Bulldogs make quick trip to Providence to battle Brown, Monday at 7:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team retuns to Rhode Island for the first time since Nov. 15 when it plays at intrastate rival Brown Monday at 7:00 p.m. 

THE SERIES
Monday's matchup in Providence marks the 16th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Bears and the eighth at the Division I level. Brown holds a decisive, 13-2, edge and is 10-1 at home. But the last five games have all been decided by single digits. 

SCOUTING THE BEARS
With the exception of the season opener at Cincinnati, all six of the Bears' contests have been decided by less than 10 points. Brown is 2-0 at home this season and will look to remain perfect in Providence behind its senior leaders. Forward Steven Spieth is the Ivy League's top scorer at 19.7 points per game in 37.3 minutes, which is fifth in the nation. Spieth leads the team with a .567 clip from the floor and also leads the Bears with 7.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Guard Tavon Blackmon averages 11.2 points and freshman forward Joshua Howard is right behind with 11.0 points per game on a .540 clip from the field. Sophomore guard Obi Okolie has also started all six games like the three leading scorers, as he nets 9.0 points per game. As a team, the Bears get to the line at a high rate, currently sitting 28th in the country with 119 made free throws. The team is also very opportunisitic and wins back possessions, ranking 51st in the country with 47 steals on the year. But their .527 3-point field goal defense is fourth-to-last in the nation 

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. BROWN
Seven current Bulldogs have played the Bears in their careers, but just three have done so more than once. Senior forward Dan Garvin has faced Brown the most with three meetings, as his most recent was his best performance when he netted 12 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. He had a double-double against the Bears as a freshman with 10 points and 10 rebounds and had a career-high of five blocks against them as a sohomore. Junior forward Gus Riley tallied 11 points and eight caroms in his first matchup against Brown in 2014-15, and classmate Hunter Ware is averaging 13.0 points and a .423 shooting clip in two career meetings. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua led the Bulldogs last season against the Bears with 18 points. 

BRYANT vs. THE IVY LEAGUE
Monday's matchup is the first of three contests against members of the Ivy League in 2016-17. Bryant is 8-23 against Ivy League schools in its short Division I history, having matched up against Columbia (0-3), Brown (2-6), Cornell (0-2), Harvard (0-5), Yale (2-6) and Dartmouth (3-2) over the last eight seasons. In the all-time history of the program, the Bulldogs are just 7-31 against Ivy League opponents, but their most recent matchup against Dartmouth on Dec. 31, 2015 was a 62-60 victory.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs started off slow against Northwestern the day after Thanksgiving, trailing by as many as 21 in the first half before heading into the locker room down 13. But an 8-0 run to start the second half added to the 7-2 stretch to close out the first, and Bryant was able to cut the deficit to just three points five minutes into the stanza. But the Wildcats turned on the jets and outscored the Bulldogs by 17 over the final 15 minutes to win, 86-66. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including five triples. Freshman Adam Grant netted 19 points, while sophomore Marcel Pettway pulled in a team-high eight rebounds. 

QUICK HITS

» Wrong Side of Thirty: Eastern Washington's Bogdan Bliznyuk netted 32 points against the Bulldogs on Monday, marking the first time since Feb. 26, 2015 that an opponent scored 30 points or more against Bryant. 

» Just Let It Go: The 23 turnovers against No. 14/14 Gonzaga on Nov. 18 tied for the second most in a game in Bryant's Division I history. The most was 25 at Robert Morris on Feb. 6, 2012, and the Bulldogs have been forced in more than 20 turnovers in a game just 11 times at the DI level.  

» Wide Margin: The 27-point victory over Salve Regina on Nov. 15 tied Bryant's Division I record for its largest victory, having done so four times (twice against the Seahawks). The Bulldogs also had 10 steals against Salve, marking the first time they have theft an opponent at least 10 times since Dec. 5, 2015. 

» You Can Tell Everybody, I'm the Dan, I'm the Dan, I'm the Dan: Senior forward Dan Garvin may have had just four points in Bryant's season opener at Notre Dame on Saturday, but he also pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds. The 12 caroms are not only the most by a Bulldog in a season opener in the program's Division I history, but they are the most by a Bulldog in a season opener since 2003. 

JUST ZOO IT
After lighting up the Northeast Conference for over 19.0 points per game to finish out the final month of last season, sophomore Nisre Zouzoua was expected to have a better second campaign. But he has exceeded expecations with an impressive 21.7 points per game over the first six contests to lead the league, while hitting a conference-best 3.0 triples per game. He has scored 22 points or more in four of the last five outings, including a new career high of 30 points against Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday to become the first Bulldog to tally 30 or more since Dyami Starks ('15) did so on Feb. 12, 2015. In doing so, Zouzoua eclipsed 500 career points to become the second fasted Bulldog to reach the milestone in the program's Division I history (36 games). Alex Francis ('14) did it in 34 games. 

PROTECT THE PERIMETER 
The Bulldogs have done a very good job of closing in on shooters and defending against the three, as they currently rank 76th in the country with a .300 three-point field-goal defense. The ability to limit the success of teams beyond the arc is no anomaly, as Bryant has finished in the top-100 nationally in each of the last two years and ended the year ranked 47th in 2014-15 (.315 3-PT FG defense). They held their first five opponents this season to under 40.0 percent from distance, and limited Notre Dame and Salve Regina to clips of .180 (3-16) and .210 (4-19), respectively.  

GRANTED PERMISSION
Following in the footsteps of reigning NEC Rookie of the Year Marcel Pettway and fellow NEC All-Rookie Team selection Nisre Zouzoua, freshman Adam Grant has stepped right in and played like a season vet through his first six collegiate games. He has netted double-digit points in five of the six games with at least 13 points, has scored no fewer than nine and has made at least three treys in four of the six games this year. Grant is second on the team with 15.0 points per game to sit seventh in the NEC, first among league rookies, and he has a .574 field-goal percentage to sit fourth in the conference and a 51.5 three-point field-goal percentage to rank second.  

WARE DID HE GO
Junior wing Hunter Ware was feeling it when the lights shined at their brightest in 2015-16. Of his four 20-point outings last season, two came in TV games. Ware began the season scoring 24 points against then No. 5/4 Duke on an ESPN3 broadcast, then netted a career-high 26 points at Michigan on Dec. 23 as part of a BIG 10 Network telecast. Ware played at Harvard on ESPN3, at then No. 15/18 Providence on Fox Sports 1, at Wagner on CBS Sports Network, against Robert Morris on ESPN3 and against Fairleigh Dickinson on MSG+, scoring 10, 14, 11, 15 and 14 points, respectively. Strangely enough, his zero points at RV/RV Notre Dame on Nov. 12 in an ACC Network/ESPN3 telecast marked the first time in his career that he was held scoreless in a game in which he either played more than 14 minutes or attempted more than four shots (was 0-for-6 in 23 minutes). He was also held scoreless at No. 14/14 Gonzaga on Nov. 18 (0-for-4 in 21 minutes) in a ROOT Sports and ESPN3 game, marking his first three-game stretch playing double-digit minutes in which he has failed to total at least 10 points. He has yet to score more than six points this season and has yet to make a three pointer after leading the team with 61 last year.    

SHOTS FOR CHARITY
The Bulldogs were not blessed by the whistle gods in the Nov. 18 loss at No. 14/14 Gonzaga. The Zags went to the line 45 times, marking the first time in Bryant's Division I history that it allowed an opponent to shoot more than 40 free throws. Bryant was then whistled for 28 fouls against Eastern Washington on Monday and surrendered 34 attempts from the line. In the last two games, the Bulldogs have allowed 64 points from the free-throw line. 
Because of this, the Bulldogs played more zone on against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 22 and only allowed three free throws. The three attempts from the line were tied for the fewest that Bryant had surrendered at the Division I level, and the two makes from the Warhawks were the second fewest (Army went 1-3 on Dec. 8, 2015). 

DOUBLE THE DIGITS DOUBLE THE FUN
After not having five double-digit scorers in a game since Dec. 9, 2014 against Army, the Bulldogs produced five double-figure scorers three times last season, including three of four games with the last coming at Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9. Five Bulldogs scored in double-figures against Salve Regina on Nov. 15, marking the 20th time that has happened in the program's Division I history, as Bryant is 18-2 in such games.

HULK BASH
Sabastian Townes was stellar off the bench in his collegiate debut on Nov. 12 against the Fighting Irish. The rookie had 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and a 6-for-11 effort at the line. He scored 10 points in the second half and tied sophomore Nisre Zouzoua and Alex Francis ('14) for the most points scored by a Bryant freshman in his debut in the program's Division I history.

LINEUP DANCING
Head coach Tim O'Shea repeated a starting lineup just twice in 2015-16, mixing and matching with 11 variations of a starting five. The Bulldogs had not seen 10 or more editions of a starting lineup since the 2011-12 season. But the lineups that were duplicated featured four current starters in sophomores Nisre Zouzoua and Marcel Pettway, junior Hunter Ware and senior Dan Garvin. Along with Pettway, Zouzoua and Garvin, O'Shea has started the same lineup in three-straight contests that also features freshmen guards Ikenna Ndugba and Adam Grant.     

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game and season ticket packages are available for the 2016-17 Bryant University men's and women's basketball seasons. Fans can purchase tickets online at bryantbulldogs.com/tickets or by calling the Bryant Athletics Ticket Office at 401-319-TIXX.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the ninth season, all Bryant University basketball home games and select road contests can be heard LIVE on WOON 1240 AM. Veteran sportscaster Jon Wallach of 98.5 FM The Sports Hub Boston returns to call the action alongside color analyst Tristan Hobbes.

ON TAP
The Bulldogs welcome an opponent inside the Chace Athletic Center for the just the second time this season and the first time since Nov. 15 when they host Yale on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.