WATCH LIVE AS THE BULLDOGS HOST COLUMBIA IN JUST THE SECOND HOME GAME OF THE SEASON SATURDAY AT 1 P.M.

December 11, 2009

WATCH LIVE AS THE BULLDOGS HOST COLUMBIA IN JUST THE SECOND HOME GAME OF THE SEASON SATURDAY AT 1 P.M.

Game Notes / Watch Live! / Listen Live / Live Stats

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team is still in search of its first win this season and will try to get it in front of the home crowd when the Bulldogs welcome Columbia University to the Chace Athletic Center Saturday at 1 p.m. This is just the second home contest of the season for the Bulldogs and the last of the semester.

STUDENT BASKETBALL FANS, don't forget to bring your ID and swipe in before halftime to earn Bulldog Points and be entered to win great prizes throughout the 2009-10 basketball season!

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs return home for just the second time this season to welcome Columbia University to the Chace Athletic Center on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. The meeting will be Bryant's second-consecutive matchup against an Ivy League opponent and is slated to tip off at 1:00 p.m. Bryant is still looking for its first win of the 2009-10 campaign and will have its last chance of the semester to get a victory in front of the home crowd.

THE SERIES
Bryant and Columbia have faced off just once before in the history of the two programs, the matchup coming in just the second-ever Division I contest for the Bulldogs. On Nov. 21, 2008 in the Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic, the Bulldogs took on the host Lions in the first round, playing them to a 70-54 setback at Levien Gymnasium. Now-senior Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) paced the visitors, using 7-of-16 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 accuracy from the line to post a game-best 25 points in 36 minutes of action.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
Columbia is led by a trio of scorers averaging double figures, paced by 18.1 points per game from Noruwa Agho and including 11.3 points per outing from Patrick Foley, who scored 20 against the Bulldogs in last season's matchup. Brian Grimes (11.4 ppg) cleans up for the Lions on the glass, averaging 7.5 rebounds per contest with 60 total boards on the year. He is also the team leader in blocks with four. Foley paces Columbia, who comes to Smithfield with an even 4-4 record, with 29 assists. Agho not only leads the Lions in points per game, but he has more than half of his total makes from beyond the arc (27-of-50 made field goals from 3-point range) and is hitting at a .643 clip from downtown (.543 from the floor). The teams have met up against just one common opponent so far this season, but with different outcomes. Against Bucknell University, the Lions came out on top, 73-59, while the Bulldogs fell by three at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, 59-56.

BRYANT vs. THE IVY LEAGUE
Saturday's game against Columbia will be the fourth of five matchups against Ivy League opponents for the Bulldogs this season. Bryant has already played Harvard (77-51 L), Brown (70-68 L) and most recently Yale (69-54 L) in 2009-10 and this will be the second set of back-to-back contests against Ancient Eight opponents this season. In its short Division I history, Bryant has faced off against Ivy League members seven times, going just 1-6 against the conference since the 2008-09 season. In all-time program history, Bryant basketball is just 1-12 against the league, having taken on Brown most frequently (0-8). Bryant got its only win against an Ivy school with its 69-58 topping of Yale last season. The Bulldogs will wrap up play against the conference with a trip to Cornell on January 2, 2010.

LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Raphael Jordan scored a career-best 14 points while junior Michael Chroney posted a double-double in his first career start, but it wouldn't be enough to get the Bryant University men's basketball team its first win of the season, falling to Yale, 69-54, Wednesday night at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Bryant shot 43.4 percent from the floor despite the loss - besting Yale by one percent - while Jordan's 14 points were a game best and Chroney's 10 rebounds were a contest high. The junior walk-on collected the only double-double from either side on the evening, adding 11 points.

The contest was highlighted for the visiting Bulldogs by career marks for both Jordan and Chroney, as well as the debut of freshman Erick Smith, who posted nine points, all of them coming in the second half. Jordan shot 6-of-11 from the floor for his 14 points, while Chroney posted career highs in points (11), field goals made (4), attempted (10) rebounds (10) blocks (1) and minutes (29) in the first start of his career. Sophomore Papa Lo  stood tall defensively again, putting up a trio of rejections for his fourth-straight multi-block contest. He also posted a new career mark with five points.

Bryant started the game slow and Yale took advantage out of the gates, outscoring the visiting Bulldogs, 12-4, in the first seven minutes. The home side held Bryant to single-digit points through the opening 13:59, driving the score as high as 26-8 before the Bulldogs from Rhode Island started to pick up steam. Bryant would close the gap to 12 in the final six minutes of the half, nearly doubling its point output and going to the locker room down, 36-24, at the half.

The Bulldogs upped their shooting percentage to a .435 clip by the end of the first session, rivaling Yale's 44.8 percent shooting from the floor, but couldn't convert from the line, hitting just two of seven chances. The Connecticut Bulldogs hit 80 percent from the stripe (8-of-10) and strong-armed Bryant on the boards as well, 20-14. Jordan paced the game at the break with 10 points off 4-of-8 shooting from the floor (2-for-3 from beyond the arc).

And while Bryant scored first after the intermission, Yale would score more often, upping its lead to more than 20 points, 51-30, 5:53 into the second half. Bryant would cut into that lead with a 13-4 run midframe, closing the gap to 60-48 with 5:26 left to play. But the home side would slowly grow that lead again as the minutes ticked away, leaving the visiting Bulldogs with their ninth loss of the season, 69-54.

A trio of Yale Bulldogs registered double-digit points, led by 13 from Michael Sands. Bryant again gave its opponent significant chances from the free throw line as the home team went 14-of-21 from the stripe. Both teams posted six blocks on the day.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs enter their toughest stretch of the season beginning with their upcoming contest and spanning the new year as they face off against opponents from the top of the ACC, the Big East, the Big Ten and the Ivy League before returning to conference action. Bryant will start the run with a 4 p.m. matchup against Boston College on Sunday, Dec. 20 at Conte Forum. From there, the Bulldogs will travel to St. John's for a 7 p.m. Christmas Eve Eve (Dec. 23) matchup before taking a five-day holiday break. Bryant returns for the program's first-ever matchup against a Big Ten school when it heads to Bloomington, Ind. to take on the Hoosiers on Dec. 28 (9 p.m. EST) and the team will wrap up the stretch by welcoming in the new year with a 2 p.m. contest against the best of the Ivy League in Cornell University on Jan. 2.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Bulldogs play 11 home games this regular season, hosting first-semester contests against Brown (Nov. 25) and Columbia (Dec. 12) at the Chace Athletic Center. After the winter break, Bryant will welcome conference opponents Sacred Heart (Jan. 14), Quinnipiac (Jan. 16), Fairleigh Dickinson (Jan. 28), Monmouth (Jan. 30), Central Connecticut (Feb. 4), Saint Francis (PA) (Feb. 11), Robert Morris (Feb. 13) and St. Francis (NY) (Feb. 25) before closing out the season at home against Long Island (Feb. 27).

CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAME?
Bryant University Athletics has partnered with Pack Network, who will be providing an industry-leading video streaming solution for more than 50 home contests during the 2009-10 athletic season, including live broadcasts of all 11 Bryant University home men's basketball games. Live event productions will include multiple camera angles, an on-screen scoreboard and state-of-the-art graphics. Fans can purchase an all-access pass for $75, giving subscribers the opportunity to watch not only all the live coverage of Bryant sporting events, but also access to premium content not available to the public. Single-game subscriptions may also be purchased for each live event throughout the season for $5.95. Visit www.bryantbulldogs.tv for more information and a schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON AND WJMF RADIO
In addition to being streamed online at www.bryantbulldogs.tv, for the second-straight 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 as the voice of the Bulldogs. WJMF, Bryant's student radio station, will also broadcast home contests for the 2009-10 season.

TV STARS
The Bryant men make a pair of appearances on regional television this season. The Bulldogs will appear on Fox College Sports (FCS), Madison Square Garden TV (MSG) and Fox Sports Network-Pittsburgh, also appearing on the BIG TEN Network as well as ESPN Full Court. Bryant first appeared in living rooms when it traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y. on December 5 for a conference game against St. Francis (NY), where Fox College Sports and MSG carried the broadcast live. FSN-Pittsburgh, FCS and ESPN Full Court will be on hand at the Chace Athletic Center when the league opponents Bryant and Saint Francis (PA) meet on February 11, 2009 (7 p.m. start). Both games will be carried locally on Cox Sports-3 in Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. Bryant will also appear on the BIG-TEN Network for the second year in a row when the team travels to Indiana on Dec. 28 for a 9 pm (EST) game against the Hoosiers. Last year, Bryant made its debut on the BIG-10 Network when the Bulldogs took on the University of Iowa.