OPENING TIP
- Lafayette is looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season when it travels to Colgate on Wednesday night. The Leopards ended their 2017-18 campaign in Hamilton, N.Y. on March 1, 2018, a 76-54 defeat in the tournament quarterfinals.

- Senior co-captain Paulius Zalys continues to impress in his final campaign, posting a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists in Lafayette's win over American on Saturday. Zalys is averaging 14.1 points per night since the beginning of December and is just 69 points away from becoming Lafayette's 45th 1,000-point scorer.

- The Leopards return home for a pair of games at Kirby Sports Center to close out the month of January, hosting Army and Lehigh on Jan. 26 and Jan. 30. 

LAST TIME OUT
Defense and foul shooting proved to be the difference in overtime on Saturday afternoon as Lafayette earned its first road victory in Patriot League play at American in overtime, 84-79.

Tied at 69-69 into the extra session, Lafayette took control with a four-point lead after the first three minutes and a seven-point edge with less than a minute to play. American didn't score from anywhere other than the foul line until the 37-second mark, and by then it was too late as the Leopards hit 13-of-17 from the charity stripe in extra time to close it out.

Senior co-captain Paulius Zalys led a group of five double-figure scorers offensively, the first time this season with five reaching that mark. Zalys posted a season-high 21 points on 8-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the foul line, while sophomores Alex Petrie and Justin Jaworski added 16 and 13, respectively, junior Lukas Jarrett chipped in with 12 and freshman Isaac Suffren posted 10.

American controlled the glass in the game by a 39-29 margin, but was only able to convert its 11 offensive rebounds into seven points. The Leopards' defensive performance forced 19 American turnovers, the most from a Division I opponent this season for the Maroon and White, with the Eagles registering just 12 assists on their 25 field goals.

THE SKINNY ON THE RAIDERS
Colgate, picked to finish third in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, currently sits in fourth place in the league standings at 3-3 in conference play. The Raiders, returning three starters from a team that went 19-14 a year ago and advanced to the Patriot League championship game, are 11-8 on the year entering Wednesday's matchup, boasting league victories over American (73-69) and Lehigh (91-78) at home, and Boston U. on the road (77-56).

Most of what Colgate does runs through the hands of point guard Jordan Burns, leading the team in scoring at 17.4 points per game and assists with 5.5 helpers per contest. Northwestern transfer Rapolas Ivanauskas has also made an immediate impact at 14.4 points per night and a team-leading 8.7 rebounds per outing, while Will Rayman rounds out the double-figure scorers at 12.6 points per game. 
 
LAST MEETING
Lafayette closed the books on its 2017-18 campaign on March 1, 2018 in Hamilton, N.Y., falling to second-seeded Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals, 76-54. The Leopards could never get any rhythm going on the offensive side of the ball and Colgate didn't let up, proving its worth as the Patriot League's second seed. 

Matt Klinewski '18 led three Leopards in double-figure scoring with 12 points, while classmate and fellow co-captain Eric Stafford '18, along with Justin Jaworski, added 10 points each. Lafayette went 19-of-46 from the field on the day (41.3%), 6-of-19 from three-point range and uncharacteristically struggled from the charity stripe at 10-of-17 (58.8%) on the night.

Colgate's Sean O'Brien was the difference maker for a well-run Raiders offense with 18 points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals. Will Rayman added 16 points and both Jordan Burns and Dana Batt chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively. 

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Saturday's win at American marked just the third time this season the Leopards had four players register 30 or more minutes in a game with Lukas Jarrett (35), Justin Jaworski (35), E.J. Stephens (31) and Paulius Zalys (30) seeing the bulk of the floor time. The other two contests came in the overtime games against Cornell and Saint Peter's during the non-conference slate. Lafayette has been one of the deepest teams in the Patriot League this year as one of three teams in the conference possessing 10 players that average more than 12 minutes per game.

BLOCK PARTY
Lafayette's nine team blocks against Navy on Jan. 16 were the most for the Leopards since Feb. 12, 2014, a nine-block effort against Loyola. Sophomore Dylan Hastings swatted a career-high four shots against the Mids, while junior Lukas Jarrett added a pair and senior co-captain Paulius Zalys, sophomore Alex Petrie and freshman Sean Good each chipped in with one. As a unit, the Leopards are third in the Patriot League in blocks, protecting the rim to the tune of 3.7 send-back's per game.

FREE BASKETBALL
Lafayette has participated in three overtime games this season, dropping the first two at Saint Peter's and at home to Cornell before knocking off American on the road on Saturday. The Leopards took part in just one overtime game last season on Jan. 8, an 80-75 loss to Bucknell. Head coach Fran O'Hanlon carries a 23-25 mark in his career after regulation time. 

PETRIE'S CONSISTENCY
The reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year is looking for redemption on Wednesday as he finished his freshman season with an uncharacteristic four-point performance in the season finale at Colgate a year ago. That total was the first of four times in Petrie's last 34 games when he scored in single digits, averaging 18.3 points per night in league play last season and 14.2 per night in league contests so far in 2018-19.