Bulldogs travel to UNH Sunday at 1p

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

THE PARTICULARS
The Bryant University men's basketball team remains on the road, travelling to Durham, N.H., for a Sunday matchup against the University of New Hampshire. Sunday's tip is slated for 1:00 p.m.

THE SERIES
The Bulldogs and the Wildcats have faced off on the hardwood once before, with Bryant taking a 76-64 victory in Smithfield, R.I. last season.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Chris Pelcher and Patrick Konan pace the UNH offense, each averaging 16.3 points per game, while the former averages a double-double with a team-best 13.0 boards per outing. Pelcher also leads the team in field goal percentage (.628) and blocks (9) over the first four contests, which have seen the Wildcats top Suffolk and Duquesne before falling to NJIT and, most recently, at Marquette, 58-53. Jordon Bronner (11.3) and Daniel Dion (10.8) also average double-figure scoring for UNH, who averages 73.5 points per game as a team and limits opponents to 70 points each time out. As a unit, the Wilcats are shooting 45.7 percent from the floor with a 38.4 percent clip from long range but have struggled from the charity stripe, converting just under 63 percent of their 70 tries. UNH boasts a rebounding margin of +8.3 and pulls in an average of 41.2 boards per contest. However, the Wildcats also average more than 14 turnovers per game and have just 13 steals on the season.

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. THE WILDCATS
Half of Bryant's 16 current players faced UNH last season at the Chace Athletic Center, accounting for 58 of the 76 points scored by the Black and Gold in the victory. Now-senior forward Alex Francis led the charge, scoring a game-high 23 points while junior Dyami Starks added 17. The eight Bulldogs who appeared in last season's faceoff are shooting a combined 54.8 percent (23-42) from the field witha 5-for-15 mark from downtown and a .700 clip (7-10) from the free throw line.

BRYANT vs. THE AMERICA EAST
Sunday's matchup marks the second of three contests against members of the America East in 2013-14 after the Bulldogs defeated the University of Vermont, 87-64, in the team's home opener Nov. 16. Bryant enters the game 3-2 against the conference at the Division I level and 5-2 against current America East Conference members all time. In total, Bryant has met up with Binghamton (3-0), New Hampshire (1-0), Vermont (1-0) and Albany (0-2) since the 2000-01 season.

LUCKY NO. 13
Just 11 days after picking up th 1500th point of his career, senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another milestone Wednesday night, pulling in his 750th career rebound. In doing so, Francis became just the 13th player in Northeast Conference history to reach 1,500 points and 750 boards in his career. Francis, who has amassed 1,557 points and 753 rebounds so far in his three-plus years donning the Black and Gold, joins select company, including NEC Hall of Famers Rik Smits and Desi Wilson.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
In what has already been a season filled with milestones, senior forward Alex Francis has one more historic height to reach. With 1557 points and 753 rebounds, Francis has the potential to become the first player in NEC history to score 2,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds in a career. An All-NEC First Teamer last season and unanimous Preseason All-NEC pick, he will need to average 16.4 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per outing to hit those marks before the conclusion of the regular season.

A former NEC Rookie of the Year and potential Player of the Year candidate this season, Francis has boasted back-to-back 500-point campaigns, but will need to post a career season on the glass (272) to be the first to hit historic mark. Currently, Francis is the NEC's active scoring leader and ranks second in career rebounds among all active players on the league circuit. He Sunday's contest 52nd on the Northeast Conference all-time career scoring list and 25th in the league's all-time career rebounding rankings. The senior also currently ranks seventh in the Bryant record books for total points and fifth for total career rebounds.

GIMME MORE GARVIN
Rookie Dan Garvin had a breakout game against the Crimson last time out, seeing his first significant minutes in a Bulldogs uniform en route to scoring 13 points while going 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the stripe. One of the team's most athletic players, the young forward saw a career-best 24 minutes of floor time and complimented his frontcourt counterpart Alex Francis well. Garvin also paced the team with six rebounds and three steals while posting three of the side's five blocks.

STARKS STRUGGLED AGAINST CRIMSON
After scoring 30 or more in each of his first three games and despite entering Wednesday's outing as the nation's leading scorer, junior guard Dyami Starks struggled not only to make shots, but also to create them against a big and tough Harvard side. Starks was limited to just 1-for-4 shooting through the opening 15 minutes of the contest and finished the first half with only seven points (3-7). He finished the game with 11, scoring his final four points from the free throw line in the second half.

DYAMI STILL DYNAMITE
While Dyami Starks no longer leads the nation in the category, his 27.8 points per game still pace the Northeast Conference and only drop the junior sharpshooter to sixth in the country when it comes to scoring offense.

LEADER OF THE PACK
In addition to Alex Francis's top rankings on the NEC active lists (see History in the Making above), senior guard Corey Maynard also makes an appearance among the league's active leaders in both rebounding and assists. With 349 career boards and 264 career dimes, Maynard entered the week ranked seventh and fifth on the active leader lists, respectively.

A CONCENTRATED EFFORT
The Bulldogs have certainly added depth in 2013-14, but the Bryant bench has just started to prove it on the scoreboard. Through the season's first four games, four Bulldog starters — juniors Dyami Starks and Joe O'Shea and seniors Alex Francis and Corey Maynard — are responsible for more than 80 percent of Bryant's total scoring (257 of 318 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 61 points so far this season, a number that nearly doubled after Wednesday night when the bench scored 24 of the team's 68 points. Leading the way with 111 points already, Starks alone accounts nearly 35 percent of the team's total offense.

1,000 REASONS...
After leading the Bulldogs in nearly every offensive statistic and setting the program's Division I mark for points in a season last year, junior sharpshooter Dyami Starks could become the third player in a two-year span to join the 1,000-point club. He enters Sunday's contest with 747 career points, 88 of those coming during his freshman campaign at Columbia (2010-11). Starks will need to average just 9.4 points per game — well below both his Bryant (18.8) and career (13.6) scoring averages — to eclipse the milestone by the end of the 2013-14 regular season.

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game and season ticket packages are still available for the 2013-14 Bryant University men's and women's basketball seasons. Fans can purchase tickets online at bryantbulldogs.com/tickets or by calling the Bryant Athletics Ticket Office at 401-319-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 2013-14. NEC Front Row brings viewers an industry-leading video streaming solution for more than 100 Bryant University home contests during the 2013-14 athletic seasons, including live, free-of-charge broadcasts of all Bulldog home and in-conference road men's basketball games. Live event productions include multiple camera angles, an on-screen scoreboard and state-of-the-art graphics. Visit necfrontrow.com for more information and a schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the sixth-consecutive season, all Bryant University basketball home games and select road contests can be heard LIVE on WOON 1240 AM and online at bryantbulldogs.com. 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 returns home for pre- and post-Thanksgiving matchups at the Chace Athletic Center against intrastate opponents. The Bulldogs welcome rival Brown to Smithfield Wednesday afternoon (4 p.m.) and return to the hardwood against Salve Regina Saturday, Nov. 30 (1 p.m.).