Bryant rounds out non-conference action Monday at Pitt; Watch live on ESPN3 (7:00 p.m.)

GAME NOTES

PITTSBURGH -- The Bryant University men's basketball team plays its third game in the last five days Monday, taking on first-time ACC opponent the University of Pittsburgh at the Petersen Events Center on ESPN3 (7:00 p.m.).

THE SERIES
This is the first time the Bulldogs and the Panthers have met on the hardwood.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Though just 4-5 in the ACC, Pitt enters Monday's tilt off its biggest win of the season in a 76-72 home victory over No. 8 Notre Dame Saturday. Michael Young leads a trio of Pitt players to average double figures, contributing 13.3 points per game with a team-leading 7.7 boards per outing. The sophomore is also the Panthers' most accurate option from the floor at 51.7 percent (109-211). Jamel Artis (11.5 ppg) and James Robinson (10.4) are two of the team's top options from 3-point land, while Chris Jones (8.9 ppg) has converted a team-best 25 from beyond the arc. Robinson leads the side in dimes, averaging just under five assists per game, while Cameron Wright adds 1.5 steals per outing to his 9.5 points per contest. Artis is the team's top free throw shooter at 86.2 percent, also pulling a 5.5 boards per outing. As a unit, the Panthers shoot at a 44.3 percent clip with 33 percent accuracy from long range. They pull down 34.5 rebounds each time out and allow opponents just 64.4 points per game despite limiting competition to just .441 shooting from the floor (34.6 percent from 3-point range).

BRYANT vs. THE ACC
Bryant is 1-7 all-time against current members of the ACC, with its only victory coming during the 2012-13 campaign in a 56-54 topping of Boston College in Chestnut Hill. Of the Bulldogs' eight matchups against the conference, five have come against Boston College with two more against Notre Dame and one against the University of Maryland. This is the only ACC matchup for the Bulldogs on the 2014-15 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            vs. Notre Dame (0-2)
December 20, 2009: 72-46 L            November 27, 2011: 84-59 L
December 10, 2008: 80-61 L            December 9, 2013: 70-59 L

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 7-3 in Northeast Conference play in 2014-15 and sport a 38-59 record (.392) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 52-76 (.406). Entering this week's action, Bryant sits tied for second in the NEC standings, one game behind league leader and preseason favorite St. Francis Brooklyn.

JUICED JANUARY
The Bulldogs will be playing their third game in five days Monday against the Panthers and played at a breakneck pace through the month of January, competing 11 times in 31 days (7-4).

OH DANNY BOY
Sophomore forward Dan Garvin has been stellar for the Bulldogs since the start of NEC play, with no performance more impressive than his career-high 21 points Saturday in a 71-68 win at Robert Morris. The Bethel, Conn., native went 9-for-10 from the field in a season-high 38 minutes, also pulling in seven rebounds. The game marked his second-career 20-point outing and was also his second in the last eight days. Since January 10 (8 games), Garvin is averaging 13.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game with three double-doubles, two 20-point games and a .549 shooting clip (39-71). He is also 29-of-37 from the line in that span while leading the team in blocks (9) and steals (11). Garvin picked up double-doubles against Sacred Heart Jan. 24 (20p, 13r), at Central Connecticut Jan. 17 (15p, 11r) and vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Jan. 10 (16p, 18r). His 18 boards against the Knights are tied for the most in the NEC this year and marked the highest total by a Bulldog since Alex Francis ('14) recorded 18 at CCSU on January 12, 2013. Saturday's career-high 21 points against the Colonials marked the second time Garvin has led the Bulldogs in scoring and the 12th time this season (21st time in his career) the bigman has led his team on the glass.

ON A DIME
Junior point guard Shane McLaughlin also had a strong game against the Colonials last time out, dishing out a career-high and game-leading nine dimes while pulling down a team-best seven rebounds. The New Jersey native added 10 points to his afternoon, including 2-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc, and picked up the first block of his career. On the season, McLaughlin is averaging 4.1 assists per game.

FREE (THROWS) FALLING
Bryant set a new Division I single-game program record Saturday from the free throw line, dropping in 11-of-12 for a 91.7 percent clip. The last time the Bulldogs shot better than 90 percent (min. 10) from the charity stripe was back on Dec. 22, 2012, when the team went 19-of-21 against Dartmouth.

THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER
After a breakout night from redshirt-freshman Bosko Kostur Thursday night against Saint Francis U., the Melbourne, Australia resident earned the first start of his young career Saturday against Robert Morris. Kostur exploded for new career highs in points (18), rebounds (7), assists (3), field goals (7), field goals attempted (12) and minutes (32) while tying his career mark at the free throw line (3-4) against the Red Flash despite a Bulldog loss, and the combo guard followed that performance with 11 points (4-8) and three boards in a win over the Colonials two days later. The consective outings marked just the second and third double-digit point performances of his career and the first two against Division I competition. Kostur entered Thursday's contest having averaged just 2.1 points, 0.9 rebounds and 5.5 minutes per game in 10 appearances in 2014-15.

REGULAR JOE
Senior captain Joe O'Shea has been on fire for the Bulldogs since the start of 2015 and averaged 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in January (11 games) while shooting 51 percent from the floor (51-100) and 41.5 percent from long distance (17-41). The guard registered double-digit points seven times in January and nine times in the last 14 games, surpassing 20 points in a contest twice (career-high 21 points in both games against Saint Francis U.). O'Shea picked up just the second double-double of his career Jan. 22 in a win over LIU Brooklyn, including pulling down a career-high 12 rebounds (15 points). He has recorded 19 points or more four times since the start of NEC play and averages 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in league action.

STARKS ENTERS NEC'S ALL-TIME TOP-20
After becoming the 50th player in NEC history to reach 200 career 3-pointers back on Dec. 3, senior guard Dyami Starks has been working his way up the league's all-time list, officially joining the top-20 Thursday night against Saint Francis U. (Jan. 29). Two more treys Saturday against Robert Morris move him past Kyle Johnson (LIU Brooklyn '11) and into a tie for 18th in the all-time rankings with 242 trifectas over the course of his career at Bryant (2+ seasons). To reach the top-10, the Minnesota native — who currently averages three triples per game — needs to hit 28 more treys. Already, Starks is Bryant's Division I leader in threes, and the senior moved into fourth on the program's all-time list on Jan. 20. Including his rookie season at Columbia, Starks now has 261 career trifectas.

ALL ABOARD
For just the second time this season, the Bulldogs outrebounded their opponent but lost Thursday night at Saint Francis U. Bryant won the battle on the glass, 37-28, and averaged over five more rebounds per game in January (35.5) than it had through the first two months of the season (30.3). The Black and Gold pulled in 40 or more rebounds three times in the month, including a season-high 45 at LIU Brooklyn to open NEC play on Jan. 3 — just one shy of tying the DI program mark and the most in a game since Feb. 24, 2011 (46 at LIU Brooklyn). After edging the Colonials on the glass Saturday, 31-30, the Black and Gold are now 9-2 this season when winning the margin on the glass.

SHOOTING PROFILE
The Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent four times in January, including posting a 54 percent clip Saturday against RMU, and are 5-0 on the season when hitting the mark. Conversely, Bryant's 73-60 win over FDU Jan. 10 marked the first time this season the Bulldogs have shot less than 40 percent from the field (.392) and come away with the victory. Bryant is now 1-9 when shooting below .400 but is 9-1 when converting at least 40 percent of its shots.

UP NEXT: COUNT TO THE MOUNT
The Bulldogs return home Thursday, Feb. 5 to host one of the biggest games ever at the Chace Athletic Center, as Bryant welcomes defending Northeast Conference champ Mount St. Mary's to Smithfield for its first-ever nationally televised home game. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will air live on ESPNU.