Bryant ready to face Lehigh at home Monday

FULL GAME NOTES
TV: Ocean State Network
Watch: NECfrontrow.com / CoxSportsOnline.com
Listen: WOON 1240 AM
Live Stats: bryantbulldogs.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday

THE PARTICULARS
Bryant returns home to take on perennial Patriot League challenger Lehigh University on just one day's rest Monday night at the Chace Athletic Center. The 7:00 p.m. tipoff will be carried live on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network.

THE SERIES
This is the fourth-straight season the Bulldogs and the Mountain Hawks have faced off on the hardwood, with Lehigh leading the series, 2-1. It is Bryant, however, who has drawn blood most recently, upsetting heavily favored Lehigh at Stabler Arena last season, 80-79, on a  last-second coast-to-coast layup by now-graduated point guard Frankie Dobbs. The Mountain Hawks won each of the previous two meetings by double digits.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
Mackey McKnight and Tim Kempton pace Lehigh with 13.8 and 13.3 points per game, respectively, and are two of four 12-game starters. Corey Schaefer (10.1 ppg) and Jesse Chuku (9.3 ppg) have also started every outing. The latter leads the Mountain Hawks on the glass with 6.8 rebounds each time out and has a team-leading 18 blocks in 2013-14. Austin Price has started seven of the team's 12 contests and rounds out the double-figure scorers at 10.4 points per game. McKnight dishes out 5.8 helpers per outing and leads the side with 24 steals. As a unit, the Mountain Hawks are shooting 44.9 percent and limiting opponents to 41 percent accuracy from the floor.

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. LEHIGH
Six current Bulldogs have faced the Mountain Hawks over the last three seasons, but only two — seniors Alex Francis and Claybrin McMath — have been on the court for all three series matchups. Francis averages 15.7 points per game in three tries against Lehigh, topping out at 21 points in last season's victory. He shoots 47.6 percent (20-42) against Monday night's opponent with 9.3 boards per outing. The 2013-14 roster still holds the contributors of 61 of the 80 points scored last time these teams met.

BRYANT vs. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
Bryant enters Monday's matchup 3-9 against current Patriot League members in its short Division I history after topping Navy in overtime earlier this month at home, 90-80. Bryant's previous victories over the conference came last December in a win over Army at home Dec. 1, 70-59, and last season's upset stunner over Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., on Dec. 29, 80-79. Six of Bryant's 12 all-time tilts against Patriot League constituents have come against the Black Knights (1-5), with three more coming against Lehigh (1-2), two against Navy (1-1) and one against Bucknell (0-1). Monday's game marks the last of two Patriot League matchups for the Bulldogs not just this year, but this month.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
For the first time this season, two Bulldogs registered double-doubles in the same contest Saturday afternoon at Binghamton. Despite the loss, starting forwards Alex Francis and Dan Garvin each pulled in 10 rebounds while scoring a team-leading 15 and 13 points, respectively. The last time two Bryant players recorded double-doubles in the same game was March 2, 2013, when Francis (19 points, 12 rebounds) and now-graduated Vlad Kondratyev (10p, 10r) did so against the Red Flash at home. Francis, a senior, now has 28 double-doubles on his career while Garvin, a rookie, has three.

OH DANNY BOY
Freshman forward Dan Garvin has been impressive since breaking into the starting lineup three games ago. The rookie averages a double-double — 11.7 points and 10.7 rebounds — over the last three outings and has posted a pair of double-doubles in that span (12p, 14r vs. Navy; 13p, 10r at Binghamton). Since Dec. 14, Garvin has amassed eight blocks, three steals, 32 boards and a .609 shooting percentage (14-23).

STARKS EARNS THIRD CHOICE HOTELS/NEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
For the third time this season, Bryant University junior guard Dyami Starks has been named the Choice Hotels/Northeast Conference Player of the Week. Starks shined under the bright lights of the World's Most Famous Arena, displaying a flair for the dramatic and penchant for long distance bombing Dec. 21 when Bulldog faithful took over Madison Square Garden against University of Delaware in the BlackRock Gotham Classic finale.

Starks, who was also named the College Sports Madness NEC Player of the Week, matched his career high and posted a game-best 35 points, highlighted by a remarkable 8-for-9 shooting performance from long range despite a 108-107 overtime setback to a Blue Hen team expected to contend for the CAA title. He also added a season-high eight rebounds and three assists. Starks hit back-to-back 3-pointers to twice regain the lead for the Bulldogs in the latter stages of the contest, then assisted on an Alex Francis layup with 0.8 seconds remaining that sent the game to overtime. The MSG outing marked his NEC-high fourth 30-point game of the season, and he set a new personal-best and a Division I program record for single-game triples. His eight trifectas also tied for the NEC single-game high this season.

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, including two slams last time out, with the pair combining for 21 dunks in 14 regular-season contests.

FOR THE 100TH TIME...
Starting forward Alex Francis appeared in his 100th-career game Dec. 7 against North Dakota State, the most of any player on the Bulldog bench. Should classmate and frontcourt counterpart Claybrin McMath appear in Monday's game against Lehigh, he would join Francis with 100 games under his belt. Starting point guard Corey Maynard is just eight appearances away from the benchmark.

GIMME A BREAK
After playing five games in 11 days from Dec. 4-14, the Bulldogs will hit the hardwood just three times from Dec. 15 through Jan. 8 (25 days).

A CONCENTRATED EFFORT
The Bulldogs have certainly added depth in 2013-14, but the Bryant bench has yet to prove it on the scoreboard. Against Division I opponents this season, just four Bulldog starters — juniors Dyami Starks and Joe O'Shea and seniors Alex Francis and Corey Maynard — are responsible for nearly 83 percent of Bryant's total scoring (783 of 948 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 131 points so far this season (13.8 percent). Leading the way with 279 points, Starks alone accounts for nearly 30 percent of the team's total offense.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE BRYANT RANKINGS
With the season's first half winding down, senior forward Alex Francis is already seated among the greatest scorers and rebounders the program has ever seen. He moves up to No. 4 on the all-time scoring list after Saturday's 15-point performance and enters Monday's contest with 1,728 career points — just 27 points away from displacing No. 3 on the list, John Williams (1,754 points). Francis also sits in fourth among the program's all-time top career rebounding leaders and needs just eight more to take sole possession of No. 3 on that list. Francis ranks in the program's top-10 in scoring average, field goals, field goal percentage, free throws made and rebounding average as well.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NEC RANKINGS
Bryant senior forward Alex Francis continues to rocket up the NEC career scoring chart and enters Monday action with 1,728 points, tops among active players in the conference and 22nd all-time. He could enter the top-20 in his next game, needing only four points to pass both Quinnipiac's James Johnson (1,729) and CCSU's Corsley Edwards (1,731).

Francis is also 18th on the league's all-time rebounding list and has pulled down 821 in his career. He is one of 13 players in NEC history to reach 1,500 points and 750 rebounds, and just five players in the league annals to reach 1,700 points and 800 boards in his career. The New York City product has a chance 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 (17.0, sixth), rebounding (6.6, third), field goal percentage (.562, first), blocks (0.93, 10th) and minutes played (36.00, second).

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 22, the senior is ranked third in career field goals (currently 657), fifth in career double-doubles (28), seventh in total rebounds (821), eighth in total points (1,728), 12th in career scoring average (16.5 ppg), 14th in free throws made (401) and 26th in rebounding average (7.8). He is one of just five active players to have 1,500 points and 750 rebounds to his name. Francis also ranks 50th in field goal percentage this season, shooting at a .562 clip so far in 2013-14.

A STARK DIFFERENCE
Bulldog leading scorer Dyami Starks averages 21.5 points per outing and 3.46 triples per game this season, ranking 11th and ninth in the nation, respectively, and tops in the league circuit in both categories in the latest NCAA (Dec. 23) and NEC (Dec. 28) rankings. Starks already has seven 20-point games and a quartet of 30-point performances to his name in 2013-14 and also sits in the conference's top-10 in free throw percentage (.877, first, 53rd nationally), steals (1.15, T-10th) and minutes played (35.77, third, 21st nationally).

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 against Lehigh with 915 career points, 88 of those coming during his freshman campaign at Columbia (2010-11). Starks will need to average just five points per game — well below both his Bryant and career scoring averages — to eclipse the milestone by the end of the 2013-14 regular season.

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.).

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 has more than a week off before opening 2014 action and Northeast Conference play on Thursday, Jan. 9 against Saint Francis U. at home at the Chace (7 p.m.).