Bulldogs take on Notre Dame Monday night on ESPNU

FULL GAME NOTES
TV: ESPNU
Watch Online: WatchESPN
Live Stats: und.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday

THE PARTICULARS
The Bryant University men's basketball team continues on in BlackRock Gotham Classic action, traveling to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion Monday night live on ESPNU.

THE SERIES
This is the second time in the last three seasons the Bulldogs have matched up against the Irish on the hardwood. Notre Dame won the series opener, 84-59, back on Nov. 27, 2011.

SCOUTING THE IRISH
Notre Dame enters Monday's matchup receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after being ranked as high as No. 21 in the 2013-14 preseason polls. The Irish score 84.4 points per game through their first eight outings, suffering just two losses on the year (at Iowa, vs. Indiana State). Jerian Grant paces Notre Dame with 19.4 points per contest and shoots a team-leading 56.7 percent from the floor, pacing four double-digit scorers. Garrick Sherman also converts more than half of his shot attempts, averaging 14.6 points per game, while Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton average 13.6 and 12.6 points per outing, respectively. Connaughton and Sherman lead the team on the glass, pulling in 6.8 boards apiece each time out, while both Austin Burgett and Connaughton have eight blocks on the young season. As a team, Notre Dame shoots just better than 50 percent from the field with a 43 percent clip from 3-point range. The Irish pull down 36.1 rebounds per contest.

DID YOU KNOW?
Monday's game will also be televised live throughout Australia on ESPN2. The Bulldogs have four Australians — Corey Maynard, Claybrin McMath, Declan Soukup and Bosko Kostur — on the roster. So what time will tipoff be halfway around the world? Australians in Adelaide (home of Maynard and McMath) can watch at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and those in Melbourne (home of Soukup and Kostur) will tune in at 11:00 a.m.

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. NOTRE DAME
Just three members of the Bulldogs' 16-man roster faced off against the Irish in the teams' last meeting back in 2011. Seniors Alex Francis, Corey Maynard and Claybrin McMath all earned starts in the contest, with Francis picking up 22 points on 10-for-22 shooting (6 rebounds). Maynard chipped in 11 (4-10) and pulled down seven boards, while McMath went 3-for-7 for seven points in the loss.

BRYANT vs. THE ACC
Bryant is 1-5 all-time against current members of the ACC, with its only victory coming last season in a 56-54 topping of Boston College in Chestnut Hill on Nov. 25. Of the Bulldogs' six matchups against the conference, five have come against Boston College with the last coming against the University of Maryland. This is the only ACC matchup for the Bulldogs on the 2013-14 slate.

BRYANT ALL TIME AGAINST ACC MEMBERS
        vs. Boston College (1-4)                  vs. Maryland (0-1)
        November 25, 2012: 56-54 W        December 27, 2008: 72-51 L
        December 18, 2011: 75-55 L
        December 19, 2010: 93-77 L
        December 20, 2009: 72-46 L
        December 10, 2008: 80-61 L

FOR THE 100TH TIME...
Starting forward Alex Francis appeared in his 100th-career game Saturday against the Bison, the most of any player on the Bulldog bench. Classmate and frontcourt counterpart Claybrin McMath needs six more games to join him, while starting point guard Corey Maynard is 12 appearances away from the mark.

DUNK COUNT
The dunk count is on once again in 2013-14, but this time around, there is another who might challenge the reign of senior Alex Francis. Rookie forward Dan Garvin has also gotten some hangtime already this season, with the pair combining for 13 slams in the first nine regular-season contests.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
North Dakota State handed Bryant its first loss at home, first loss of 10 points or less and first loss when holding opponents under 70 points Saturday afternoon.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA rankings, Bryant senior forward Alex Francis currently sits among the top active NCAA Division I players in numerous categories. As of December 8, the senior is ranked fourth in career field goals (currently 624), fifth in career double-doubles (27), seventh in total rebounds (786), eighth in total points (1,636), 12th in career scoring average (16.4 ppg), 16th in free throws made (375), 25th in rebounding average (7.9) and 48th in career field goal percentage (.537). He is one of just five active players to have 1,500 points and 750 rebounds to his name. Francis also ranks 31st in field goal percentage, shooting at a .604 clip so far in 2013-14.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NEC RANKINGS
Bryant senior forward Alex Francis has already cracked the top-50 on the Northeast Conference's career scoring list this season, and he enters Monday's matchup ranked 38th all-time with 1,636 career points — a number that is also good for tops among active players in the conference. Francis also breaks into the league's top-20 all-time for rebounding after Saturday's nine-board performance and is currently tied for 19th with 786. He is one of 13 just players in NEC history to reach 1,500 points and 750 boards in his career, and the New York City product is currently on pace to become the first player in conference history to finish with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Francis currently ranks in the NEC top-10 in scoring (16.2, sixth), rebounding (6.4, third), field goal percentage (.604, first), blocks (1.38, fourth) and minutes played (34.22, second).

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE BRYANT RANKINGS
Senior forward Alex Francis enters Monday's game ranked sixth all-time in the program's career scoring list (1,636 points), and needs just 16 more points to move into the top five, displacing Gregg Cooper (1982-86). He is also currently ranked fifth among the program's all-time career rebounding leaders and ranks in the program's top-10 in scoring average, field goals, field goal percentage, free throws made and rebounding average.

A STARK DIFFERENCE
Bulldog leading scorer Dyami Starks averages 23.4 points per outing this season, a number that ranks eighth in the nation and tops in the league circuit in the latest NCAA and NEC rankings (Dec. 8). Starks already has five 20-point games and a trio of 30-point performances to his name in 2013-14 and sits in the conference's top-10 in free throw percentage (.909, second, 25th nationally), 3-pointers per game (3.13, second, 26th nationally), steals (1.50, tied for fourth) and minutes played (36.50, first, 28th nationally).

BULLDOGS ANNOUNCE FIVE-GAME BROADCAST PARTNERSHIP WITH OSN
With six men's basketball games already scheduled for national TV, Bryant University Athletics announced this week that five more will be featured locally on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network in 2013-14. In partnering with Cox Communications, the Bulldogs bring their exciting brand of basketball into the homes of viewers throughout Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut, as well as across the country with CoxSportsOnline.com. Fans will have the opportunity to witness one of the strongest programs in the state playing in five home games, backed by the best home fans in the Northeast Conference.

All five games will be broadcast LIVE in High Definition on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network and streamed online at coxsportsonline.com and necfrontrow.com. Mike Mancuso will handle the play-by-play duties and Chris Disano will serve as the color analyst. The five-game package kicks osff on Saturday, Dec. 14 as the Black and Gold host Navy at 12:30 p.m.

Bryant Basketball on OSN
Dec. 14 vs. Navy (12:30 p.m.)        Dec. 30 vs. Lehigh (7 p.m.)    Jan. 16 vs. Sacred Heart (7 p.m.)
Jan. 25 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (1:00 p.m.)    Feb. 22 vs. Central Connecticut (4:00 p.m.)

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. In the team's first eight games against Division I opponents, four Bulldog starters — juniors Dyami Starks and Joe O'Shea and seniors Alex Francis and Corey Maynard — are responsible for more than 83 percent of Bryant's total scoring (484 of 582 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 87 points so far this season. Leading the way with 187 points, Starks alone accounts for more than 33 percent of the team's total offense.

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 1,636 points and 786 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 16.5 points per game and 9.7 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.

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 Monday's contest with 823 career points, 88 of those coming during his freshman campaign at Columbia (2010-11). Starks will need to average just 8.0 points per game — well below both his Bryant (18.8) and career (13.9) scoring averages — to eclipse the milestone by the end of the 2013-14 regular season.

PULLING RANK
The Nov. 9 opener against Gonzaga and Wednesday night's bout against a Harvard side receiving votes in both national polls aren't Bryant's only contests against nationally ranked opponents this season. The Bulldogs feature two more games against teams that appear in this week's national polls. Bryant will participate in the Gotham Classic throughout the month of December, an in-season tournament that will pit the Black and Gold against Notre Dame and No. 5 Ohio State in a three-day span. The Bulldogs travel to South Bend on Dec. 9 to play the Fighting Irish for the second time in three years live on ESPNU and will continue the road trip into Columbus, Ohio Dec. 11 to face the Buckeyes on the Big Ten Network. The contests are part of a stretch that will see Bryant play four games in eight days.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT?
The Bryant men's basketball team will be featured in live national and regional broadcasts 11 times throughout the 2013-14 season. The Bulldogs will see air time on ESPNU at Notre Dame on Dec. 9 and at Robert Morris Jan. 30 (also on ESPN3). The Big Ten Network will carry Bryant's Dec. 11 game at Ohio State, while NEC road matchups against LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 23 (MSG+, Fox College Sports and Cox) and Wagner Feb. 16 (CBS Sports Network) will also air nationally. Bryant's season opener against No. 15 Gonzaga was broacast live on KHQ/Root Sports. Bryant will air five additional home games on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network throughout Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut — Dec. 14 vs. Navy (12:30 p.m.), Dec. 30 vs. Lehigh (7 p.m.), Jan. 16 vs. Sacred Heart (7 p.m.), Jan. 25 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (1:00 p.m.) and Feb. 22 vs. Central Connecticut (4:00 p.m.).

UP NEXT: BLACK ROCK GOTHAM CLASSIC CONTINUES
The Bulldogs stay in the Midwest and will have a quick turnaround to their next contest, as the 2013 BlackRock Gotham Classic continues with a Wednesday night matchup against No. 5 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio (7:30 p.m.). After a Dec. 14 home game against Navy, the Black and Gold will wrap up Gotham Classic play against the University of Delaware at Madison Square Garden on December 21. Fans can watch the Bulldogs' next two games on live national and regional broadcasts. Bryant plays Ohio State on the Big Ten Network and Navy on COX Sports.