Bulldogs jumpstart NEC home slate vs. SFU Thursday

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team looks to get back in the win column as it opens a three-game homestand Thursday night with a 7:00 p.m. bout against Saint Francis University. Thursday's game can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com and heard on WOON 1240 AM.

THE SERIES
Thursday's game marks the 10th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Red Flash, with Bryant holding a 6-3 edge after a series split last season. But Saint Francis has the most recent and most significant win in the series, taking down the third-seeded Bulldogs in the 2014 NEC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Chace Athletic Center on March 5.

SCOUTING THE RED FLASH
Saint Francis U. features a pair of double-digit scorers in preseason all-conference pick Earl Brown (15.8) and Malik Harmon (10.1). Brown, who is second on the team on the glass with 6.8 boards per outing, is the team's most accurate shooter at 55.5 percent from the floor (81-146) and leads the Red Flash on the block (7). Ronnie Drinnon is the team's rebounding leader at 7.2 per contest (7.7 ppg), while Greg Brown has dished out a side-leading 41 assists while shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from long range. As a team, Saint Francis U. shoots at a .454 clip and averages 65.9 points and 31.4 rebounds each time out.

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. SAINT FRANCIS U.
Six current Bulldogs have seen action against the Red Flash in their careers, with five of them facing off against Saint Francis more than once. Senior sharpshooter Dyami Starks averages 16.8 points per game in four career outings against the Red Flash, including a side-best 19 in last season's NEC Quarterfinal. He has shot well against the Saint Francis defense, converting 46 percent from both the floor (23-50) and from distance (11-24). Senior guard Joe O'Shea averages 8.8 points per outing with a 44 percent shooting clip, also over four contests, while junior point guard Shane McLaughlin scored 15 points in a pair of games last season and has appeared against the Red Flash four times (13 assists). Junior Curtis Oakley, sophomore Dan Garvin and sophomore Andrew Scocca have also seen limited action against Saint Francis in their careers. Current Bulldogs are shooting a lifetime .465 (46-99) against the Red Flash.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 1-1 against the Northeast Conference in 2014-15 with a 32-57 record (.360) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 46-74 (.383). Bryant finished 2013-14 NEC play with a 10-6 league record, earning the No. 3 seed in the 2014 NEC Tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs remain at home for a Saturday afternoon tilt against Fairleigh Dickinson University (4:00 p.m.). The game is the second half of a men's/women's NEC doubleheader and can be seen live and free-of-charge at NECFrontRow.com and heard on WOON 1240 AM.

LONGING FOR THE LONG BALL
Despite a season-long 3-point shooting percentage of .326, the Bulldogs have struggled from the perimeter as of late, converting just 20 percent of its long range shots over the last three games. Bryant averaged a top 50-ranked 8.5 treys per game through the season's opening eight contests, but have gone just 11-of-55 from beyond the arc since Dec. 31, averaging only 3.7 over the last three tilts.

REGULAR JOE
Senior Joe O'Shea has been a bright spot for the Bulldogs over the last three contests, averaging 12.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game to up his season averages to 7.6 and 5.6, respectively. The guard has registered double-digit points twice in that span and pulled in a game-best 10 rebounds Monday against St. Francis Brooklyn, tying his career high while recording the first double-digit rebounding game for any Bryant player this season. Since Dec. 31, O'Shea is shooting 50 percent from the floor (14-28) and is a perfect 9-for-9 from the line.

A STARK CONTRAST
Conversely, co-captain and leading scorer Dyami Starks has not been as hot as of late, averaging just 13.3 points per game over the last three contests after scoring 19.8 in the first eight of the season. More notably, the senior guard has cooled off from beyond the arc, dropping his accuracy from 40.7 percent (33-81) in the opening eight to just 27.8 percent (5-18) since Dec. 31. Starks was limited to just five points Monday against league-favorite St. Francis Brooklyn, marking only the eighth time in his 72-game Bryant career the sharpshooter was held to single-figure scoring and the first time since Dec. 28, 2013 (6 at Binghamton).

FACTS ABOUT 50
For the third time this season, the Bulldogs scored less than 50 points in a game Jan. 5 at St. Francis Brooklyn. However, unlike the last time — a 48-46 win at Denver — the Black and Gold would not come out the other side unscathed. Bryant is now 1-2 this season when scoring fewer than 50 points, having also lost a 73-47 decision at Vermont earlier in the 2014-15 campaign. Prior to this season, the Bulldogs hadn't scored 50 points or fewer in a game since Dec. 11, 2013 (86-48 loss at No. 3 Ohio State).

Bryant has held Division I opponents to 50 points or fewer five times and are 4-1 in the scenario, with the last such victory (prior that against the Pioneers) coming back on Feb. 17, 2009 (70-46 win vs. NJIT at home). The Bulldogs' win over Denver marked the first time in Division I program history that Bryant has scored 50 points or fewer and won, and also marked the first time that both teams have scored fewer than 50 points in a contest.

THE STATS ON STARKS
The second-leading scorer in the NEC and the team's leading scorer in 9-of-11 contests, senior guard Dyami Starks enters Thursday's game ranked 47th in the nation at 18.0 points per game. Though he has struggled as of late, a big part of his scoring prowess comes from his deadliness beyond the arc, from which the senior captain accounts for nearly 58 percent (114) of his 198 points this season. Starks currently sits ninth in the national rankings for threes per game, draining 3.45 each time out. He also ranks 17th in minutes per game (36:43, 2nd in NEC) and 66th in 3-point percentage (.384, 2nd in NEC). He needs just two points against Saint Francis U. to reach 200 just 12 games into the 2014-15 season.

HOLD ON TIGHT
As a team, the Bulldogs currently rank fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers, giving the ball away just 127 times. They rank 50th in the country and tops in the NEC with an 11.5 per-game average.

STARKS DRAINS 200TH TRIPLE, CLIMBS NEC'S ALL-TIME RANKINGS
Bryant senior guard Dyami Starks landed on some round numbers in early December when he became the 50th player in NEC history to reach 200 career 3-pointers. He hit the mark in a seven-point setback to Yale on Dec. 3, making 5-of-6 from beyond the arc to finish with a game-high 23 points. With 221 trifectas over the course of his career at Bryant (three seasons), Starks sits 26th in the conference's all-time rankings. To reach the top-20 by year's end, the Minnesota native would need to hit just 18 more treys. Already, Starks is Bryant's Division I leader in threes and ranks tied for fifth on the all-time list. Including his rookie season at Columbia, Starks now has 240 career trifectas.

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game ticket packages are still available for the 2014-15 Bryant University men's and women's basketball seasons. Tickets can be purchased 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. NEC Front Row brings viewers an industry-leading video streaming solution for more than 100 Bryant University home contests during the 2014-15 athletic seasons, including live, free-of-charge, high-definition broadcasts of all Bulldog home men's basketball games. Live event productions include multiple camera angles, an on-screen scoreboard, state-of-the-art graphics and brand-new DVR functionality. Visit necfrontrow.com for more information and a schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the seventh 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.