BRYANT LOOKS FOR RECORD SEVENTH NEC WIN WEDNESDAY AGAINST CCSU (7 P.M.)

Game Notes Home

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team hits the road Wednesday night looking to earn back-to-back league wins and set a new single-season record for victories when the Bulldgos face Central Connecticut in New Britain, Conn. (7 p.m.). The game will be shown regionally on MSG and Cox-3 in R.I. at 9 pm .

THE SERIES
This is the 17th meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and the Blue Devils, dating back to the 1973-74 season when CCSU kicked off the series with an 89-87 win at home. Central Connecticut currently holds a 10-6 advantage in the all-time series and has taking the last eight meetings between the sides. Of the 16 previous matchups, 13 came at the Division II level (from the 1973-74 season through the 1987-88 campaign), and the Bulldogs are winless in three DI meetings. Bryant is 3-5 all-time at Detrick Gym, having dropped a 61-48 decision in the team's last visit to New Britain, Conn., on February 6, 2010 in the second of back-to-back meetings. The Bulldogs' last win over the Blue Devils came all the way back in 1980-81, when Bryant took a 77-73 victory at the Chace Athletic Center. Wednesday's meeting marks the start of 2011 NEC Rivalry Week, and the Bulldogs will play host to CCSU Saturday at 4 p.m. to wrap up the home-and-home series.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
CCSU enters Wednesday night's contest riding a six-game winning streak and sits just one game out of first place in the NEC standings after knocking off Saint Francis (PA), 86-79, and Robert Morris, 80-58, last week. The Blue Devils currently rank first in the league ranks in scoring defense, surrendering an NEC-best 64.7 points per game, and sit second in the league with a team field goal percentage above 44 percent (44.6). The Blue Devils, winners of 12 of their last 14 contests, are led by junior forward and preseason all-conference selection Ken Norton, who paces the squad with a league-best 18.6 points and 8.5 boards per outing. Norton, who currently ranks second in rebounds, third in blocks (1.4 bpg) and third in free throw percentage (.867), is coming off his third NEC Player of the Week selection of the 2010-11 season after posting back-to-back double doubles. Joining Norton at the head of the scoring pack is junior guard Robby Ptacek, who is dropping in 15.9 points to go along with four boards per outing. Shemik Thompson paces the team with 116 assists on the year while eight Blue Devils are shooting 40 percent or better from the field.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs enter Rivalry Week looking for their seventh NEC victory of the season, a win that would not only vault the team above .500 in league play, but also set a new program mark for wins over Northeast Conference opponents in a season. Since joining the Division I ranks, Bryant has gone 13-31 against current Northeast Conference members, with six of those wins coming in the program's inaugural DI season (2008-09) and six more coming to date in 2010-11. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 41-85, having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (17-39).

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Frankie Dobbs nailed a fade away jumper as time expired to give the Bryant University men's basketball team the 70-69 win over Saint Francis (PA) Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena.

Umar Shannon took a 3-pointer to put the Red Flash out in front, 68-69, for the first time since the 13:45 mark but left five seconds on the clock, giving the Bulldogs one last chance to walk away with the win. Those five ticks were all Dobbs needed to drive the length of the court and fire a jumper from just inside the paint that bounced off the rim and to the backboard before falling through the net as time expired.

The 70-69 victory was Bryant's third buzzerbeater and fifth last-second win of the season, as Dobbs was one of four Bulldogs to register double-digit points. Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham paced the Bulldogs with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers, while Dobbs chipped in 15 points, rookie Alex Francis added 14 and frosh Matthew Lee recorded 10 in just 13 minutes. Freshman Corey Maynard added a career-high and team-best nine assists on the day.

Bryant shot a season-high 52.9 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-17), despite being edged by the Red Flash from the floor, 46 percent to 45.1 percent. The Bulldogs played superb defense in the game, particularly from long range, holding Saint Francis to just 5-for-18 shooting from 3-point land.

TURN THIS CAR AROUND
With six games still to play on the 2010-11 season, the Bryant men's basketball team has already undoubtedly made one of the most remarkable transformations in NCAA history. With already seven more wins this season than last, the Bulldogs currently boast the largest win turnaround in the nation from the 2009-10 season to the 2010-11 campaign, a top position they share with league foe Wagner College. Not only do they lead the country in  sheer win improvement, but to date, the Bulldogs also stand as the third most-improved team among the nation's 345 Division I programs with a 10.0 game improvement through February 7. Only Wagner and New Orleans have larger differences, both improving their 2009-10 records by 11.0 games in 2010-11.

IF IT WASN'T FOR THE LAST MINUTE...
Sophomore guard Frankie Dobbs hit a fadeaway jumper as time expired to give Bryant the 70-69 victory over Saint Francis (PA) last Saturday, marking the fifth last-second win and third buzzerbeater for the Bulldogs this season. Dobbs, no stranger to late-game heroics, also hit the game-winning 3-pointer against Fairleigh Dickinson back on Jan. 20 to give the Black and Gold the 74-71 victory.

HOME CAN BE THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE...
...Or the Merritt Parkway for the 2010-11 Bulldogs, who are 3-3 on the road in conference play this season, a vast improvement from a year ago when the team went 1-8 away from home against the league. After splitting last week's trip to western Pennsylvania, Bryant looks to keep its perfect record against Connecticut teams intact against the Blue Devils Wednesday night, having already topped fellow Constitution State members Quinnipiac (69-61 on Jan. 13) and Sacred Heart (71-59 on Jan. 15) in their respective home arenas. Entering Rivalry Week, Bryant has won three of its last four road contests and six of the last nine games, with two of its three losses coming in extra time.

THREE-BIES
Bryant was on fire from 3-point land against Saint Francis (PA) Saturday, converting at the team's highest clip of the season — 52.9 percent — despite shooting less than 18 triples for just the eighth time all season (9-of-17). The mark just barely beat out the Bulldogs' previous season high of 52.0 percent (13-of-25) on the road against the University of Michigan back on December 23.

BIG TIME PLAYERS MAKE BIG TIME PLAYS
Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham has stepped up for the Bulldogs in conference play this season, averaging a team-leading 18.0 points and 4.9 boards per game against league opponents in 2010-11. Not only has the Connecticut native made shots in the clutch, he has been the leading scorer for the Bulldogs in eight games this year. In league play, Gresham is converting at a 50.4 percent clip from the floor and an impressive 45.8 percent mark from long range. He converts 85.3 percent of his free throw attempts and has eight blocks in 10 games (missed two due to injury). Each of those numbers trump his season averages, as the fifth-year sharpshooter posts 13.7 points per game off a 44.1 shooting percentage from the field, a 42.1 clip from 3-point land and an 81.3 percent mark from the line in 21 games played. Gresham's 42.1 percent success rate from beyond the arc on the 2010-11 season currently ranks him No. 21 among all Division I players and his 2.52 made 3-pointers per game sit third in the NEC.

TV STARS
The NEC will televise 22 men's basketball conference matchups in 2010-11, including a pair of Bryant contests. The Bulldogs will appear on national television for the second time this season when the team takes on Central Connecticut Wednesday (MSG+ and Cox Cable) and will host Sacred Heart at the Chace Athletic Center in front of a national audience on Saturday, Feb. 19 (2 p.m., MSG/Cox). Bryant's first TV appearance of the season came back on Dec. 23, when the Bulldogs were featured on the Big Ten Network for the third-straight season in a game against the University of Michigan.

MR. GAME WINNERS
If nothing else, the 2010-11 Bryant University men's basketball team is anything but boring. With five victories taken in the final five seconds of a game and three legitimate buzzerbeater wins so far this season, the Bulldogs have been one of the most exciting late-game teams in Division I. Frankie Dobbs added to that point Saturday against Saint Francis (PA), joining the ranks of buzzerbeater heroes with an elbow jumper as time expired to give his team a 70-69 win — the Bulldogs' third game-winning buzzerbeater of the 2010-11 season. January 29 against Mount St. Mary's, rookie Alex Francis laid down a finger roll basket as the clock ran out for a 62-60 victory, marking the second buzzerbeater win of the 2010-11 campaign, and sophomore guard Raphael Jordan recorded the first buzzerbeating shot of the year back on November 14, when he beat out the horn with a 3-pointer to lift Bryant to a 74-72 victory over Iona on neutral ground. For Dobbs, it was his second game-ending shot of the year (see Under Pressure: Part, in notes). And while the team's three buzzerbeater wins this season are the only such victories in the program's three-year Division I history, since joining the DI ranks prior to the 2008-09 season, the Bulldogs have recorded seven wins in the final five seconds of a contest (five this season).

MOVIN' ON UP: NO. 16
Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham is moving up the Bryant men's basketball all-time scoring list at a rapid pace in his final season of collegiate action. Gresham became the 31st 1,000-point scorer in program history last December, and after starting the season at the bottom of that list, Gresham has since added 288 points to jump to No. 16 all-time. And with 1,288 career points, the forward keeps getting closer and closer to the next spot up the all-time ranks, but now needs 55 points to match the 1,343 scored by his former teammate Jon Ezeokoli from 2004-08 and move into the top-15 all-time.

BRYANT RANKED 27TH IN NATION IN THREES PER GAME; GRESHAM No. 21 IN 3-POINT PERCENTAGE
The Bulldogs have been a strong from 3-point range all season, leading the conference with 8.17 triples per game, a number that also ties them for No. 27 in the nation. Bryant ranks atop the NEC standings in the category, averaging more than an extra trey per game than its closest NEC competitor. The Bulldogs have two players in the conference's top-10 as individuals (Cecil Gresham, 3rd - 2.52 and Frankie Dobbs, 6th - 2.17) and the same two are also in the top for 3-point field goal percentage, where Gresham's 42.1 percent shooting from 3-point range ranks not only third in the conference, but also 21st in the nation (Dobbs ranks seventh in the NEC at 40 percent). Bryant gets more than 37 percent of its total team scoring from beyond the arc and Dobbs (52), Gresham (53) and rookie Matt Lee (35) lead the team in trifectas on the year. As a team, Bryant ranks second in the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage, converting from beyond the arc at a 36.2 percent clip.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs kick off a three-game stretch at the Chace Athletic Center — the final homestand of the season — Saturday afternoon when the Blue Devils make the return trip to Rhode Island for the second half of NEC Rivalry Week (4 p.m.). Bryant will wrap up 2010-11 play at home with a 7 p.m. matchup against Quinnipiac on Thursday, Feb. 17 and a Senior Day contest against Sacred Heart on Saturday, Feb. 19 in front of a nationally televised audience (2 p.m.).