Bulldogs host CCSU rematch Thursday

BLUE DEVILS VISIT THE CHACE AS BULLDOGS CHASE WIN #17 THURSDAY (7P)

FULL GAME NOTES
Watch: NECfrontrow.com
Listen: WOON 1240 AM
Live Stats: bryantbulldogs.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs look to limit their down week to just two games and get back on the side of winning when they return home to the Chace Athletic Center to host a rematch against Central Connecticut State University Thursday night (7 p.m.). The game can be heard on WOON 1240 AM and seen live on NECfrontrow.com.

THE SERIES
Thursday's game marks the 22nd matchup 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 13-8 advantage in the all-time series, but the Bulldogs have the most recent victory, taking the first matchup of the season, 69-62, in New Britain, Conn., on Jan. 12. Of the teams' 21 previous matchups, 14 have come at the Division II level (from the 1973-74 season through the 1987-88 campaign), and the Bulldogs are just 2-6 against CCSU in eight Division I meetings. Bryant is 4-7 all-time against the Blue Devils at Derick Gym, beating Central Connecticut on its home court for the first time in the DI era this season, and CCSU owns a 6-4 edge in games played at the Chace Athletic Center.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
Brand new 1,000-point scorer Kyle Vinales leads Central Connecticut, averaging 22.2 points per game on the season to rank fifth in the nation in scoring. Vinales dropped in a career-high 42 points at Wagner a week ago and also leads the Blue Devils with 91 assists. Matt Hunter (16.3 ppg) and Adonis Burbage (11.4) also average double figures while Hunter paces the team on the glass with 7.5 rebounds per outing and boasts an impressive 66 steals on the year. Since starting conference play, though, Brandon Peel has been dominating on the boards, averaging 8.0 per game (5.8 rebounding average). Joe Efese has a team-leading 31 blocks in 2012-13 and converts 54.5 percent from the floor to lead the side in field goal accuracy. As a team, the Blue Devils average 74 points per game and shoot 43.1 percent from the field with a .367 clip from beyond the arc. CCSU enters the game looking to snap a three-game losing streak dating back to Feb. 7 and is 4-5 at home this season.

LAST TIME AGAINST CENTRAL CONNECTICUT (January 12, 2013)
Junior forward Alex Francis scored 26 points, including 20 in the second half, and pulled in a career-high 18 rebounds to post his third double-double of the season the first time these teams met, as Bryant came from behind to take a 69-62 victory over Central Connecticut on the road at Detrick Gym.

The Bulldogs saw four score in double figures, with 14 coming from senior point guard Frankie Dobbs, 11 from sophomore Joe O'Shea and 10 from junior Corey Maynard, while the Blue Devils were paced by 22 points from Kyle Vinales and 20 more from Adonis Burbage.

Trailing by four with 7:18 remaining, the Bulldogs kept the game tight in the second half before using a trey from Dobbs with 5:34 to play to knot the game at 53-53. The visitors needed another trifecta from O'Shea to draw the game even once again, 56-56, as the clock ticked below four minutes, but the Bulldogs would score the next seven points from there – five of them from Francis – for a 63-56 advantage that took the clock down to 1:21. Bryant would convert 6-of-9 from the line in the final 90 seconds, holding on to the seven-point cushion en route to the 69-62 final.

But the score favored Central Connecticut for much of the contest, as turnovers plagued the Bulldogs throughout the first half under tough Blue Devil pressure, allowing the hosts to take a 33-31 edge into the second frame. But just more than three minutes into the final 20 minutes, the Bulldogs took their first lead since the game's opening minutes, 34-33, and CCSU wouldn't get on the board in the second half for more than five minutes, starting out the stanza 0-for-9 from the field.

The Bulldogs would extend their lead to 38-33 with less than 15 minutes remaining, but it would be short lived, as consecutive threes from Burbage and Vinales reclaimed the home team's edge, 39-38, with 13:39 to play. CCSU wouldn't miss much from long range, either, scoring six of its first seven second-frame baskets from 3-point land. But the Blue Devils couldn't get much else to drop in the second half, going 9-for-33 from the floor in the final 20 minutes to limit their lead to no more than five points throughout the stanza.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 9-4 against the Northeast Conference in 2012-13 with a 24-57 record against current league members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current NEC schools, the Bulldog basketball program is 52-111 (.319), having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-42).

QUICK HITS
» Home Sweet Home: Bryant enters the home stretch of the 2012-13 season and, beginning with Thursday's contest  against Central Connecticut, will play four of its final five regular-season games at home in front of a friendly crowd.

» Tough Two: Bryant is coming off back-to-back losses for just the third time this season. The Bulldogs have yet to suffer a losing "streak" in 2012-13 and have exactly two losses in every month of the season so far.

» Out of Favor: With Saturday's loss, the Bulldogs fall out of first place in the Northeast Conference standings for the first time since the beginning of league play. Bryant enters Thursday's tilt a half game back on LIU Brooklyn and Robert Morris, who are tied in the top spot.

» Bazooka Joe: Sophomore transfer Joe O'Shea recorded the best game of his young career last time out on the road against the Seahawks, posting career- and game-best 21 points on a career- and game-high eight made baskets (8-11), while pulling in a career- and game-best eight rebounds.

» 500: With 420 total points and averaging 17.5 points per game entering this week's action, sophomore Dyami Starks is on pace to surpass 500 points on the 2012-13 campaign. If he does hit the mark, it would make him the second Bulldog in as many years to finish the season with over 500 points, after teammate and current junior Alex Francis scored 509 in 2011-12. To accomplish the feat again this season, Francis will have to score just over his yearly average in the final five games, needing 18.2 points each time out (currently at 409). No other Bulldog has scored 500 points in a season in the Division I era.

» He Shoots, He Scores: The Bulldogs have gotten a 20-point scorer in each of the last seven games, most recently a 21-point performance from sophomore Joe O'Shea at Wagner Saturday afternoon. The contest snapped a six-game streak that saw one of Dyami Starks, Alex Francis or Frankie Dobbs score 25 points or more, dating back to Jan. 28.

» Bulldogs Headline NCAA's DI Men's Basketball Most Improved Team List: With a 16-8 overall record entering the final stretch of the regular season, Bryant currently boasts an impressive 17-game difference from last season (2-28) to this one. Next on the list is Towson, with a 15-game differential. 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.

» Playing from Behind: The Bulldogs have trailed at halftime in each of their last two outings, marking just the fifth and sixth time this season the team has been behind at the intermission. Bryant faced a 42-28 halftime deficit against Mount St. Mary's last Thursday night and trailed Wagner, 37-34, Saturday afternoon. Bryant is just 1-5 this season when down after the opening 20 minutes.

» Double-Double: Junior forward Alex Francis put up his sixth double-double of the season and the 22nd of his career on last Thursday with 25 points and 10 rebounds against the Mountaineers. Of his six in 2012-13, four have come in NEC play.

» Winning Ways: Bryant's 16th win of the season, 84-77, Feb. 7 against St. Francis Brooklyn 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.

» 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.

RANKING REIGN COMES TO END
After spending seven-straight weeks ranked in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, the Bulldogs finally fell off the list this week after being swept in back-to-back games on the road. Bryant cracked the prestigious list for the first time in program history on Dec. 31 at No. 25 and followed it up with two weeks at No. 22, three weeks at No. 21 and one week at No. 17, the highest ranking ever for the Black and Gold. Bryant continues to receive votes in the poll this week despite missing the top-25 cut.

YOU SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD
Bryant broke two more Division I records Saturday against Wagner, marking the ninth and 10th new DI marks set in 2012-13. Sophomore Dyami Starks broke the single-season DI record for 3-pointers made and has 73 so far this year (previously 71), while Bryant as a team set a new DI mark for free throws made in a season (354, previously 350). In total, 12 DI records have been 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 assists (13, Frankie Dobbs vs. St. Francis Brooklyn), individual field goal percentage (.917, Alex Francis vs. Mount St. Mary's) and individual rebounds (18, Francis at Central Connecticut). Starks has also tied two more records 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.

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 five 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.

MILESTONE WATCH
Junior guard Corey Maynard is just five boards away from 300 on his career and needs just 20 more assists to hit the 250 mark. Senior point guard Frankie Dobbs has 95 steals on his career and is 43 assists shy of 500 all time, while sophomore transfer Dyami Starks surpassed the 500-point mark on his career in the team's last outing at Wagner (508). Junior forward Alex Francis has a chance to reach 1500-career points this season if the Bulldogs grace postseason play (1361), and he needs just 38 more rebounds to hit 700 on his three-year career.

TWENTY SOMETHINGS
Four Bulldogs have combined to record 20 or more points in a game 22 times this season, including in each of the last seven contests and most recently against Wagner Saturday afternoon. Sophomore transfer Joe O'Shea joined what was previously a trifecta of players to hit the 20-point mark, dumping in a career-best 21 against the Seahawks. Classmate Dyami Starks leads the way with 10 such outings, while junior Alex Francis has eight, including three in the last five games. Senior Frankie Dobbs has also 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 Feb. 7 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.

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game and season ticket packages are still available for the 2012-13 men's and women's basketball seasons. Fans can purchase tickets online at www.bryantbulldogs.com/tickets or by calling the Bryant Athletics Ticket Office at 401-519-TIXX.

CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAME?
Bryant University Athletics and the Northeast Conference have partnered with Pack Network to create NEC Front Row, the home for all NEC men's and women's basketball broadcasts in 2012-13. NEC Front Row brings viewers an industry-leading video streaming solution for more than 100 Bryant University home contests during the 2012-13 athletic seasons, including live, free-of-charge broadcasts of all 15 Bulldog home men's basketball games. Live event productions include multiple camera angles, an on-screen scoreboard and state-of-the-art graphics. Visit www.necfrontrow.com for more information and a schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the fifth-consecutive 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, alongside color analyst Tristan Hobbes.

UP NEXT
Bryant leaves town for the final time in the 2012-13 regular season, heading to Hamden, Conn., for a rematch against league and regional foe Quinnipiac Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2:00 p.m. The Bulldogs topped the Bobcats, 103-95, the last time these teams met.