Bryant takes on Georgetown Saturday at 12 p.m. (Fox Sports 2)

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team remains on the road for the second of four-straight contests, taking on a Georgetown team receiving votes in both national polls to wrap up action in the 2K Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project. Saturday's game will tip off from the Verizon Center at 12:00 p.m. and can be seen live on Fox Sports 2.

THE SERIES
Saturday's matchup will be the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and Hoyas.

SCOUTING THE HOYAS
Three of Georgetown's four games in 2015-16 have come in 2K Classic play, including two of its three losses. The Hoyas suffered a double-overtime defeat at the hands of Radford, 82-80, in the season opener, but have also lost to a pair of top-ranked teams in No. 3 Maryland (75-71) and No. 5 Duke (86-84). All three losses have come by just a combined eight points, and Georgetown got in the win column with a 71-61 victory over 2015 national runner-up Wisconsin at Madison Square Garden Nov. 20. Bigmen Isaac Copeland and Bradley Hayes have each paced the Hoyas in a pair of matchups, and the 6-foot-9 Copeland averages a team-leading 15.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting at a 55 percent clip. D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera averages 13.8 points per outing with 19 assists on the year, while Hayes and L.J. Peak each chip in double figures at 10.3 points per contest.

BRYANT vs. THE BIG EAST
The Bulldogs look for their first-ever win over a BIG EAST program in 15 tries Saturday afternoon, having gone 0-14 against the conference all-time and 0-8 against the league at the Division I level. Georgetown is the seventh different school Bryant has challenged from within the BIG EAST Conference throughout its program history, coming closest to conquering this David vs. Goliath matchup back on Nov. 1, 2006, when the Black and Gold played Syracuse to a 92-86 battle at the Carrier Dome, an exhibition outing that ending in the Orange just edging the Bulldogs in the last minutes of the game. Northeast Conference teams are 12-47 all-time against the Hoyas.

QUICK HITS
» Mighty Marcel: Frosh forward Marcel Pettway was a bright spot for the Black and Gold against Harvard, posting career highs in points (10), rebounds (8), shots (9) and minutes played (31). He went 4-for-9 from the field with a 2-for-3 mark from the line, and his eight boards marked a team best.

» Unsweet 16: Bryant's 16 made baskets are the fewest in a game since the Bulldogs hit 16 in a 48-46 road win over Denver Dec. 21, 2014. The last time the program connected on fewer buckets was Feb. 16, 2012 at Robert Morris (12).

» Not-so-thankful: The Bulldogs have struggled in their Thanksgiving Eve matchup in each of the last two seasons, shooting less than 30 percent in both outings. The team's 26.7 percent shooting this year against Harvard is the first time the Bulldogs have shot below 30 percent since last Thanksgiving Eve (Nov. 26, 2014), when the Black and Gold hit just 29.1 percent in a  73-47 loss to the University of Vermont.

» Thrifty Fifty: The last time the Bulldogs scored less than 50 points in a game before Wednesday's loss was Jan. 5, 2015 against St. Francis Brooklyn (47).

STEAL CITY
For the second-straight game, the Bulldogs nabbed 10 steals Wednesday night against Harvard despite the loss. It was a repeat of the team's effort in a 78-59 loss to Siena last Saturday, which marked the first time since Dec. 14, 2013 that Bryant had finished a game with double-digit thefts (10 vs. Navy).

ON THE REBOUND
The Bulldogs have yet to outrebound an opponent in 2015-16, posting a -7.6 rebounding margin on the young season. The last time Bryant opened a campaign on the short side on the glass in five-straight games was in the program's first Division I season back in 2008-09, when the Bulldogs were outboarded in each of the campaign's first six contests.

IN THE MARGINS
Bryant has yet to play a game in which the final margin is within 10 points. The team's three losses came by 38 (Duke), 35 (Harvard) and 19 (Siena), while its two wins (Emerson, Prairie View A&M) each came by 13 points.

START ME UP
Senior captain Shane McLaughlin made is 50th-consecutive start at the point for the Bulldogs Wednesday against Harvard. McLaughlin took over the starting point guard position during his sophomore season on Jan. 18 at Fairleigh Dickinson. He started the final 14 games of the 2013-14 season and all 31 games last year for the Bulldogs. Saturday's game against Georgetown will mark his 100th appearance donning the Black and Gold.

WARE, OH WARE
Sophomore guard Hunter Ware has emerged as an offensive weapon to be reckoned with early in the 2015-16 season. The Georgia native averages a team-high 16.8 points per game while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field (33-67) and 40 percent (12-30) from long range, stats that are good for sixth, seventh and eighth in the NEC, respectively. Ware opened the season with two of the best offensive performances of his career, logging back-to-back 20-point outings that included a career-high 24 points in the Nov. 14 season opener at No. 5/4 Duke.

HIGH MILEAGE FOR McLAUGHLIN
Senior point guard Shane McLaughlin is once again proving to be a workhorse for the Bulldogs on the court, playing 34 minutes or more in each of the first five contests. The Old Tappan, N.J., native was third in the NEC last year with an average of 36.68 minutes per game and remains in that slot as a senior with a current average of 36.8 minutes per outing. Over his last 50 starts, McLaughlin has played 37 minutes or more 25 times. He has played the entire game seven times in the span, including all 50 minutes in a double-overtime win against Sacred Heart in last year's NEC Tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs head back north for a regional matchup against a more familiar foe in the University of New Hampshire Monday at 7 p.m. to wrap up November action.