In the penultimate game on both team's schedules, the Fairfield Stags (12-16, 15-12-0 ATS, 8-10 MAAC) will go for the season sweep of the Canisius Golden Griffins (9-19, 14-12-0 ATS, 6-12 MAAC) on Sunday afternoon. The initial meeting in January ended with a 67-58 victory for the Stags, who entered as 4.5-point favorites. Fairfield has won the last five matchups with Canisius and seven of the last eight. That first game this year was in Connecticut, but this one is in upstate New York. Canisius' Koessler Athletic Center is the venue, and tipoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. EST in Buffalo.
Friday night's loss was Fairfield's second straight and sixth in an eight-game span. The skid has evaporated a promising 6-4 start to conference play for the Stags. Winning the MAAC Tournament for an automatic ticket to the Big Dance is possible, but looking far less likely for the team rated 255th by KenPom.
Turnovers and defending inside the arc were the major issues that plagued Fairfield in their latest loss. Fairfield committed 10 turnovers while only forcing five. They also allowed Niagara to hit 65.1% of their two-point shots. Allan Jeanna-Rose led the team with 17 points and three assists in the eight-point loss.
Fairfield's offense had one of their better performances of the season on Friday shooting-wise. They're shooting numbers this season are still terrible. They boosted their team shooting percentage to 40.9% for the year, 338th in the nation. Their three-point perc entage was 27.8% before Friday's game, better than only one team in college basketball, but now it's 28.3%, which is higher than six teams nationally.
On the other end, Fairfield excels at forcing misses on threes. They're seventh in the country, holding opponents to 28.2% from deep. It helps them limit foes to 43.3% overall. Aided by a slow tempo, the Stags allow the fewest points per game among MAAC schools, 64.9.
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