Men kick off four-game homestand Sat.

BULLDOGS KICK OFF FOUR-GAME HOMESTAND AGAINST QUINNIPIAC SATURDAY (4 P.M.)

Full Game Notes
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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team returns home to host its longest homestand of the 2011-12 season, a four-game stretch that begins Saturday with a Northeast Conference rematch against Quinnipiac University (4 p.m.). The game is the second half of an NEC men's/women's doubleheader as Bryant looks to snap a three-game losing skid and record back-to-back wins at home after defeating Saint Francis (PA), 59-56, last time the team appeared at the Chace Athletic Center back on January 7.

THE SERIES
Bryant has faced off against the Bobcats more than any other team in the Northeast Conference. Both programs have histories in the Division II ranks and have faced off frequently at both levels of NCAA competition. The Bulldogs have matched up against Quinnipiac 58 times in the history of the two programs, as Bryant and Quinnipiac shared a league for 10 years as members of the Division II Northeast-10 Conference. The Bobcats, who joined the NE-10 (of which Bryant was a founding member) for the 1987-88 season and stayed in the league until the school's move up to Division I after the 1996-97 campaign, own a 40-18 advantage in the all time series, all but seven of those meetings coming at the DII level. In the Division I era, the series is much tighter, with the Bobcats holding a slight 4-3 edge thanks to an 83-72 win earlier this season. In all, much history has been made between these two programs, highlighted by the Bulldogs' first-ever Division I win, a 59-50 victory over the Bobcats on Nov. 22, 2008. The Bulldogs have not beat Quinnipiac at home in the Division I era, a trend the team looks to change Saturday.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac enters Saturday's game with an even 9-9 overall record but just a 2-5 mark in Northeast Conference competition. The Bobcats are looking to avoid their second three-game losing streak of the season after a pair of close defeats at the hands of Saint Francis (PA), 74-71, last Saturday and Sacred Heart, 78-75, Thursday night on the road. James Johnson leads Quinnipiac with 17.4 points per game and Ike Azotam (16.0 ppg) joins him as the team's only other double-digit point getter on the year. Azotam is just shy of averaging a double-double on the season, as his 9.8 rebounds per contest sit atop the league rankings. Azotam also boasts a team-best 21 blocks, good for sixth on the conference circuit. A pair of Johnsons run the Bobcats' offense, as Dave Johnson's 66 assists are a team best, followed closely by 59 from James Johnson, who also paces the side with 25 steals. Azotam and Jamee Jackson (9.7 ppg/5.6 rpg) both shoot over 50 percent from the field, with the former ranked fourth in the NEC at 56.7 percent. As a team, Quinnipiac averages 71.4 points per game and shoots 41.7 percent from the floor with a 32.1 percent mark from long range. The Bobcats are allowing opponents 70.2 points per outing and hold them to just 42.2 percent accuracy from the field.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs enter Saturday's matchup with a 15-42 record against current Northeast Conference members since joining the Division I ranks. This is the eighth of 18 league matchups on the 2011-12 season, as the Bulldogs will look to top the seven-win mark against their home league, a record set by last season's squad. All-time against current conference members, the Bulldog basketball program is 43-96 (.309), having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-40). Bryant is 1-6 this season against the NEC, having earned its first league win January 7 against Saint Francis (PA), 59-56.

COMMON DENOMINATOR
Outside of common Northeast Conference foes, Bryant and Quinnipiac have faced off against two common competitors in 2011-12. Both teams fell to a strong Lehigh University side while the Bobcats topped Yale in the second game of the season, a team the Bulldogs dropped a 76-59 decision to on Dec. 7.

LAST TIME AGAINST QUINNIPIAC (Dec. 3, 2011)
The Bulldogs outshot the Bobcats and boasted four players in double figures in the teams' first meeting of the 2011-12 campaign, but Quinnipiac's 14-point halftime lead was too much for the Black and Gold to overcome in the second frame. Despite 18 points apiece from sophomores Alex Francis and Corey Maynard and another 14 from junior point guard Frankie Dobbs, Bryant fell to Quinnipiac, 83-72, at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn., on Dec. 3 in the opening weekend of Northeast Conference play. Jamee Jackson paced Quinnipiac with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds while shooting 61.5 percent from the floor while James Johnson chipped in 17 points and Ike Azotam and Dave Johnson each added 11 for the hosts. Despite outshooting the home team, 50.9 percent to 47.5 percent, Bryant was easily handled on the glass, losing the rebound battle, 45-25.

QUICK HITS
>> Number to Beat: Bryant is allowing opponents an average of 75.8 points per game this season, the highest average in the program's four years of Division I competition. So far in 2011-12, the Bulldogs have held just their opponents under 70 points just five times, but have done so in each of the last two contests — a 64-60 road loss to Mount St. Mary's last Saturday and a 69-51 road loss at Central Connecticut Thursday night. Bryant also held Army (69), Dartmouth (66) and UC Davis (63) below the 70-point mark but is just 1-4 in such situations.

>> Big Ben: True freshman Ben Altit had a career game on defense against the Blue Devils Thursday night, posting an impressive five blocks in just 15 minutes of action. The rookie is now responsible for a team-leading 24 of the Bulldogs' 44 blocks on the year and has jumped up three places in the league rankings after his impressive performance. Altit ranks fourth among all NEC players and is the top rookie on the circuit. He has posted three or more stuffs in a game on five occasions.

>> Homecoming: Saturday's game marks just the fifth home contest of the season for the Bulldogs, who are 1-4 at the Chace Athletic Center in 2011-12.

>> On the Rebound: The Bulldogs outrebounded their opponents for just the fourth time Thursday night on the road against Central Connecticut, winning the board battle by a slight 39-38 advantage. Bryant's largest rebounding margin of the season came Nov. 22 at Army, 43-30, and the team also outrebounded Saint Francis (PA) at home Jan. 7, 41-34, and UC Davis Nov. 12 in San Diego, 37-33. Bryant is 2-2 in games where it has won the margin on the glass.

PUT ME IN COACH
Bryant head coach Tim O'Shea has been going deeper into his bench earlier in the game as of late. Over the last three contests, the numbers of bench players Erick Smith and Troy Robinson have improved significantly in every stat column. After earning a season-high 14 minutes against the Seahawks on Jan. 12, Smith, a junior guard, has appeared in every game and is averaging 8.0 minutes per outing, up from the 2.1 minutes per game average in 10 appearances over the season's first 15 contests. Robinson has made an even bigger improvement and impact, averaging 20 minutes per game over the last three contests, putting up 6.5 points and pulling in 4.0 rebounds each time out. The redshirt-freshman has also set a new career mark for points twice in the span, first with five points against Wagner and then with eight Thursday night against CCSU. Robinson also dished out a career-high five helpers against the Blue Devils and is shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 75 percent from the charity stripe since Jan. 12. In the team's first 15 games, Robinson averaged 11.3 mintues per game in 12 appearances with a 13.3 percent shooting clip, 0.3 points per game and 1.8 rebounds per outing.

UP NEXT
Bryant remains at home for the next three outings and will play its third game in five days Monday night, when the Bulldogs host intrastate rival Brown University in a 7 p.m. matchup. The game is the second half of a men's/women's doubleheader and marks the conclusion of non-conference action for the Black and Gold in 2011-12. The Bulldogs then welcome Northeast Conference opponents Fairleigh Dickinson (Thursday, January 26 — 7 p.m.) and Monmouth (Saturday, January 28 — 4 p.m.) to Smithfield to wrap up the home stretch before returning to the highways to open February play.