BULLDOGS LOOK FOR PAYBACK IN REMATCHES AGAINST QUINNIPIAC (THURS., 7:30) AND SACRED HEART (SAT., 3:30)

January 21, 2010

BULLDOGS LOOK FOR PAYBACK IN REMATCHES AGAINST QUINNIPIAC (THURS., 7:30) AND SACRED HEART (SAT., 3:30)

Full Game Notes / Sacred Heart Game Notes Update
Live Stats vs. Quinnipiac / Video / Audio
Live Stats vs. Sacred Heart / Video / Audio

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team looks to avenge a pair of losses last week as the Bulldogs travel to Connecticut for rematches against Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. The Black and Gold visit the Bobcats Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center and head to the Pitt Center to take on the Pioneers Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs make a pair of return trips to Connecticut this weekend for rematches against both of last week's opponents in Northeast Conference foes Quinnipiac University (Thursday, Jan. 21) and Sacred Heart University (Saturday, Jan. 23). Bryant hosted the Pioneers at the Chace Athletic Center last Thursday in the program's first-official NEC home game before welcoming the Bobcats to Smithfield, R.I. Saturday afternoon. This Thursday's return trip to Quinnipiac will tipoff at 7:30 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center with Saturday's Sacred Heart bout slated to begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Pitt Center.

THE SERIES
Bryant has faced off against the Bobcats and the Pioneers more than any other team in the Northeast Conference. Both programs have been members of the Division II ranks, were both Quinnipiac and Bryant and Sacred Heart and Bryant faced off frequently.

The Bulldogs have met up against Quinnipiac 52 times in the teams' history, as the two programs shared a league for 10 years as members of the Division II Northeast-10 Conference. Quinnipiac, which joined the NE-10 (of which Bryant was a founding member) for the 1987-88 season and stayed in the league until its move up to Division I after the 1996-97 campaign, own a 16-36 all-time series record against the Black and Gold, all but three of those meetings coming at the DII level. In the two teams' Division I era, Bryant holds a 2-1 series edge, but has lost the teams' most recent contest, a 80-66 battle at the Chace Athletic Center just five days ago (Saturday, Jan. 16). The Bobcats fell to the Bulldogs twice last season, including a 59-50 loss on November 22, 2008, marking the Bryant men's basketball program's first-ever Division I win. Bryant would earn another victory over the Bobcats at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. on Feb. 7, 2009, edging the home team by a 72-68 margin in front of nearly 2,000 fans.

A Division II power until making the transition to Division I in 1999-00, Sacred Heart owns an 11-8 edge in the all-time series, just three of those bouts coming at the Division I level. The Pioneers have won all three of those Division I matchups, including a hard-fought 72-60 victory last Thursday (Jan. 14) at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, R.I.

Senior captains Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) both averaged a team-leading 11.0 points per game in the pair of conference bouts last week. Parzych broke out with a season-high 16-point, career-high seven-assist performance against Sacred Heart, while Birrell's 14 points off 5-of-10 shooting (4-for-7 from 3-point land) paced a trio of Bulldogs with double-figure scoring, including rookies Raphael Jordan (13 points) and Vlad Kondratyev (12 points).

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac is riding a five-game win streak entering Thursday's game and has an 11-6 overall record. The Bobcats are in a three-way tie for tops in the conference with a 5-1 league record and are led by 18.4 points per game from senior James Feldeine, who is second in the NEC in scoring average. Junior preseason all-conference selection Justin Rutty and sophomore James Johnson compliment Feldeine averaging double-figures themselves with 13.8 and 11.4 points per game, respectively. Johnson's 57 assists, 26 steals, 40.0 percent shooting from 3-point land and 85.4 percent accuracy from the charity stripe are team highs while Rutty averages a league-best 10.4 rebounds per outing. The junior bigman is second in the conference with a team-leading 53.2 shooting percentage, but was limited to seven points on just under 43 percent shooting against the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats as a whole shoots better than 45 percent from the field on the year, while the combination of Feldeine, Rutty, Johnson, senior Jeremy Baker (8.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and junior Jonathan Cruz (4.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg) have started all but one contest for the Bobcats in 2009-10. The Bulldogs and the Bobcats matched up against three similar non-conference opponents in Yale, Columbia and Brown, all of which Quinnipiac topped by at least an eight-point margin.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS (as of 1/21/10)
The Bulldogs will have to commit a good deal of attention to Sacred Heart senior Corey Hassan, who leads the NEC with a 20.6 points per game average that ranks 18th in the nation among all DI players. One of the best all-around players in the league, Hassan is second on the team in rebounding average (7.9 rpg) and third in assists (39) while pacing the Pioneers in steals (28) and shooting 44.5 percent from the field. Complimented nicely by senior Ryan Litke's 42.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc (53-126), Hassan is also one of the team's top sharpshooters from long range, converting on 39 percent (57-146) of treys. The senior guard was held to just 13 points but dished out four assists and seven rebounds against Bryant last Thursday. Liam Potter leads SHU on the glass, averaging 8.2 boards per outing and posts 41 blocks (2.41 bpg), good for second in the league, while shooting 44.8 percent from the floor (56-125). Jerrell Thompson works the ball around well, pacing the team with 76 assists so far on the year while Litke and Chauncey Hardy each chip in double-digit scoring averages, with 14.5 ppg and 13.1 ppg, respectively. The teams have played four common opponents so far this season, including non-conference matchups against Columbia and Brown, both of which SHU won.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Bryant is 0-6 against its home conference in 2009-10, having played its first official game against the NEC back on December 3, 2009 when the Bulldogs fell to LIU, 62-46. All-time against current Northeast Conference opponents, the Bulldog basketball program is 34-66, having most frequently played former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) members Quinnipiac (16-35). Bryant continues to play its full league slate in 2010 after going 6-8 against the NEC last season, taking wins over Quinnipiac (twice), LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis (PA) and Monmouth.

LAST TIME OUT
Quinnipiac senior guard James Feldeine scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor to lead the visiting Bobcats to an 80-66 Northeast Conference win over Bryant University Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.

Quinnipiac attempted a season-high 37 free throws in the game, making 28 of them, and scored 26 points off 16 Bryant turnovers to roll to its fifth-straight win and seventh of its last eight contests. Bryant was led by a team-high 14 points from senior captain Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.), one of three Bulldogs to record double-digit points, as the Black and Gold shot a shade over 45 percent from the floor.

Bryant got off to a strong start, looking for its first win of the season and used a 12-4 run keyed by a pair of short-range jumpers and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) to take a 22-14 lead over the Bobcats at the midway point of the first half.

A three by Quinnipiac's James Johnson cut the lead to 24-22, while a layup by Deontay Twyman and a bucket inside by Dave Johnson put the visitors back on top, 26-24, with five minutes left before the break. Bryant shot well from the floor in the first frame, making 12-of-23 shots from the floor (52.2 percent), but Quinnipiac, shooting just 40.7 percent, took a 34-29 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

The Bobcats looked ready to put the game away early in the second half as a deep three from Feldeine put the Bobcats ahead, 50-37, but the Bulldogs were not ready to go away just yet, thanks to the play of a pair of standout freshmen.

A pretty drive in the lane by Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) followed by a three from the freshman guard on the right side cut the lead to 57-50 with 10 minutes to play.

Bryant stayed within seven a minute later after a Bobcat score as sophomore Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) hit senior captain Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) with a nice outlet pass. Parzych would hit freshman Claybrin McMath (Adelaide, Australia) in stride for a layup and the rookie drew the foul to get the score back to 59-52 with 9:53 left to play.

But that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get, as Quinnipiac closed out the game on a 21-12 run with 11 of those points coming from the free throw line in the final five minutes of play.

Jordan finished with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting for the Bulldogs while Kondratyev chipped in with 12 points and three rebounds. Johnson finished with 16 points for Quinnipiac while Jeremy Baker had 11 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 mark from the free throw line. The Bobcats turned the ball over just seven times to Bryant's 16 and shot 44.2 percent from floor. 

UP NEXT
Bryant returns home for its longest homestand of the season, hosting a trio of Northeast Conference contests at the Chace Athletic Center. The Bulldogs will start out with a Jan. 28 rematch against Fairleigh Dickinson University (7:30 p.m.) before welcoming Monmouth to Smithfield for a 3:30 p.m. Saturday matchup on Jan. 30. Bryant will round out its three-game homestand with a 7:30 bout against Central Connecticut on Feb. 4, the first of consecutive contests against the Blue Devils.