Bryant hosts CCSU Thursday with home court advantage on the line (7p)

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team enters the final week of the 2014-15 regular season and will host a rematch against Central Connecticut State University at the Chace Athletic Center Thursday night (7:00 p.m.). The Bulldogs need a victory in one of their final two contests to guarantee home court advantage in the NEC Quarterfinals. Thursday's game can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com and heard locally on WOON 1240AM.

THE SERIES
Thursday marks the 26th meeting between the Bulldogs and the Blue Devils, with Central Connecticut holding a slight 13-12 advantage in the all-time series. Bryant enters the latest showdown riding a five-game winning streak against CCSU dating back to the 2012-13 season, and the series is currently tied in games played at the Chace Athletic Center, 6-6.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
Despite being eliminated from 2015 postseason play, CCSU can still play spoiler. The Blue Devils enter the tilt having swept last week's action and are led by one of the league's most improved players in Matt Mobley (16.7 ppg). Faronte Drakeford also averages double figures (13.3), while Khalen Cumberlander (9.5) and Brandon Peel (9.4) hover just below the 10-point mark. Peel and Drakeford are the team's top rebounders, pulling in 9.0 and 7.2 boards each time out, respectively, while the former's .478 shooting clip from the floor paces the squad.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 10-6 in Northeast Conference play in 2014-15 and sport a 41-62 record (.398) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 55-79 (.410). Entering Thursday's action, Bryant sits in a three-way tie with Robert Morris and Mount St. Mary's for second place in the NEC standings and needs a victory in one of the last two games to clinch home court advantage in the first round of the upcoming NEC Tournament.

BULLDOGS CLINCH NEC TOURNAMENT BERTH
For the third-straight year, Bryant is moving on to the postseason. The Bulldogs clinched one of eight spots in the 2015 NEC Tournament with a 74-71 win at FDU Feb. 12, and the full tournament field has now been set. With two regular-season games left to play, the Bulldogs will now be jockeying for position and home court advantage, with the league's top four teams hosting quarterfinal matchups.

PLAYOFF SEEDING PICTURE STILL FUZZY WITH TWO TO PLAY
Parity has reigned supreme once again in the Northeast Conference this season, and with just one week left before the NEC Tournament, everything is still on the line. Only top-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn has clinched home court advantage so far — which it will keep throughout its playoff run as the 2014-15 regular-season champs — while three-way ties for both second (Bryant, RMU, Mount St. Mary's) and fifth (Saint Francis U., LIU Brooklyn, Wagner) make the drama palpable in gyms throughout the NEC.

So where do the Bulldogs currently stand? Bryant, along with Mount St. Mary's and Robert Morris, needs just one more win to clinch a quarterfinal round home game in the NEC Tournament, but it is Robert Morris — who beat the Bulldogs at home last time out — that holds the three-way tiebreaker. If all three teams win out, Robert Morris will be the #2 seed, Bryant the #3 seed and Mount the #4 seed.

But at 8-8, Saint Francis U., LIU Brooklyn and Wagner are all still alive to host NEC quarterfinal round games should any of the three teams above them stumble. Interestingly enough, there could also conceivably be a six-way tie for second place at 10-8. If that is the case, it would shake out with Bryant at #2, Wagner at #3, LIU Brooklyn at #4, Saint Francis U at #5, Robert Morris at #6 and Mount St. Mary's at #7. With teams so closely stacked, there are plenty of scenarios that can play out over the next week, so stay tuned!

DOWNTOWN DOMINANT
Bryant hit 14 triples against Robert Morris on Saturday, the most in an NEC game this season. It was also a season high for the Black and Gold, who shot a season-best 48.3 percent (14-29) from beyond the arc in the contest. Senior guard Dyami Starks led the way with five while redshirt-freshman Bosko Kostur drained four from downtown.

STARKS ENTERS NEC'S ALL-TIME TOP-10
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-10 Feb. 21 at home against Robert Morris. Five more treys against the Colonials vaulted Starks up three places into a three-way tie for ninth in the all-time rankings with 270 trifectas over the course of his three-year Bryant career. To reach the top-5, the Minnesota native — who currently averages 3.2 triples per game — needs to hit 16 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 289 career trifectas, which is good for seventh among all active Division I players.

THIRSTY THURSDAYS
The Bulldogs seem to be thirsting for Ws on Thursdays this season, as the Black and Gold are 7-1 on the year on the week night. Bryant's only Thursday night loss came at Saint Francis U. on Jan. 29. This season, the Bulldogs are not above .500 on any other day, posting a combined 0-6 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a 5-6 mark on the weekends (1-1 on Tuesdays). Bryant has also not repeated a result in the last nine games, rotating single wins and losses dating back to Jan. 29.

SHOOTING PROFILE
The Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent for the third time in four games Saturday against Robert Morris, converting 50 percent from the floor despite the loss. The performance marked the seventh time Bryant has hit at least half of its shots since the start of 2015 and the ninth time of the 2014-15 campaign but is just the third time the team has done so and suffered a defeat. The Bulldogs are now 6-3 on the season when hitting the 50 percent mark, with their other two losses coming Feb. 19 against Mount St. Mary's and Feb. 2 against Pitt. Conversely, Bryant's 73-60 win over FDU back on Jan. 10 marked the only 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 11-5 when converting at least 40 percent of its shots.

BULLDOGS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Senior guard Dyami Starks enters Thursday's matchup ranked 11th in the national statistics for threes per game (3.22, 1st in NEC). The Duluth, Minn., native also ranks 12th in free throw percentage (.891, 1st in NEC), 10th in minutes per game (37:42, 1st in NEC), 36th in points per game (18.4, 2nd in NEC) and 75th in 3-point percentage (.349, 2nd in NEC). Sophomore forward Dan Garvin ranks 93rd in rebounds per game (7.6, 4th in NEC) and 56th in offensive boards per game (3.04, 4th in NEC), while junior guard Shane McLaughlin is 40th in minutes per outing (36:02, 3rd in NEC) and 72nd in assists per game (4.4, 3rd in NEC). As a team, the Bulldogs rank 34th in free throw percentage (.735, 1st in NEC), 68th in turnovers per game (11.7, 1st in NEC), 65th in 3-pointers per game (7.4, 2nd in NEC) and 81st in 3-point defense (.319, 3rd in NEC).

IRONMEN
Of the four players to have started in every appearance this season — seniors Joe O'Shea and Dyami Starks, junior Shane McLaughlin and sophomore Dan Garvin — all four are averaging better than 30 minutes per game. Three Bulldogs — O'Shea (33.4), McLaughlin (36.0) and Starks (37.7) — are each logging 33 minutes or more on the year, and those numbers jump even higher when it comes to conference-only action. The Bulldogs boast the two top minute getters in NEC play in Starks (38.4) and McLaughlin (38.1), and O'Shea joins them in the top-5 at 36.1 minutes per game. Throw in Garvin's 30.4 per contest mark (31.1 in league play), and all four Bulldogs rank inside the league's top-20 both in overall and conference-only minutes played. Five different Bulldogs have played 40 or more minutes in a game on 18 occasions, including seven times from Starks and six from McLaughlin. The pair both rank in the NCAA top-50 for minutes per game, with Starks ranking 10th and McLaughlin ranking 40th.

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.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs close out the 2014-15 regular-season with a Senior Day matchup Saturday afternoon against St. Francis Brooklyn, who has already claimed the NEC regular-season title. The contest is the second half of a men's/women's NEC doubleheader at the Chace Athletic Center and will tipoff at 4:00 p.m.