Bulldogs challenge Pac-12's Arizona Thurs.

Full Game Notes
TV: Fox Sports Arizona/KWBA (Dave Sitton/Corey Williams)
Radio: IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network l www.arizonawildcats.com (Brian Jeffries/Matt Muehlebach) 
Live Stats: www.arizonawildcats.com/gametracker

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team wraps up a five-game road stretch that has included three-straight games against opponents from the very top conferences in the nation when the Bulldogs to take on the University of Arizona Thursday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. (7 p.m. Eastern).

This is Bryant's third contest of the 2011-12 season against a team that has received votes in the national polls this season and is the program's first-ever matchup against a team out of the Pac-12. The Bulldogs enter Thursday's game looking to snap their current nine-game losing streak before an eight-day holiday hiatus and before returning home to the Chace Athletic Center.

THE SERIES
This is the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Wildcats in the history of the two programs.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
The University of Arizona enters Thursday's game fresh off  a 12-point win over Oakland University and sports an 8-4 overall record. The Wildcats are paced by 12-game starters Solomon Hill and Kyle Fogg, who each average 12.2 points per game. Jesse Perry is right behind the duo with 11.1 points per outing and is the team's only other 12-game starter this season. Hill and Perry lead Arizona on the glass, pulling in 7.8 and 7.4 boards per game, respectively, while Hill is also responsible for the most dishes, with 40 assist on the year. Nick Johnson is the final Wildcat averaging double figures at 10.4 ppg, and also moves the ball well in the offensive end, having handed out 34 helpers of his own. Eight different Wildcats have earned at least one start in 2011-12, and the team is shooting 44.6 percent from the floor as a unit. Arizona is also strong from downtown with 36 percent shooting accuracy while holding opponents to just 27 percent conversion on shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats average 68.7 points per contest and pull down 35.4 rebounds each time out. Arizona is an impressive 6-1 at the McKale Center this season.

BRYANT vs. THE PAC-12
This is the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and any member of the Pac-12 Conference.

COMMON DENOMINATOR
The Bulldogs and the Wildcats have faced off against just a single common foe in 2011-12, both teams falling to San Diego State University earlier this season. Bryant dropped a 75-63 decision to the Aztecs in the season opener at the Basketball Travelers Classic in San Diego Nov. 11, while SDSU handed Arizona its only home loss on the season to date, 61-57, on Nov. 23. 

GOING THE DISTANCE
The 2,251 miles — measured as the crow flies — that the Bulldogs traveled to get to Tucson, Ariz., marks only the second-farthest trip for the Bryant men this season. The Bulldogs traveled 2,548 miles from their home in Smithfield, R.I., to get to San Diego State University to open the season back in early November, a trip that marked the longest distance the program has traveled since joining the ranks of Division I.

It is not, however, the farthest the program has ever traveled. In fact, far from it. The November 11-13 trip to San Diego, Calif., stands as the seventh-longest road trip in program history behind former opponents Chaminade University (Honolulu, 5064 miles), Alaska-Anchorage (3374 mi), Alaska-Fairbanks (3260 mi), Cal State Dominguez Hills (Carson, Calif., 2574 mi), Cal State Bakersfield (2573 mi) and Cal State Los Angeles (2564 mi). However, the trip did beat out such former challengers as Saint Martin's University (Lacey, Wash., 2507 mi), the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, Wash., 2489 mi) and UNLV (Las Vegas, Nev., 2349 mi). Bryant's current trip to the University of Arizona sits 11th on the distance map.

Prior to trips during the 2011-12 season, the Bulldogs logged the most Division I miles on a 1,028-mile trip to the University of Iowa in 2008-09.

NOTABLE NOTATIONS
>> In the Hunt at Half: The Bulldogs were down by as many as 14 points with just over seven minutes to play in the first half of their last outing against Boston College, but finished the opening frame on an 11-2 run that cut the Eagles' lead to just two, 34-32, at the halftime break.

>> Five for Fighting: Bryant got points from just five players against the Eagles Dec. 18. Junior Frankie Dobbs paced the Black and Gold with 15 points, rookie Ben Altit followed with 14, sophomore Alex Francis collected 13 points, while sophomore Corey Maynard added nine and fellow Aussie Claybrin McMath chipped in four points for all the Bryant scoring on the afternoon.

>> Downtown Blues: The five 3-pointers Bryant scored against Boston College Dec. 18 tied the lowest total from downtown of the year. The Bulldogs first set the season-low mark in their only home contest to date, a Dec. 1 loss against league rival Central Connecticut.

>> Happens in Threes: The Bulldogs wrap up a three-game stretch Thursday against Arizona that will see Bryant take on teams from three of the nation's top conferences in a 12-day span. Since December 10, Bryant has taken to the road to take on on the BIG EAST's Providence College, the ACC's Boston College and will finish the run off with the Pac-12's University of Arizona Thursday.

>> Here Comes the Boom: At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, sophomore Alex Francis has brought the boom back to the Chace Athletic Center... and nearly every other arena in which the Bulldogs have played. The second-year forward has 17 dunks so far this season, and averages more than 1.5 slams each time out. Francis has at least one dunk in nine of 11 contests this year and has not hung from the rim against only Army and Yale.

>> Maynard's streak comes to end: Sophomore Corey Maynard saw his streak of seven-consecutive game scoring 10 or more points come to an end Sunday on the road against Boston College. The starting guard fell just one point shy of continuing his double-digit point streak, finishing the game with nine.

>> Seeing Double: To find the last game in which sophomore forward Alex Francis was held to single-digit points, you must go back to Feb. 24, 2010, as Francis's consecutive double-digit point streak currently sits at 13 games.

BIG BEN
True freshman Ben Altit earned his second start of the year Sunday against Boston College and capitalized on the opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points off 6-of-11 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, in a career-high 28 minutes of action. He also recorded a block, his team-leading eighth of the year. Altit got his first collegiate start Dec. 7 against Yale, and then played to his previous career high with 25 minutes against Providence College Dec. 10, where he collected a career-best three blocks, the most from any Bulldog in a single game so far this season.

A FROSTY DECEMBER
In Bryant's four-year Division I history, the Bulldogs have never topped a Division I opponent in the month of December. The last time the team won to open the 12th month came in the program's final year of Division II, when the Bulldogs beat UMass Lowell, 70-52, at home. In fact, Bryant has won only a single December game since joining the Division I ranks in 2008-09, a 71-42 thumping of Division III Oberlin College at home on Dec. 23, 2010. The program is 0-26 against DI foes on the month, but has also taken on such tough competition as Boston College, Michigan, St. John's, Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland as the years have drawn to a close.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
The Bulldogs started the season with six-straight road contests in 2011-12, a stretch that ended Nov. 27 against the University of Notre Dame. Bryant went 1-5 on its road run, which encapsulated the entire month of November. But the Bulldogs appeared in competition within the friendly confines of the Chace Athletic Center just once — the December 1 NEC opener against Central Connecticut — before returning to the highways, and the team will play the final game of five more consecutive road outings Thursday against Arizona. The stretch puts the team's season-opening total away from home at 11 of its first 12 games. This is the longest road start for the Bryant men's basketball program not just since joining the Division I ranks in 2008-09, but in recent memory, stretching back to the early 1980s.

BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH
Once again, the Bulldogs will field one of the youngest lineups in the nation in 2011-12. With no seniors on the roster, Bryant brings on three players with no collegiate experience and will boast just 17 years of returning experience when the team hits the court for the November 11 opener. The Black and Gold average only 1.13 years of post-high school playing experience (including junior college and transfer years) per player in 2011-12, the 16th youngest roster in Division I and the youngest in the Northeast Conference. The Bulldogs will also not play a younger team at any point in its scheduled 2011-12 slate. The most inexperienced team in the nation? UC Irvine, with 0.71 years of experience per player.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs finally return to Smithfield, R.I., for their next contest after spending much of the season's first two months on the road playing 11 of their first 12 games away from home. Bryant will host Patriot League rival Lehigh University at the Chace Athletic Center for a 1 p.m. New Year's Eve matchup, marking the team's second and final game of the 2011 year. The Dec. 31 contest also marks the beginning of a short three-game homestand during which the Black and Gold will return to Northeast Conference action.