Under the Radar Game of the Day: LIU-Brooklyn at Fairleigh Dickinson

LIU-Brooklyn at Fairleigh Dickinson, 4:00 PM Eastern, necfrontrow.com

We try not to show too much favoritism here at Hoops HD, but there are a few exceptions to that rule.  One of them comes for the Northeast Conference, which has been one of our favorite conferences for years now.  This is a league that has great rivalries, and tons on the line during the regular season as teams battle for home court advantage in the conference tournament.  Given that it is an extreme rarity for an NEC team to ever sniff at-large talk, the conference tournament is for “all the marbles”.  Tonight, our Under the Radar Game of the Day returns to Teaneck, New Jersey for a first place battle between Long Island U-Brooklyn and Fairleigh Dickinson, as both teams enter play today as part of a three way tie (along with Mount St Mary’s) for the conference lead at 6-1.

LIU-Brooklyn enters play at 13-7 overall, the only NEC team currently with a record over .500.  The Blackbirds defeated Wagner earlier this week behind 19 points from Jashaun Agosto and 15 from Jerome Frink.  LIU is currently on a 6 game winning streak, not having lost since their conference opener on December 29 against Mount St Mary’s.  Fairleigh Dickinson (8-10 overall) suffered their lone conference loss of the season also at the hands of the Mountaineers, back on January 12.  Earlier this week, the Knights picked up a home win over St. Francis-Brooklyn behind 13 points and 9 rebounds from Mike Holloway.  With both of tonight’s teams already having lost once to Mount St Mary’s, today’s game is huge for the winner to be able to keep pace in the conference, have a shot at the top seed in the NEC tournament and try to capture home court advantage throughout.