Bryant hosts Salve Regina Saturday at 1p

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

THE PARTICULARS
The Bryant University men's basketball team goes outside the Division I ranks for the only time this season and will host Ocean State opponent Salve Regina University Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center.

THE SERIES
This is the first regular-season meeting between Bryant and Salve Regina.

SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS
Barrett Hanlon and Patrick Dinneen pace Salve Regina with 18.8 and 15.8 points per game, respectively, and the Seahawks average 69.8 points per outing as a team on their 4-0 start. Jeff Bielefeld (8.8 ppg) leads the squad on the glass, pulling down 7.3 boards per game. All three are shooting better than 50 percent from the field, led by a 56 percent clip from Bielefeld. As a team, Salve Regina is shooting 46.4 percent from the floor and 35.4 percent from 3-point land with 72.7 percent accuracy from the free throw line. The Seahawks average 38.5 rebounds per contest and have wins over Johnson & Wales, Connecticut College, Wheaton and Coast Guard this season.

OH DANNY BOY
Rookie Dan Garvin had a career performance Wednesday against Ocean State foe Brown, picking up the first double-double of his career with 10 points and a career-best 10 rebounds. Garvin went 2-for-4 from long range in the victory — the first treys of his collegiate career — and saw a career-high 25 minutes of floor time. One of the team's most athletic players, Garvin currently averages 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game with four blocks and four steals on the year.

SHOOTING GALLERY
The Bulldogs outshot their opponents for the first time in six games this season, outfiring intrastate rival Brown, 68-57, Wednesday afternoon in a 70-67 win. Prior to the team's last outing, Bryant had been outshot by their competition in five-straight games, with the biggest shot discrepancy coming at UNH Nov. 24, 66-42, despite the Black and Gold coming away with the victory.

NICE NOVEMBER
With Wednesday's 70-67 win over Brown, the Bulldogs secured a winning record in the month's opening season. Bryant enters Saturday's contest against Salve Regina — the final game of the month — with a 4-2 record.

FRANCIS, STARKS AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
Entering the week, Bryant boasts two players with numbers among the nation's elite. Senior forward Alex Francis leads the NEC in individual shooting percentage with a 64.4 percent clip and ranked 13th in Division I as of Monday. Meanwhile, junior sharpshooter Dyami Starks entered the week in the nation's top-10 for scoring, but fell to second in the NEC with 23.2 points per contest. Starks also ranks in the top 50 in 3-pointers made (37th) and minutes played (37th) and paces the NEC in the latter.

LUCKY NO. 13
Just 11 days after picking up th 1500th point of his career, senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another milestone November 20, 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 1,573 points and 763 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 1595 points and 768 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 16.2 points per game and 9.3 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 enters the week ranked 51st on the Northeast Conference all-time career scoring list and 24th in the league's all-time career rebounding rankings. The senior also entered the week ranking seventh in the Bryant record books for total points and fifth for total career rebounds.

KEEPING ACTIVE
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 356 career boards and 267 career dimes, Maynard entered the week ranked seventh and sixth 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 six 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 (361 of 448 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 76 points so far this season. Leading the way with 139 points, Starks alone accounts for more than 30 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 Saturday's contest with 775 career points, 88 of those coming during his freshman campaign at Columbia (2010-11). Starks will need to average just 9.0 points per game — well below both his Bryant (18.8) and career (13.7) 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
The Bulldogs travel to nearby New Haven, Conn., on Dec. 4 for the last of four contests against Ivy League opponents in 2013-14. Bryant will clash with Yale at 7:30 p.m.