points, which came on the heels of a 10-point, 10-rebound effort last time out vs. NJIT. Redshirt senior forward AJ Sumbry added eight points and a team-high six rebounds.

*Rider shot 51 percent from the floor in the contest, highlighted by a blistering 46 percent (11-of-24) from beyond the arc. The tall, physical and athletic Broncs out-rebounded Wagner, the Northeast Conference's (NEC) top rebounding team, by a 43-27 count, while holding a 37-18 edge in points in the paint.

Wagner Picked Fourth in NEC Preseason Poll
*The Northeast Conference (NEC) preseason coaches' poll was announced on October 24 at the league's Social Media Day at Barclays Center, and the defending regular season champion Wagner men's basketball team was predicted to finish fourth by the coaches for the upcoming 2018-19 season.

*Saint Francis U was tabbed the preseason favorite, securing eight first-place votes. Fairleigh Dickinson was predicted to finish second while defending league champion LIU Brooklyn was picked third, with both the Knights and Blackbirds securing one first-place preseason vote apiece.

*Wagner checked in at fourth, Robert Morris was chosen fifth, with Central Connecticut and St. Francis Brooklyn taking the sixth and seventh spots, respectively. Bryant (8th), Sacred Heart (9th) and Mount St. Mary's round out the 10-team poll.

Homecoming of Sorts for Rivera

Redshirt junior forward Lonnie Rivera, who played his first two seasons at American before transferring to Wagner, will make his return to the AU campus on Friday. The 6-6 Spring Valley, NY native sat out the 2017-18 season due to NCAA transfer regulations but was able to practice with the Seahawks all season. In 21 games as a sophomore with nine starts for AU in 2016-17, Rivera averaged 5.0 ppg. and 2.0 rpg. In three games with the Seahawks this season, Rivera 4.2 ppg., and 1.7 rpg. 

Next Up for the Seahawks

*Wagner is next in action on Saturday, December 9 when the Seahawks host the University of New Rochelle in a 2:00 p.m. tip at the Spiro Sports Center.