Bulldogs visit FDU Thursday night

BULLDOGS LOOK FOR ROAD WIN AT FDU THURSDAY NIGHT (7 P.M.)

FULL GAME NOTES
Watch: ESPN3 l Fox College Sports l Cox (RI)
Listen: bryantbulldogs.com
Live Stats: bryantbulldogs.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday 

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs hit the road once again for the first stop in a two-game roadtrip Thursday night, traveling to The Garden State for a 7 p.m. matchup against Northeast Conference foe Fairleigh Dickinson University at Stratis Arena. Thursday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, Fox College Sports and Cox Sports in Rhode Island.

THE SERIES
The Knights and the Bulldogs have faced off six times in their history, with all six meetings having come at the Division I level. FDU won the only tilt of last season, 66-63, at the Chace Athletic Center, and the Knights hold the 4-2 series edge. Bryant is winless in its two previous visits to Stratis Arena and will go for its first road victory over FDU Thursday night. This is the only time these two programs will face off during the 2012-13 regular season.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
Kinu Rochford and Melquan Bolding enter Thursday's game leading Fairleigh Dickinson with 14.9 and 14.8 points per game on the year, respectively, and are joined by Lonnie Robinson (11.5) to round out the team's double-digit point getters. Robinson paces the side with 52 assists and is shooting nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc while averaging 1.5 triples per outing. Rochford owns the glass for FDU, pulling in 9.1 boards per contest, and adds 26 blocks, as both numbers rank third in the NEC in their respective categories. FDU enters Thursday night's game looking to snap a five-game losing streak and sits at 7-14 overall with a 2-6 conference mark in 2012-13. As a team, the Knights are shooting 44.6 percent from the floor with a .385 clip from long range while averaging 29.8 rebounds per outing.

LAST TIME AGAINST FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON (January 26, 2012)
Despite getting 22 points from point guard Frankie Dobbs and tying the game at 52-52 with 7:14 to play, the Bulldogs fell just short in the teams' last meeting, dropping a 66-63 decision to Fairleigh Dickinson at the Chace Athletic Center Jan. 26, 2012.

The win was the first conference victory of the year for the Knights, who were paced by a game-best 25 points from Lonnie Robinson. FDU also got double-digit scoring from George Goode (11 points, 2 blocks) and Briahn Smith (12 points, game-high 7 rebounds) and shot 46.7 percent on the evening. Alex Francis chipped in 16 points for the home side, but the Bulldogs shot just 39 percent from the field.

Bryant chipped away at a nine-point halftime lead and cut its deficit to just three, 48-45, with a run capped off by a Dobbs trey – one of four on the night – with 11:42 left on the clock. FDU scored the next four for a seven-point advantage nearing the midpoint of the frame, but consecutive layups by Dobbs and Corey Maynard brought the home side back within a score with more than eight minutes to play.

With the 52-49 lead, the Knights struggled to inbound the ball on the next possession, throwing it out of bounds to give possession back to the Black and Gold, and the hosts capitalized on the mistake as Francis drained a triple from near the top of the key to tie the score at 52-52 with more than seven minutes to go.

But FDU would quickly break the knot in its favor, and while the Bulldogs would pull within one point twice more – the last time coming after a three-point play from Claybrin McMath with just eight ticks left on the clock – the visiting Knights would hit their shots from the line for the 66-63 final tally.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 6-2 against the Northeast Conference in 2012-13 with a 21-55 record against current league members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 49-109 (.310), having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-42).

QUICK HITS
» Bulldogs on TV: Bryant men's basketball makes its third television appearance Thursday against Fairleigh Dickinson. The 7 p.m. tipoff will be broadcast live on Fox College Sports, ESPN3 and Cox Sports in Rhode Island with Dave Popkin calling all the action alongside color analyst Tim Capstraw with Paul Dottino on the sidelines.
» Record Watch: A win against Fairleigh Dickinson would earn the Bulldogs their seventh NEC victory of the season, tying the program's Division I single-season record of seven league victories, established in 2010-11.
» National Leaderboard: Numerous Bulldogs can be found ranked in the NCAA's Top 100 in multiple categories (see right), but none are ranked higher than sophomore sharpshooter Dyami Starks. Starks enters Thursday's matchup ranked 14th among all Division I players for 3-point field goals per game, also leading the NEC ranks at 3.16 trifectas per outing. He also ranks 39th in scoring and 43rd in 3-point percentage.
» Movin' On Up: The Bulldogs have now been ranked in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 for five-straight weeks, ranked No. 22 this week. Bryant cracked the prestigious list for the first time in program history on Dec. 31 at No. 25, then spent two weeks at No. 21 before moving to No. 17 last week.
» Tremendous Turnaround: Bryant remains the most improved team in the nation when it comes to pure win turnaround, as the Bulldogs already boast 11 more wins in 2012-13 than it had a season ago. The next best in terms of win improvement? Towson, at nine.
» Leaps and Rebounds: The Bulldogs, who average 33 rebounds per game this season, have posted 25 rebounds or less in the last two contests, both resulting in losses.
» Halfway there? Bryant's 79-78 setback against LIU was just the team's third loss when leading at the half (vs. Yale, at Navy).
» Daytime Dominance: The Bulldogs' one-point loss to LIU Brooklyn marked the first afternoon loss as well as the first Saturday loss for Bryant in 2012-13 after starting out the season 8-0 in both categories (5-5 in night games, 5 p.m. or later).
» Streak Snapped: Last Thursday's 87-76 loss at Sacred Heart snapped Bryant's season-high eight-game winning streak dating back to Dec. 22, 2012. The eight uninterrupted victories set the program's Division I record for most consecutive wins (previously four).
» An Imperfect Equation: Prior to last Thursday's loss, Bryant was a perfect 10-0 this season when scoring 70 points or more. The Bulldogs are now 10-2 in the category after last week's action.
» Lucky No. 13: The Bulldogs keep improving on their Division I single-season wins record, picking up their 13th victory of the year at home against the Seahawks Jan. 19. Bryant has now won more games this season than in the last three campaigns combined (12).

A STARK CONTRAST
Sophomore guard Dyami Starks has made all the difference for the Black and Gold after sitting out the 2011-12 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules (Columbia). The two-time NEC Player of the Week leads the team in points per game (18.2), 3-pointers made (60), 3-point field goal percentage (.403) and free throw percentage (.852) and eclipsed the 300-point mark on the season with his 28-point outing against Sacred Heart last Thursday. Starks scored another 25 at home against LIU Brooklyn Saturday and now has nine 20-point outings on the year.

PLAYING FROM BEHIND
Bryant's 44-39 halftime deficit against the Pioneers last Thursday night marked just the fourth time this season the team has been behind at the intermission. The last time came at Central Connecticut Jan. 12 (an eventual 69-62 win) with the first two occasions coming in the season's opening games at then-No. 1 Indiana and at Providence College.

FRONTING FRANCIS
Junior Alex Francis managed just eight points and two rebounds against the Pioneers, marking just the second time this season an opponent has held the forward to single-digit points. The only other time that has happened in 2012-13 was Nov. 25 on the road at Boston College (6 points). Francis's two boards are his fewest of the season, also representing the third fewest he has scored in his three years as a Bulldog (1 at the University of Arizona, Dec. 22, 2011; 0 at Boston College, Dec. 19, 2010).

LEADER OF THE PACK
Two of just six active 1,000-point scorers in the Northeast Conference, both Alex Francis and Frankie Dobbs rank near the top of multiple NEC active leaders lists. Entering this week's action, Francis and Dobbs are fifth (1261) and sixth (1078), respectively, among active scoring leaders, while the former sits fifth on the depth chart for total career rebounds (617), third in 20-point games (20) and fourth in 30-point games (2). With 425, Dobbs sits third among active players for career assists and is 10th among active players for 20-point games (10).

TWENTY SOMETHINGS
Three Bulldogs have recorded 20 or more points in a game 16 times this season. Sophomore Dyami Starks leads the way with nine of them, while junior Alex Francis has five and senior Frankie Dobbs chips in two more. Two players have recorded 20+ points in the same contest three times, with Starks (20) and Francis (21) doing so at Lehigh Dec. 29, Starks (29) and Dobbs (26) teaming up at Robert Morris Jan. 3 and Starks (20) and Dobbs (24) repeating the feat at home against Quinnipiac Jan. 10.
50/50For the eighth time this season, the Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent from the floor Saturday against the Blackbirds On the season, Bryant has shot better than 50 percent in both halves six times and converted 50 percent or better from 3-point range four time this season (vs. Binghamton, at Robert Morris, vs. Quinnipiac, vs. Wagner).

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs stay in New Jersey to take on Monmouth Saturday night at 7 p.m. in West Long Branch.