Bulldogs and Terriers tip things off in Brooklyn to start league action, Thursday at 4:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team opens up Northeast Conference play in the same city it ended league action last year, as it takes on St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. 

THE SERIES
Thursday's contest marks the 14th all-time between the Bulldogs and the Terriers, with this week's hosts holding an 8-5 edge in the series. The Bulldogs had won two straight prior to the Feb. 25, 2016 meeting and have yet to win a game in Brooklyn Heights (0-6). 

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
Like Bryant, the Terriers are looking to break a four-game slide on Thursday afternoon. St. Francis will aim to get a win in the conference opener and do so under the guidance of its three double-digit scorers. Sophomore guard Glenn Sanabria nets 14.1 points per game and leads the team with a .372 clip from three. Guard Yunus Hopkinson, the lone senior on this year's squad, sits second with 13.1 points per game and leads the Terriers with 39 assists. Freshman guard Rasheem Dunn follows with 12.1 points per effort. The Terriers have been a very opportunisitic bunch this year, leading the NEC with 7.5 steals per game, while sitting second with 13.6 offensive boards per contest. The team also jacks up the most threes in the league and the 20th-most in the country with 347. However, the team struggles to knock down its shots, as it sits last in the conference with a 34.8 field-goal percentage and a 29.7 three-point field goal percentage.
 
CURRENT DAWGS vs. ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
Seven current Bulldogs have faced the Terriers in their careers, as six have have done so more than once. Senior Dan Garvin is averaging six points and just under six boards in four career meetings with the Terriers. Junior Bosko Kostur netted a career high of 23 points in his first matchup against St. Francis in 2014-15, but played just four minutes in his lone encounter last season and classmate Gus Riley averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 boards in two contests last year. Junior guard Hunter Ware tallied 14 points in each of his two matchups with the Terriers a season ago. Sophomores Nisre Zouzoua and Marcel Pettway each averaged double-digit scoring against St.Francis last year, scoring 16.5 and 14.5 points, respectively, with the latter grabbing 10.0 boards per game. 

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE  
The Bulldogs enter 2016-17 with an overall record of 48-75 against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. Prior to the 2012-13 campaign, Bryant held a 9-44 record against conference opponents, but has recorded a 39-31 record over the last four seasons. The Black and Gold are 22-15 at home versus the NEC and 20-18 on the road since 2012-13. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 62-92.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs and Big Green battled on Thursday, both holding leads of at least seven points in the first half. After 15 lead changes, Dartmouth retook the lead more than halfway through the second half and held onto it thanks to excellent zone defense and poor shooting on the Bryant side to win, 76-69. Freshman guard Ikenna Ndugba scored a career-high 18 points, grabbed six boards and had seven assists. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua scored 15 points, classmate Marcel Pettway netted 12 and junior Bosko Kostur scored 10 off the bench. 

OPENING DAY
Bryant is 4-3 in Northeast Conference openers since playing its first-official league slate during the 2009-10 campaign and have won the past four league debuts after falling in the program's first three NEC openers. The Bulldogs took an 88-72 win at CCSU last season in the opener. Bryant has begun league action in Brooklyn twice before, both times against LIU Brooklyn. The Bulldogs are 3-2 when beginning their conference stretch on the road.  

BIG BREAK
The Bulldogs will have had a week in between games when they take the court against St. Francis Brooklyn. In the program's Division I history, Bryant is 4-11 in games in which it has had at least a full week before playing its next context.  

BALANCE BEAT 
The Bulldogs have been getting contributions from a handul of players over the last two games, as five players scored in double figures in the loss to UNH on Dec. 10 and four did so in the loss to Dartmouth on Dec. 22. The loss to the Wildcats marking just the third time in Bryant's Division I history that five different performers have scored at least 10 points in defeat. The Bulldogs are 18-3 in such games and the last time they lost was March 20, 2013.  

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 20.7 points per game over the first 12 contests to lead the league and sit 32nd nationally, while hitting a conference-best 3.17 triples per game. He has scored 21 points or more in eight of the last 11 outings, including a new career high of 31 points at Brown on Nov. 28, his second 30-point game of the year. 

THIRTY MIND
Zouzoua's 30 points vs. La.-Monroe on Nov. 22 made him the first Bulldog to tally 30 or more since Dyami Starks ('15) did so on Feb. 12, 2015. Zouzoua is just the second Bulldog to score 30 or more points in two games over a three-game span and the second player to average at least 22.0 points over the first 10 games of any season in the program's DI history (Starks did it in 2013-14).

ALL THE NIS-WAY UP
Zouzoua eclipsed 500 career points in the win over La.-Monroe 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. The sophomore is also the second-fastest Bulldog to score 200 points in a season, as he did so in the season's 10th game against the Midshipmen. Starks reached the 200-point mark in the ninth game of 2013-14.   

GRANTED PERMISSION
Freshman Adam Grant has played like a seasoned vet through his first 11 collegiate games. He has netted double-digit points in all but two games this season. Grant is second on the team with 15.7 points per game to sit fifth in the NEC, first among league rookies, and he has a .486 field-goal clip to sit second in the conference. 

WARE DID HE GO
Junior wing Hunter Ware led the Bulldogs in scoring seven times in 2015-16, had four 20-point games and scored in double-figures a team-high 20 times. Ware's role this season has changed dramatically, as he is averaging 15.4 minutes per game off the bench and netting just 2.0 points per game. 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.    

MR. STEAL YOUR BALL 
The 11 steals against Brown on Nov. 28 were the most for the Bulldogs since the start of the 2014-15 season (69 games). Bryant also theft the Bears 10 times in last season's meeting on Dec. 5, 2015. The team is averaging 6.3 steals per game this year and is on pace to break its previous high for a single season at the Division I level, which was 5.9.  

ON TAP
Now immersed in NEC play, the Bulldogs will experience their first Thursday-Saturday turnaround and close the door on 2016 when they take on LIU Brooklyn on New Years Eve at 4:30 p.m.