Bryant closes out Pennsylvania trip with Saturday matinee at Saint Francis U
LORETTO, Pa. – The Bryant University men's basketball team closes out its weekend trip to Pennsylvania with a Saturday afternoon game against Saint Francis U in Loretto.
THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: Saint Francis U
Game Time: Saturday, Feb. 17 – 1 p.m.
Watch Live: NEC Front Row
Live Stats: SFUAthletics.com
Game Notes: Bryant
SCOUTING THE RED FLASH
Saint Francis U is 15-11 and in a four-way tie for second at 9-6 in conference play. The Red Flash picked up a 77-71 overtime win over Central Connecticut Thursday in Loretto.
Jamaal King (17.8 ppg) and Keith Braxton (17.0) both rank in the top six in the conference in scoring, while Braxton has grabbed a conference-best 9.7 rebounds per game. The Red Flash lead the NEC in scoring at 79.0 points per game.
THE SERIES
Saint Francis U is 9-8 in the all-time series and has won six of the last seven meetings. The Red Flash overcame a seven-point halftime deficit for an 86-82 overtime win in Smithfield New Year's Eve.
Bryant's last victory in Loretto came in 2013, when the Bulldogs won 78-58 in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.
LAST TIME OUT: ROBERT MORRIS 83, BRYANT 60
Senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) scored 16 points and senior Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) added a season-high 12, but Bryant was downed 83-60 by Robert Morris Thursday in Pittsburgh.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, CARROLL
Redshirt-freshman Brandon Carroll (Brewster, N.Y.) had the best performance of his Bulldog career in a nationally televised game at Wagner (2/8), recording career-highs in points (25) and rebounds (12) for his first-career double-double. Carroll followed that performance with 23 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's win over Mount St. Mary's to earn NEC Rookie of the Week honors.
SHOOTERS SHOOT
Sophomore Tanner Johnson (Lexington, Ky.) has recorded 123 field-goal attempts this season with 111 of them coming from beyond the arc. Johnson has five games in double figures in scoring this year, including a career-high 19 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (1/27).
Johnson has scored 13 points or more in four of his six starts and is averaging 10.3 points per game while in the starting five.
SOME GENERAL STATS ON GRANT
Sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) has averaged 16.3 points per game on the year with 10 20-point games. The sophomore guard averaged 23.0 points per game in the month of January.
Grant hit nine three-pointers at Mount St. Mary's (1/4), tying his own Division I program record set last year against Sacred Heart. The 29-point performance came 10 years to the week after the first game of nine three-pointers by a Bulldog, as Peter Lambert drained nine threes against Merrimack Jan. 2, 2008, in Bryant's final Division II season.
WE LIKE IKE
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) has raised his scoring average from 6.0 points per game as a freshman to 13.9 as a sophomore.
Ndugba has two double-doubles on the year: a 16-point, 10-rebound outing at Hartford (11/24) and a 17-point, 11-assist performance at Memphis (12/9).
Ndugba passed Alex Francis for fourth in Bryant's Division I era in assists in the game at Albany (12/6) and now has 262 in his career.
WARE RISING IN RECORD BOOK
With a steal at Wagner (2/8), senior Hunter Ware became the third player in Bryant's Division I history to tally 100 career steals.
SOPHOMORES TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Bryant's sophomore class - Adam Grant, Tanner Johnson, Ikenna Ndugba and Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) - has accounted for 58.2 percent of the team's scoring in 2017-18. All four have elevated their points per game averages from a year ago, while Grant (16.3 ppg), Ndugba (13.9) and Townes (11.8) are the Bulldogs' top three scorers.
KOSTUR NAMED TO 3X3U WATCH LIST
Senior Bosko Kostur was named to the Early Season Watch List for the inaugural Intersport 3X3U National Championship to be held in San Antonio during Final Four weekend. The tournament will feature a team of graduating seniors from each of the 32 Division I conferences in a three-day event March 30-April 1.
BULLDOGS LEAD NATION IN LINEUP COMBINATIONS
Bryant has used 17 different starting lineup combinations this season, which is the most nationally entering the week. The Bulldogs have started 12 different players this season, with only Ikenna Ndugba (27) and Adam Grant (24) starting in at least two-thirds of Bryant's 28 games.
NEXT UP: SACRED HEART
Bryant plays its final home game of 2017-18 Thursday when the Bulldogs host Sacred Heart on Senior Night. The 7 p.m. tip can be seen on NEC Front Row and heard on WOON 1240 AM with Jon Wallach and Cam Boon on the call.
Tickets for Thursday's game are available by clicking HERE or calling (401) 319-TIXX.
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