Bulldogs face top-seeded LIU Thursday at 7 p.m.

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team opens up its final road swing of the 2010-11 season with a Thursday night matchup at top-seeded Long Island University (7 p.m.). The Bulldogs will look to avenge a 75-55 loss to the Blackbirds back on Jan. 6 and put a halt to their current two-game losing skid.

THE SERIES
This is the sixth meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and the Blackbirds, and Bryant is looking for just its second win over LIU, who owns a 4-1 series edge entering Thursday night action. The Black and Gold dropped the first-ever meeting between the two teams, 76-61, on the road in Bryant's inaugural Division I campaign, but reconciled the loss with a 57-55 home win over LIU later that same season (Jan. 24, 2009), leveling the series to one game apiece. Forward Cecil Gresham recorded a game-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds in the win. Despite the solid start to the series, though, the Bulldogs haven't topped the Blackbirds in three meetings since, falling to the Blackbirds, 75-55, earlier this season on Jan. 6 in Smithfield, R.I. despite double-double performances from freshman forward Alex Francis and sophomore Vlad Kondratyev. The Black and Gold also dropped a pair of contests last season, 62-46 and 71-54, and have yet to win a road game in the series.

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
Ranked No. 18 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major top-25 poll, Long Island enters Thursday night's game the winner of 16 of the last 17, boasting a 22-5 overall record and a 14-2 mark in NEC action. LIU captured the top seed in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament after defeating Mount St. Mary's, 84-64, on the road last Saturday. The top scoring team in the conference (82.2 ppg), LIU is lead by redshirt sophomore Julian Boyd, who averages a near double-double with 12.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per outing. The San Antonio native is third in the NEC in shooting percentage, converting at a 52.1 percent clip from the field, and is first in the league with 5.89 defensive boards per night. Rookie guard Jason Brickman is coming off his third NEC Rookie of the Week selection after pouring in 10 points and recording seven assists at Mount St. Mary's, and Brickman is tied for second in the league with 5.11 assists per outing and currently ranks first with a 2.82 assist-to-turnover ratio. Sophomore forward Jamal Olasewere, who has recorded double-figure outings in 22 games this season, is coming off his third double-double of the year with his 13 points and 10 boards against the Mount. Olasewere produced a team-high 17 points against the Bulldogs in the Blackbirds 20-point win back in January, also pulling down eight rebounds.

LAST TIME AGAINST LONG ISLAND
Sophomore Vlad Kondratyev and freshman Alex Francis each put up double-double performances, but the Bryant University men's basketball team couldn't keep up with Long Island in its Northeast Conference home opener as the Bulldogs fell, 75-55, at the Chace Athletic Center on Jan. 6. Julian Boyd recorded a double-double of his own for the visitors (12p, 13r) in a game that saw two Bulldogs acheive the feat in the same game for the first time in the program's short Division I history. Long Island would see four players reach double-digit scoring on the day, while senior Papa Lo registered a season-best and game-high four blocks for the home side. Bryant never led in the contest, unable to cut the lead to less than 10 after the first nine minutes of action as the Blackbirds secured a convincing road win.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs enter Thursday's matchup with a 3-4 mark in last seven games against the NEC, having lost the last two outings. A victory against LIU would give Bryant its first 10-win season at the Division I level and the most victories in a single year since the 2007-08 campaign. Since joining the Division I ranks, Bryant has gone 14-34 against current Northeast Conference members, with six of those wins coming in the program's inaugural DI season (2008-09) and seven more coming to date in 2010-11. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 42-88, having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-40).

COMMON DENOMINATOR
Outside Northeast Conference foes, Bryant and Long Island have faced off against two common opponents this season. Both squads have taken on Army (Patriot League) and Iona (MAAC) in 2010-11, with opposite results. Long Island snuck past Army, 91-85, but dropped an 88-82 decision against Iona College on Dec. 8. Conversely, Bryant fell to Army, 76-66, in its home opener on Nov. 20, but clipped Iona on a last-second buzzerbeater by sophomore Raphael Jordan, 74-72, on Nov. 14 on neutral ground.

REACHING MILESTONES
Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham keeps setting new and more impressive milestones as his final season donning the Bulldog uniform comes to a close. The program's 31st 1,000-point scorer, Gresham continues moving up the Bryant men's basketball all-time scoring ladder game after game, and his 1,366 career points currently rank him No. 14 all-time. Each time out, the forward gets closer and closer to the next spot up the all-time ranks, now needing just 10 points to match the 1,376 scored by Hall of Famer and all-time Bryant great Dan Mazzulla from 1976-79, who sits at No. 13 on the list. But that isn't the only eye-catching statistic Gresham brings to the table. With two boards Saturday against Sacred Heart, the 6-foot-5 senior joins another elite club, becoming just the 11th Bulldog to finish his career with more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. Earlier this season, Gresham also appeared in his 100th career contest (Nov. 13 against Kent State) and has appeared in 123 games over his stellar career.

LUCK BE A FREE THROW TONIGHT
For just the third time this season, the Bulldogs shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line Saturday against Sacred Heart, despite the 83-77 loss. Bryant went 18-of-22 from the charity stripe, led by a perfect 6-for-6 mark from sophomore Frankie Dobbs, who currently ranks 11th in the NEC with a .808 season clip from the line. The team averages just 65.1 percent on the year and also converted better than 80 percent of its chances Dec. 11 at Columbia (season-best 82.4) and Jan. 29 against Mount St. Mary's (80.8 percent).

HE'S HEATING UP...
Sophomore point guard Frankie Dobbs has been one of the team's strongest players all season long, but has been particularly good on the stat sheet over the last three games. Dobbs has recorded double-digit scoring games in each of his last three outings, also dishing out six assists or more in each of those games as well. The first-year Bulldog transfer has also limited his turnovers in the stretch, averaging 1.67 giveaways as compared to his season average of 2.82 per night. Dobbs boasts an assist-to-turnover ratio of just under 2:1 (sixth in the NEC).

...HE'S ON FIRE!
Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham's New Year's resolution may not have actually been to score more points in 2011, but that's exactly what he's doing. The forward leads the team with 17.7 points per game since opening 2011 and is shooting 50.6 percent (79-156) from the floor with a 46 percent mark from 3-point land (40-87), both team highs. He is pulling down 4.3 rebounds per game since January 1 and has collected a team-best nine blocks since switching over the calendar. Gresham has registered double-figure points in 11-consecutive contests (and all but one in 2011) and has five 20-point performances since January 8, including the season-high 29-point day he had Saturday against the Pioneers (most of any Bulldog in a single game this season). The senior owns five of the season's top-seven single-game highs, including the top four (29 points vs. Sacred Heart Feb. 19; 28 points at FDU Dec. 2; 27 vs. CCSU Feb. 12; 26 vs. Monmouth Jan. 22). On the year, Gresham has six 20-point games to his name and the fifth-year senior boasts 15 such outings on his storied career.

BRYANT RANKED 23TH IN NATION IN THREES PER GAME; TWO RANKED IN TOP-40
The Bulldogs have been strong from 3-point range all season and lead the conference with 8.29 triples per game, a number that ranks them No. 23 in the nation and places them ahead of such powerhouse programs as Michigan, Kentucky and Davidson, as well as every other NEC team in the category. Bryant is averaging nearly two extra treys per game than its closest NEC competitor, and the Bulldogs have led the conference in 3-pointers made per game for 11 of the season's 14 weeks. Bryant ranks second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage, as well, converting from beyond the arc at a 36.7 percent clip. Bryant gets more than 37 percent of its total team scoring from beyond the arc, and Frankie Dobbs (59), Cecil Gresham (66) and rookie Matt Lee (39) lead the team in trifectas on the year.

As individuals from 3-point land, Gresham ranks second in the conference in triples per game (2.64) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (.426), while Dobbs ranks seventh (2.11) and eighth (.388) in those respective categories. But Gresham also garners a national ranking for the third-straight week, as his 42.6 percent shooting from downtown also places him 21st in the nation. Dobbs also holds an individual national ranking of his own, sitting at No. 37 in assists per game, dishing out 5.32 helpers each time out on the year.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs wrap up their third year of Division I competition with a 4:30 p.m. season finale matchup at St. Francis (NY) on Saturday, Feb. 26.