OPENING TIP
* Lafayette goes outside of the central division for the second time this season this weekend hosting Boston U. for a back-to-back at Kirby Sports Center. 
* Head coach Fran O'Hanlon is on the cusp of yet another milestone, needing a sweep this weekend to pick up his 350th career victory. O'Hanlon is one of just five Division I head coaches to direct the same program since the start of the 1995-96 season.
* Lafayette is riding a five-game winning streak for the second time in as many seasons. The Leopards won five straight from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19, 2020, finishing at 19-12 overall a year ago.

LAST YEAR'S MEETINGS
Lafayette and Boston U. each won on their own home floors a season ago to move the all-time series record to 15-8 in favor of the Terriers. 

On Jan. 2, 2020, Jonas Harper's game-winning three from the right wing with 13 seconds left knocked off the Leopards by one, 73-72. Lukas Jarrett '20 posted 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, while E.J. Stephens led Lafayette in scoring with 17 points on the night.

In the rematch, Stephens was sensational, dropping a then-career-best 27 points to lead the Leopards to a 61-59 victory. Eighteen of his points came in the first half and his bucket with 34 seconds to play proved to be the eventual game-winner, an off-balance floater following a Tyrone Perry steal. 

THE SKINNY ON THE TERRIERS
The defending Patriot League champions and a team returning four of its five starters from a year ago, things haven't gone as expected for Boston U. to start the 2021 campaign, entering the weekend at 1-5 overall. The Terriers have lost five straight since a season-opening victory at Holy Cross and have lost their last three by 11 or more points, looking for answers in the early season.

Preseason All-Patriot League selection Walter Whyte is one of three double-figure scorers at 13.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per night, pacing the Terriers on the glass. Javante McCoy leads the way offensively at 17.3 points per game, while 6-10 senior forward Sukmail Mathon is registering 11.0 points and 6.7 boards per game as well. Boston U. is still trying to replace the production of graduated Max Mahoney, whose 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game a year ago led the team in both categories.

IN COACH O WE TRUST
Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon is in his 26th year on the sidelines for the Maroon and White. O'Hanlon is the longest-tenured coach in the Patriot League, has won four conference titles and owns three NCAA Tournament appearances, including both feats most recently in 2014-15. The native of Philadelphia holds the overall Patriot League record for games coached with 755 and currently sits at 348 career victories.

O'Hanlon is one of only five head coaches to direct the same Division I program since the start of the 1995-96 season. O'Hanlon is joined on the list by Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Bob McKillop (Davidson) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State).

SIMPLE MATH
In the home win over Loyola on Jan. 16, Lafayette drained 14 threes compared to 12 two-point field goals, the first time finishing a game with more threes than twos since Feb. 10, 2019, a home win over Holy Cross. Justin Jaworski and Leo O'Boyle combined for 10 of the 14 triples on the night, while Kyle Jenkins made a pair, and Tyrone Perry and E.J. Stephens chipped in with one apiece.

TRENDING UP
Lafayette conquered demons in its 2019-20 campaign, going 19-12 to record its first winning season since 2014-15 and 10-8 in Patriot League action, its first 10-win season in conference play since the 2012-13 slate. 

The Leopards will look to back that up with another winning season in 2021. The Maroon and White have not put together back-to-back winning seasons since winning a pair of Patriot League titles in the 1998-99 and 1999-00 campaigns. 

SOPHOMORES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Sophomores Leo O'Boyle and Neal Quinn are in much more prominent roles this season after closing their rookie seasons strong in 2019-20. O'Boyle, named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team last season, started 12 of the final 13 games for the Maroon and White, averaging just shy of 10.0 points per game in league contests. The Scranton, Pa. native scored 15.4 points per outing in his final five games, going 13-of-27 from beyond the arc during that stretch (48.1%). Quinn started 21 games as a rookie and had his best two games in the final weeks of his freshman campaign. The 7-0, 280-pound forward from Allendale, N.J. went 7-of-12 from the field with two blocks for 17 points against Loyola on Feb. 22, 2020 and followed that up with a season-best 22 points on 9-of-11 from the field in the season finale at Colgate. 

Starting each of the first six games this season, O'Boyle is averaging 12.2 points per outing, coming off back-to-back five-three, 19-point performances over the weekend in the sweep of Loyola. Quinn has started all five games in which he's played this season, averaging 9.4 points. 5.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds per night. 

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD
While Justin Jaworski may have deserved to make it 3-for-3 this week in the Patriot League Player of the Week column for the Maroon and White, it wasn't to be, as he was edged out by Bucknell's John Meeks, the first non-Leopard to win the award this season. Jaworski won it on Jan. 6 and classmate E.J. Stephens followed up on Jan. 12.

Jaworski's Jan. 2 performance in the season-opening loss to Lehigh is tied for 12th in Lafayette history for the best single-game effort by a Leopard, matching 37-point efforts from Tracy Tripucka (Dec. 1, 1969 vs. Moravian) and Jim Mower (Nov. 22, 2011 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson). That effort was made even more impressive by the fact that it was his first game back from missing the final seven games of the 2019-20 season with a knee injury.

On Jan. 12, senior co-captain E.J. Stephens became the second Leopard in as many weeks to be named the Patriot League Player of the Week, the first honor of his career. Stephens led five double-figure scorers at Bucknell on Jan. 9 with 18 points on 7-fo-14 from the floor with four steals. The following night, he poured in a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 from the field and 10-of-10 from the foul line in the Leopards' 87-76 victory to complete the weekend sweep. 

Stephens, who averaged 16.1 points per night in the seven games without Justin Jaworski at the end of last season, has picked up right where he left off, not only on the offensive end, but defensively as well. Stephens is second in the Patriot League in steals this season, snatching 2.2 per night.