Bulldogs begin three-game road trip, play at FDU Monday at 7:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team will play its first game of a three-game road trip, as it battles Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The contest from Stratis Arena can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com.

THE SERIES
Monday's game marks the 12th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Knights, with Bryant holding the series advantage, 6-5. The teams are tied in the series in Smithfield (3-3), but the Black and Gold hold the series lead in Hackensack (4-3) after a 74-71 victory over FDU on Feb. 12, 2015. Bryant has won the last three meetings on the Knights' home court and four of the last five matchups overall.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
The NEC's top scoring offense (75.2 ppg) features three sophomore guards that average in double-digits. Earl Pott's Jr. generates a team-high 15.1 points per game on a .493 clip second in the NEC) from the floor while adding a team-leading 5.3 rebounds per outing. Darian Anderson follows with 14.3 points per contest and heads the Knights' league-best assists per game average (14.0) with his 47 dimes, as well as the team's league leading steals per game standard (9.0) with his 30 thefts. Stephan Jiggetts adds 11.3 points per effort, and as a unit the Knights shoot a conference-best 43.7 percent from the floor.    

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. FDU
Eight current Bulldogs have squared off against the Knights in their careers, with five seeing action more than once. Senior captains Shane McLaughlin and Curtis Oakley Jr. have played FDU five times each, averaging 6.4 and 6.0 points per game, respectively, as Oakley Jr. has posted a .500 clip from 3-point land. In three career games against the Knights, junior forward Dan Garvin is averaging 10.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest. The Bethel, Conn. product posted a double-double (13.0 ppg/10.5 rpg) in two tries against FDU in the 2014-15 campaign. Current Bulldogs are shooting a lifetime 48.6 percent (35-72) from the field, and 40.0  percent (10-25) from beyond the arc against the Knights.  

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE  
The Bulldogs are 1-0 against Northeast Conference competition in 2015-16 with an overall record of 44-62 (.415) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 58-79 (.423). Bryant finished 2014-15 NEC play with a 12-6 league record, earning the No. 3 seed in the 2015 NEC Tournament, and won its first postseason game at the DI level by defeating Sacred Heart, 91-85, in the Quartefinals.

LAST TIME OUT
It the took the Bulldogs several minutes to get the offense clicking, but after they took a 11-10 lead with just under 14 minutes to play in the first half, they never looked back. Bryant was able to expand the advantage to double-digits, a margin it held for most of the contest, rolling to a 88-72 win over CCSU in Saturday's NEC home opener. Freshman forward Marcel Pettway steered five Bulldogs to finish in double-figures, posting a career-high 26 points on a career-best 11 made shots from the floor, also adding five boards and five assists. Junior bigman Dan Garvin statted his third double-double of the year with 15 points and 12 rebounds while adding a season-high three blocks. The starting backcourt of Shane McLaughlin, Hunter Ware, and Nisre Zouzoua combined for 43 points on a .563 clip from the field (18-32) and a .555 mark from long range (5-9). Khaleb Cumberlander led the Blue Devils with 17 points, while Brandon Peel recorded his own double-double, dropping 16 points on a 6-for-10 effort from the floor and snaring a contest-best 16 ricochets. The Black and Gold shot over 45 percent from distance (5-11) and a season-best 53.5 percent from the floor.       

QUICK HITS  
» Opening Day: Bryant is now 4-3 in Northeast Conference openers since playing its first-official league slate during the 2009-10 campaign and has won the past four league debuts after falling in the program's first three NEC openers. Prior to Saturday's 88-72 victory over CCSU, the Bulldogs took a 67-63 win at LIU Brooklyn in the 2014-15 opener, topped Saint Francis U. at home, 77-67, in the 2013-14 NEC opener on Jan. 9, 2014, and got past Robert Morris, 84-77, in the 2012-13 opener on Jan. 3, 2012.

» Ringing in the New Year: After Saturday's 88-72 win over CCSU, the Black and Gold are currently 5-3 at the Division I level in the first game to begin a new calender  year, and hold a 7-4 overall record in the first game after New Years since the 2005-06 season.

» "I Got to Tell You Something": For the third time this season, the trio of senior captain Shane McLaughlin, sophomore Hunter  Ware, and freshman Nisre Zouzoua combined to pour in more than 40 points (45 at No. 5/6 Duke, 56 vs. Emerson, 43 vs CCSU). In Saturday's 88-72 win over the Blue Devils, the starting guards had similar performances, each attempting three shots from beyond the arc and 11 shots from the field.    

» Twenty Six and Stones: In the Bulldogs' last three games (at Michigan, at Dartmouth, vs. CCSU), three players have have reset their career-high point total. Hunter Ware did so at Michigan (Dec. 23), Shane McLaughlin did so at Dartmouth (Dec. 31) and Marcel Pettway reset the feat vs. CCSU (Jan. 2). All three finished their career days scoring 26 points.

MILES-TONES PER HOUR
Saturday's win over the Blue Devils produced three new milestones being achieved. For starters, the win gave Bryant 700 victories in program history. In addition to recording his third double-double of the season against CCSU (15p/12r), junior forward Dan Garvin rejected a season-high three shots to put him at 102 denials in his Bulldog career. Garvin is the fifth player in Bryant history to reach 100 career blocks and the first at the Division I level. And last, but certianly not least, senior floor general Shane McLaughlin surpassed 500 career points (511) with his 16-point effort against CCSU.

THE MIGHTY MARCEL AND MAN FROM OLD TAPPAN
In successive games at Dartmouth (Dec. 31) and against CCSU (Jan. 2), senior captain Shane McLaughlin and freshman forward Marcel Pettway put forth career days that were not just historic on personal levels, but were two of the best performances in program history. McLaughlin finished with career highs of 26 points, 10 made field goals, and four made threes, while also dishing out five assists and coralling six boards in the New Year's Eve win over the Big Green. Pettway netted a career-best 26 points on a career-high 11 made shots from the floor against the Blue Devils to go along with five boards and a career-high five assists.

To put both stat lines into perspective, the guard and the bigman are the only Bryant players to hit at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in the program's Division I era (2008-09-present). They are the first Bulldogs to hit/eclipse the mark since Jon Williams ('06) did so back in 2004 (29p, 5r, 5a at Holy Family, Dec. 20, 2004).
 
In Bryant's DI history, only one other player has hit 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in a single game, with Corey Maynard ('14) doing so twice in 2013-14 (22p, 6r, 5a vs. Navy, 12/14/13 and 21p, 5r, 5a vs. Central Connecticut, 2/22/14).

McLaughlin's 10-for-14 effort from the floor against Darmouth makes him the first Bulldog to shoot better than 70 percent since Maynard went 12-for-15 at Fairleigh Dickinson on Jan. 18, 2014. Pettway's 26 points are the most by a Bulldog freshman since Alex Francis ('14) netted 43 points at Long Island on Feb. 24, 2011.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE
The Bulldogs offense set new season-highs, and a new Division I standard in Saturday's triumph over CCSU. Bryant accumulated a season-best 88 points, shot better than 50 percent in both halves for the first time since Feb. 14, 2015, had five players score in double-figures for the first time since Jan. 22, 2015, and shot over 53 percent from the field for the first time since Feb. 14, 2015. The team also drained 38 shot attempts from the floor to set a DI record, previously sinking 37 shots two times (last against Delaware on Dec. 12, 2013).    

HIGH FIVE
The two-point victory over Dartmouth on New Year's Eve was the first game the Bulldogs have played that has been decided by five points or fewer this season. Prior to the 62-60 outcome against the Big Green, the last game Bryant played that was decided by five points or less was on Feb. 19 of last season at Wagner (66-65 W). The last time Bryant opened up a campaign playing in at least 13-straight games decided by five points or more was in the program's first Division I season (2008-09).

BOARDING PASS
Bryant hauled in less than 25 rebounds (22) at Michigan, marking the first time it has corralled 25 or fewer boards since Nov. 26, 2014 at Vermont. The Bulldogs have failed to exceed 25 rebounds 23 times in the program's Division I history, and the 22 caroms against the Wolverines ties the second-fewest total in Bryant's DI tenure (18r at Iowa, 12/05/08).

DOING THE HONORS
For a third time this season, bigman Marcel Pettway was been named the NEC Rookie of the Week (Dec. 28), just a week after he tacked on the first ECAC Rookie of the Week accolade in the program's Division I history. The frosh forward earned his fifth collegiate start at Michigan on Dec. 23, tying his career-high with 15 points (6-for-7 from the floor). The North Providence, R.I., native is averaging 9.2 ppg, and leads all NEC freshman with 6.1 rpg.

ON THE REBOUND
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Big Green on New Year's Eve, 38-30, marking the first and only time they had won the battle on the glass in the 2015-16 campaign. This was the first time in the program's Division I history the team had opened a campaign on the short side on the glass in 12-straight outings. The last time the Bulldogs were outboarded in more than seven-straight games at any point in a season was back in 2011-12, when the team lost the battle on the boards in nine-consecutive games from Nov. 27-Jan. 5. To find the last time the squad was outrebounded in 12 or more straight contests, you must look all the way back to the 2009-10 season, when the Bulldogs lost the board battle in 20 in a row from Dec. 3-Feb. 13. Bryant currently ranks 323rd in Division I in rebounding margin (-6.6) and 305th in rebounds per game (33.36).

FREE THROW WOES
The Bulldogs have struggled from the charity stripe throughout the 2015-16 season, finishing under 60 percent in seven of the team's 14 contests. Bryant's worst performance of the year came Nov. 28 against Georgetown, when the Black and Gold went just 5-for-15 from the line (.333), converting less than 40 percent of their free throw attempts for the first time since a 4-of-11 (.364) performance against Mount St. Mary's back on Jan. 14, 2012. Bryant has finished at 50 percent or less six times this season (.462 vs. Prairie View A&M, .462 at Yale, .500 at Michigan, .500 at Providence, .500 at Duke) and currently ranks third to last in Division I with a 59.0 percent clip on the year.

THE NAME IS ZOUZOUA
Freshman Nisre Zouzoua made a name for himself in the first two games of his collegiate career and has gotten back on track as of late. He scored 16 points in his debut at No. 5 Duke, only to follow that up with a career-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting against Emerson. Zouzoua started 0-for-2 against the Lions but then made his next eight shots from the field on his way to his career day. And after six-consecutive single-digit outings, the Brockton, Mass., native has scored in double-digits in five of the last six games, averaging 13.0 points per contest since Dec. 5. In a 76-68 loss to Brown, Zouzoua drained four treys en route to a team-high 18 points. He then led the team in scoring for the third time in his young collegiate career with 17 points in a 77-55 loss to Army on Dec. 8 and followed that up with 11 points and a trio of 3-pointers at No. 15/18 Providence on Dec. 12.  

WARE, OH WARE
Sophomore guard Hunter Ware has emerged as an offensive weapon to be reckoned with in the 2015-16 season. The Georgia native averages a team-high 14.0 points per game, ranking him inside the top 10 in the NEC while shooting better than 43 percent from the field (71-162) and over 36 percent (28-77) from long range. Ware opened the season with two of the best offensive performances of his career, logging back-to-back 20-point outings that included a career-high 24 points in the Nov. 14 season opener at No. 5/4 Duke. He reset his season-best with 26 points at Michigan while matching a career-best six triples.

HIGH MILEAGE FOR McLAUGHLIN
Senior point guard Shane McLaughlin is once again proving to be a workhorse for the Bulldogs on the court, playing 34 minutes or more in 13 of the season's first 14 contests. The Old Tappan, N.J., native was third in the NEC last year with an average of 36.68 minutes per game and currently sits second as a senior with an average of 37.00 minutes per outing (13th nationally). As a starter (59 games), McLaughlin has played 37 minutes or more 31 times. He has played the entire game seven times in the span, including all 50 minutes in a double-overtime win against Sacred Heart in last year's NEC Tournament.

LINEUP DANCING
Just 14 games into the 2015-16 campaign, the Bulldogs have unveiled eight variations of their starting lineup. Head coach Tim O'Shea has repeated a starting lineup just twice this year, including keeping the opening five consistent in the last three outings. The cast of senior Shane McLaughlin, sophomore Hunter Ware, freshman Nisre Zouzoua, freshman Marcel Pettway and junior Dan Garvin have earned five-consecutive starting nods from Dec. 8 - Jan. 2. The Bulldogs have not seen eight or more editions of a starting lineup since the 2011-12 season.

THAT 70s SHOW
The Bulldogs conceded at least 70 points (72 against CCSU) in a winning effort for the first time all season on Saturday. Prior to the victory, Bryant had conceded 70 or more points in all 10 of its losses, but held opponents to less than 70 points in the other three wins. Last season, Bryant finished 4-9 when allowing more than 70 points, posting a 12-6 record when holding teams below the 70-point threshold. Conversely, the Black and Gold finished last season 11-2 when totalling 70+ points and have concluded with north of 70 points in three of the four wins this year.

UP NEXT
Bryant continues its first road swing through the NEC, playing the second of a three-game trip. The Bulldogs will take on Wagner College in Staten Island on Thursday, with tipoff from the Spiro Sports Center set for 7:00 p.m.