TONIGHT'S GAME IS ON! Bulldogs host Blackbirds Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to start critical four-game homestand

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team begin a four-game homestand Thursday at 7:00 p.m. when they take on LIU Brooklyn on NECFrontRow.com and WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach and Tristan Hobbes). 

THE SERIES
Thursday's meeting between the Bulldogs and Blackbirds will mark the 16th in the series. This weeks visitors hold a 9-5 edge and have claimed victory in two of the last three encounters.   

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
LIU Brooklyn was off to a strong start to Northeast Conference play, as they held a 7-2 record before dropping the last three games. It enters Thursday led by senior forward Jerome Frink at 17.3 points per game on the league's second-best field goal percentage at 48.8. He leads the league with 9.4 boards per game and adds just over a block per outing. The Blackbirds continue to boast the most dominant starting frontcourt in the NEC, as junior Nura Zanna nets 8.6 points and pulls down 8.3 boards per game. Frink and Zanna sit first and second in the league with 11 and 10 double-doubles, respectively. The backcourt is paced by senior Iverson Flemming at 13.4 points per game and freshman Jashaun Agosoto, who is averaging 11.1 points per effort. Collectively, LIU sits second in the league with 38.8 boards per game.

CURRENT DAWGS vs. LIU BROOKLYN
There are 13 current Bulldogs that have faced the Blackbirds in their careers. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua has had tremendous success against LIU in three career games, averaging 21.7 points per game. He is hitting 51.1 percent of his shots (23-45) and 50 percent of his threes (12-24) against them. Classmate Marcel Pettway is not far behind, averaging 16.3 points per game on a sizzling .742 clip from the floor and 6.7 boards. Senior Dan Garvin is averaging 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per effort in five matchups, and freshman guard Adam Grant netted 12 points in the Dec. 31st meeting of this season. 

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs hold an overall record of 53-82 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 44-38 record over the last four seasons. The Black and Gold are 25-16 at home versus the NEC and 22-24 on the road since the start of 2012-13. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 67-99.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs and Pioneers went down to the wire once again, having gone into three overtimes on Jan. 14. Down by three with under 10 seconds to go, the Bulldogs had one final chance to knot the score. Following a Nisre Zouzoua missed triple, Bryant snared an offensive glass, kicked it back out to the NEC's leading scorer who drained the tying three from NBA range at the buzzer. The overtime was very close as well but it was Sacred Heart that prevailed, 73-70. Zouzoua finished with 18 points, freshman Adam Grant netted 19 and junior Bosko Kostur scored 11 points.  

OT, OT IT'S ALWAYS MUCH FUN WHEN WE GO TO OT 
The Feb. 4 OT loss to Sacred Heart marked the 14th game in Bryant's Division I history that went to extra time. The Bulldogs are 5-9 at the DI ranks when a contest is decided in OT and have now played in four overtime games this season, the most in any campaign they have played at the DI level.

HOLDING ME UNDER
The Bulldogs are 3-3 this season when holding an opponent to less than 40.0 percent from the floor and have done so in four of the last five games (3-1 in those games). Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Bryant is 39-14 when limiting a team to a clip below .400 from the field. 

JUST ZOO IT
Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua is in the midst of a superb sophomore campaign with an impressive 20.4 points per game to lead the league and sit 31st nationally, while hitting 2.67 triples per game, most in the NEC. He has scored 21 points or more in 14 outings, including a career-high 31 points at Brown on Nov. 28, his second 30-point game of the year.  

SNEAKY SNEAK
Zouzoua has not just been a force on the offensive end this season, as he has matched the efforts on the defensive side. He sits third in the league with 1.67 steals per game and recorded six steals against the Pioneers on Feb. 4, the most for a Bryant player in a single game at the Division level and the fifth-most in program history. 

GRANTED PERMISSION
Freshman Adam Grant has played like a seasoned vet in his first collegiate campaign. He has netted double-digit points 17 times this season and is second on the team with 14.1 points per game to sit eighth in the NEC, first among league rookies. The 32 points he scored against the Pioneers on Jan. 14 were the second-most by a Bryant rookie at the DI level. Alex Francis ('14) scored 43 points on Feb. 24, 2011.   

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
The Bulldogs have played in some close games this year, as they are 3-8 in contests decided by five points or less and have narrowly lost games by one, two, three, four and five points. The Jan. 28, 73-72 OT win over Fairleigh Dickinson was just the eighth game Bryant had played in that was decided by one point at the DI level (5-3).  

TAYLOR MADE
The Bulldogs have found a spark off the bench and another floor general in the form of sophomore Taylor McHugh over the last 11 games. McHugh is averaging over 19.1 minutes per game since Jan. 5, has scored in eight of the last nine contests and has tallied at least two assists in all but one of the 11 games, including seven helpers against Sacred Heart on Jan. 14 and six against CCSU on Jan. 25. He scored a career-best 12 points in the 65-54 win over the Blue Devils and knocked down a personal-best three trifectas to go along with his six helpers and four rebounds.  

BLOCK PARTY
After missing six-consecutive games from Nov. 28 - Dec. 22, senior forward Dan
Garvin returned against St. Francis Brooklyn on Dec. 29 and provided Bryant with leadership along with a presence at the rim. The Bulldogs tallied a total of five rejections in Garvin's absence, but averaged three denials per contest over the next six games. Garvin had 13 of the team's 18 blocks during the six-game stretch. As fate would have it, the Bulldogs went blockless against Harvard on Jan. 16, marking just the fourth time that has happened in the last three seasons. The fourth-year rim protector is averaging 1.25 blocks per game during NEC play. 

BK ALL DAY
Junior forward Bosko Kostur has provided the Bulldogs with an additional threat of late and reemerged as a consistent contributor. After scoring no more than four points and playing no more than eight minutes over the first six games of the year, he has played 20+ minutes in 11-straight games, has started each of those contests and scored in double figures in eight of the last 11. He averaged 17.6 points in five games from Jan. 5 - Jan. 16, scoring no fewer than 15 points.  

ON TAP
The Bulldogs look for revenge of their Dec. 29 OT loss when they take on St. Francis Brooklyn Saturday at 4:00 p.m.