Bulldogs back on court at Mount Thursday

BRYANT LOOKS FOR SEASON SWEEP OF MOUNT ST. MARY'S WITH ROAD WIN THURSDAY NIGHT (7 P.M.)

FULL GAME NOTES
Watch: NECfrontrow.com
Live Stats: mountathletics.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday 

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs have had an entire week off thanks to Winter Storm Nemo and return to the court for the first time since Feb. 7 Thursday night in Emmitsburg, Md., as Bryant makes the return trip to Mount St. Mary's for the final matchup of the regular season between the sides. In season's the first meeting in Smithfield, R.I., the Mount took the Bulldogs to overtime before the home side pulled out the 79-78 victory in the midst of its program-record eight-game winning streak snapped earlier this season. Bryant enters Thursday's game looking to extend its current three-game winning streak, as the league slate turns over for the first set of yearly rematches. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m., and the tilt can be seen LIVE on NECfrontrow.com.

THE SERIES
Mount St. Mary's has won six of eight all-time meetings between the two programs and swept the Bulldogs in a two-game series a season ago. Bryant looks to return the favor Thursday night after taking the first half of the 2012-13 series, 79-78, back on Jan. 17. Bryant's only two wins over The Mount have come at the Chace Athletic Center, though, and Mount St. Mary's holds a 4-0 advantage over the Bulldogs on its home court. Six of the eight all-time tilts have come at the Division I level, with the series beginning on Dec. 28, 1982 in Emmitsburg, Md.

SCOUTING THE MOUNT
Rashad Whack is the team's only double-digit point scorer, averaging 13.2 points per game in 23 starts this season. Julian Norfleet and Sam Prescott linger just below the 10-point mark, chipping in 9.7 and 9.2 points per outing, respectively, and while The Mount has won three of their last four contests, the team averages just 65.7 points and 26.9 rebounds each time out. Kristijian Krajina paces the side on the boards with 3.5 per game, followed by Prescott's 3.4 rebounding average and Whack's 3.3 boards per contest. Shivaughn Wiggins has stepped up for Mount St. Mary's in NEC play, averaging 10.8 points per game with nine starts while shooting 50 percent from the floor and an impressive 68.4 percent in limited long range looks (13-19). In league action, The Mount has a scoring margin of just -1.2 and average 70.2 points per outing.

LAST TIME AGAINST MOUNT ST. MARY'S (January 17, 2013)
With six ticks remaining in overtime, freshman Shane McLaughlin drove the lane and took the ball to the basket for his only points of the contest, lifting the Bryant University men's basketball team to a 79-78 victory at home over Mount St. Mary's.

In an overtime period that included eight lead changes and four ties, Bryant held off a talented Mount St. Mary's team to earn its seventh-straight victory and remain unbeaten in conference play. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, a huge three-point play from senior point guard Frankie Dobbs pushed the Bulldogs' lead to 11, 61-50. The Mountaineers would not go away, however, cutting it to single digits, 61-52, with 4:42 left on the clock.

Two more Mountaineer layups shifted the momentum in favor of the visitors as the lead dropped to just five, 61-56, with 3:27 left, and a huge backdoor cut from Dyami Starks pushed the Bryant edge back to seven. But Mount St. Mary's shooter Rashad Whack wasted no time knocking down back-to-back trifectas, bringing the visitors within just one with under two minutes to play. Starks answered the visitors' push with a drive and finish to beat the shot clock, but it was Whack who once again responded with a basket of his own, cutting the margin to one, 65-64, in Bryant's favor with 60 seconds to go.

Dobbs knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to lengthen the Bulldog advantage, 67-64, with 59 ticks remaining, but an improbable 3-pointer from Shivaughn Wiggins with 10 seconds left in regulation knotted the game at 67-67 when the final buzzer sounded.

In extra time, The Mount got on the board first, knocking down one of two from the line. Starks hit a pair of his own from the stripe to grant Bryant the brief 69-68 lead before a broken play turned into a Mountaineer bucket with under four minutes remaining, marking the first field goal of overtime. The Mountaineers turned a Bryant giveaway into a 72-69 lead, their largest since the first half, but Dobbs answered right back with a triple to knot the score at 72-72 with 2:29 to play.

Wiggins got into the lane and finished on the right side to push the lead back in favor of the visitors, 74-72, but forward Alex Francis – the night's leading scorer with 25 points – would not let the game slip away, as a huge and-one from the junior put Bryant back on top, 75-74, with less than two left in the extra frame.

The Mount responded right back, but more clutch free throws from Dobbs left the Bulldogs up, 77-76, as the clock ticked down to the one-minute mark. Julian Norfleet would not be denied, though, as he lifted the Mountaineers to a 78-77 edge with a layup with 22 seconds remaining in the game. But with the shot clock turned off, McLaughlin took control of the ball, taking on pressure in the paint to kiss a layup off the glass and claim a lead that would stick for the Black and Gold, 79-78.

Francis's 25 points came on 11-of-12 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds. Starks finished with 18 points, 16 coming in second half, while junior Corey Maynard added 13 points and a game-best nine boards of his own. The Bulldogs finished with five in double figures for the third time this season, as Dobbs added 10 with a season-best eight assists and sophomore Joe O'Shea chipped in 11 more before fouling out in overtime. Wiggins led the Mountaineers with 20 points, while Whack added 17 to go along with three boards and three steals.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 9-2 against the Northeast Conference in 2012-13 with a 24-55 record against current league members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current NEC schools, the Bulldog basketball program is 52-109 (.323), having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-42).

QUICK HITS
» Finding Nemo: He wasn't hard to find this time around, as the winter storm and its lingering effects forced the Bulldogs to postpone their game against Sacred Heart three times before finally rescheduling the contest for Monday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.
» Lengthy Layoff: The team's unscheduled weeklong break ties the second-longest stretch without a competition of the season for the Black and Gold. The only longer layoff came over finals week, when the Bulldogs saw 11 days of rest between a loss at Navy (Dec. 10) and a home win over Dartmouth (Dec. 22). Bryant is 2-0 this season in games after a layoff of six days or longer.
» Bulldogs Headline NCAA's DI Men's Basketball Most Improved Team List: With a 16-6 overall record entering the final stretch of the regular season, Bryant currently boasts an impressive 18-game difference from last season (2-28) to this one. Next on the list is Towson, with a 15.5-game differential, and the NCAA Division I record for Most Improved Team from one season to the next stands at 17 games, set by Mercer in 2002-03 and UTEP in 2003-04. Last season's most improved teams — Manhattan and Nevada — sported a 13.5-game turnaround at season's end.
» Tremendous Turnaround: The NCAA equation for most improved also takes number of losses into consideration, but Bryant remains the most improved team in the nation when it comes to pure win turnaround as well. The Bulldogs currently boast 14 more wins in 2012-13 than it had a season ago, one more than the next best team on the list (Towson, 13).
» Going Streaking: With last Thursday's victory, the Bulldogs are back on a winning streak (three straight), their first since Sacred Heart snapped the team's eight-game run back on January 24.
» Another One Bites the Dust: The Bulldogs saw yet another Division I program record fall last Thursday night against St. Francis Brooklyn, as the career-high 13 assists dished out by senior Frankie Dobbs are the most single-game helpers in the DI era. 
» Frankly Speaking: Fifth-year senior point guard Frankie Dobbs set a new career-high for the second-consecutive game last Thursday. At home against the Terriers, he handed out a personal-best 13 assists, while Feb. 2 at Monmouth, Dobbs posted a game- and career-high 27 points off 6-of-9 shooting and an 11-of-13 mark from the free throw line.
» He Shoots, He Scores: Either Dyami Starks, Alex Francis or Frankie Dobbs has scored 25 or more points in each of the last five games.
» TV Land: With national audiences tuned in live via ESPN3, Fox College Sports and Cox, the Bulldogs earned their third TV victory of the year last time out with an 84-77 topping of St. Francis Brooklyn at home. The game was the team's fifth televised contest in 2012-13 (at Indiana, at Providence, at Central Connecticut and at FDU), and Bryant is 3-2 in TV games this year.
» Winning Ways: Bryant's 16th win of the season, 84-77, last Thursday night guarantees the Bulldogs a winning record in their first season of NCAA Division I eligibility. The Bulldogs are just the sixth team in the last 20 years to post an above .500 campaign in its first year of full Division I membership.
» Movin' On Up: The Bulldogs have now been ranked in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 for seven-straight weeks, ranked No. 22 entering this week's action. Bryant cracked the prestigious list for the first time in program history on Dec. 31 at No. 25, and since then has spent two weeks at No. 22, three weeks at No. 21 and a week at No. 17.
» 16 and Counting: The Bulldogs keep improving on their Division I single-season wins record, picking up their 16th victory of the year at home against St. Francis Brooklyn Feb. 7. Bryant has now won more games this season than in the last three campaigns combined (12). The Bulldogs entered the 2012-13 season with just 20 total wins in their brief Division I history. 

MAKING NEC HISTORY
Bryant's spectacular turnaround has not only made waves nationally this season, it is also already near the top of the league's all-time record books. In the 32-year history of the Northeast Conference — and this with seven games still to play in the regular season — Bryant already ranks a close second on the list of the biggest year-to-year jump in NEC annals, just one game short of CCSU's 15-game improvement from four wins in 1997-98 to 19 in 1998-99. Limiting the scope to just conference play, Bryant's eight-game jump now ranks second in league history behind LIU Brooklyn, which went from five to 15 wins en-route to the NEC title in 1997.

DOUBLE DARE
Senior point guard Frankie Dobbs picked up his third-career double-double but the first of his 2012-13 season last Thursday night with a 12-point, career-high 13-assist effort. It is the second time he has used assists as half of a double-double performance, dishing out 10 assists with 14 points at Columbia Dec. 11, 2010 in a game he played against current teammate Dyami Starks. With the career-best number, Dobbs vaulted up the nation's rankings for assists per game, going from 95th last week to 72nd entering Thursday's matchup. The Bulldogs have now seen double-doubles recorded in the last two games after junior forward Alex Francis picked up his fifth of the year (21st career) Feb. 2 at Monmouth (15 points, 11 rebounds).

HALF AND HALF
Dyami Starks's 25-point second-half performance last time out marked the fourth time this season the sophomore shooter has finished a game with double-digit points despite being held scoreless in one frame. It was the second time this season Starks has been held scoreless in one half just to score 25 in the other, as well. Back on Dec. 8 at home against Binghamton, the guard scored 25 first-half points (9-11, 6-7 from 3-point land) but wouldn't get another after the break, going 0-for-3 from the field in the final 20 minutes. Last week against St. Francis Brooklyn, Starks was 0-for-5 at halftime before shooting a lights-out 9-of-10 (5-of-6 from deep) in the second stanza to finish with a game-high 25 points.

YOU SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD
The 13 assists dished out by senior Frankie Dobbs last Thursday night marked the eighth new Division I record set in 2012-13 and the 10th DI mark to be either matched or broken this year, with both team and individual records falling away nearly every time Bryant takes the court. Other single-game DI records to fall this season include team points (103), team assists (24), team field goal percentage (.607), team free throw percentage (.905), team 3-point percentage (.632), individual field goal percentage (.917, Alex Francis vs. Mount St. Mary's) and individual rebounds (18, Francis at Central Connecticut). Sophomore Dyami Starks has tied two more this season — 3-pointers in a game (7 at Robert Morris) and single-game 3-point percentage (.857 vs. Binghamton) — while the team's 63.2 percent shooting from long range also set an all-time program mark. Starks needs just three more trifectas to set the single-season DI record in that category, while Bryant as a team needs just 22 more free throws makes to break that current DI season mark.

TWENTY SOMETHINGS
Three Bulldogs have combined to record 20 or more points in a game 20 times this season, most recently against St. Francis Brooklyn Feb. 7. Sophomore Dyami Starks leads the way with 10 such outings, while junior Alex Francis has seven, including two in the last three games. Senior Frankie Dobbs has chipped in three this year, including a career-high 27 points in a win over Monmouth Feb. 2. Two players have recorded 20+ points in the same contest four times, including last Thurday against the Terriers, with Starks (25) and Francis (23) teamming up for the feat. Starks (20) and Francis (21) also paired up at Lehigh Dec. 29, while Starks (29) and Dobbs (26) did so at Robert Morris Jan. 3 and repeated the feat with 20 and 24 points, respectively, at home against Quinnipiac Jan. 10. One of these three players has recorded 25 points or more in each of the last five games, as well.
50/50For the ninth time this season, the Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent from the floor in their last outing. 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).

NATIONAL LEADERBOARD
Numerous Bulldogs can be found ranked in the NCAA's Top 100 in multiple categories, but none are ranked higher than sophomore sharpshooter Dyami Starks. Starks enters Thursday's game ranked 12th among all Division I players for 3-point field goals per game, also leading the NEC ranks at 3.09 trifectas per outing. Junior forward Alex Francis also highlights the national rankings, as his 55.8 percent shooting clip is good for 31st overall.

BLOCKHEADS
For all of Bryant's success this season, the Bulldogs have struggled mightily in one particular statistical category — blocks. The Black and Gold average just 1.14 blocks per game and rank dead last in Division I entering Thursday's matchup. Senior Vlad Kondratyev leads the way with seven stuffs this season, but the Bulldogs have posted three or more blocks in a game just three times so far, most recently against St. Francis Brooklyn.

UP NEXT
Bryant wraps up its last multigame road trip of the season, taking on Wagner in Staten Island Saturday (4 p.m.) before returning home to host Central Connecticut Thursday, Feb. 21 (7 p.m.).