Bulldogs begin busy weekend in Smithfield, host Red Flash on Thursday at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team plays the opponent team in its four-game homestand when it takes on Saint Francis University on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center. The contest can be seen on NECFrontRow.com and heard on WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach and Tristan Hobbes).

THE SERIES
Thursday's matchup is the 12th all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Bulldogs holding a 7-4 series edge, despite falling to the Red Flash in Loretto last season. The Black and Gold have won four of the last five encounters overall, including two straight in the Chace Athletic Center where it holds a 4-2 advantage over SFU.

SCOUTING THE RED FLASH
The Red Flash are led by a trio of seniors that consists of two guards and a bigman. The guards are Greg Brown and Ben Millaud-Meunier who average 14.3 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Brown leads the team in assists and shoots 43.7 percent from the floor, while Millaud-Meunier leads the NEC in free-throw percentage with a .898 clip, sitting him 14th nationally. The forward, Ronnie Drinnon, scores 10.9 points per effort and leads the league with 9.0 boards per game. Drinnon has a conference-high eight double-doubles this year, the 21st most at the Division I level. The Red Flash lead the NEC in 3-point field percentage (36.9) and hold opponents to a league-low 32 percent from long range.

CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. SAINT FRANCIS U.
Eight current Bulldogs have played the Red Flash in their careers, with six having done so more than once. Sophomore guards Bosko Kostur and Hunter Ware averaged 9.0 and 8.0 points, respectively, in Bryant's two games against Saint Francis last season, combining to shoot at a .492 clip from the floor (13-27). Junior forward Dan Garvin nearly tallied a double-double in both contests against SFU last year by netting 11.0 points and 9.5 boards per game, as he totals 7.0 points and 6.0 boards while shooting 48.0 percent from the floor in four-career encounters. In six games against the Red Flash, senior captain Shane McLaughlin charts 5.3 points on a 60.0 percent clip, 2.0 boards and 3.5 assists per attempt. Senior Curtis Oakley Jr. has played the Red Flash five times, and junior Andrew Scocca has battled them three times. Current Black and Gold players are shooting a combined 51.2 percent from the field (43-84) and 59.1 percent from beyond the arc (13-22) against SFU.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 4-2 against Northeast Conference competition in 2015-16 with an overall record of 47-64 (.423) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. Prior to the 2012-13 campaign, Bryant held a 9-44 record against conference opponents, but has recorded a 38-20 record (.655) over the last three seasons. The Black and Gold are 22-9 at home versus the NEC and 19-13 on the road since 2012-13. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 61-81 (.429). 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.

SETBACK VS. LIU - LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs grabbed their only lead, 11-10, six minutes into the opening frame, but LIU Brooklyn closed the half on a 25-9 run and cruised in the second stanza to a 79-61 NEC victory on Sat­urday in Smithfield. Freshman sensation Marcel Pettway posted a second-consecutive double-double and his fifth overall with a team-best 20 points and 10 boards while going 10-for-14 from the floor and dishing out four assists. Guards Hunter Ware and Nisre Zouzoua charted 14 and 13 points, respectively, and they each grabbed three rebounds. Junior Dan Garvin scored six points and also corralled 10 caroms in the loss. Trevin Woods paced the Black­birds with 20 points on a 6-for-10 effort from 3-point land. Aakim Saintil scored 16 points, while Martin Hermannsson added 11 points and distributed a game-high eight helpers. Joel Hernandez and Jerome Frink poured in 15 and 12 points, respec­tively, each grabbing seven richochets to lead LIU. Bryant shot just 36.9 percent from the floor (24-65) and 33.3 percent from distance (7-21) while LIU shot 49 percent from the field (26-53) and 40 percent from long range (10-25).

QUICK HITS
» Charity Strike: The seven shots from the charity stripe against LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 16 ties the fewest attempts for the Bulldogs since Feb. 14, 2015. Bryant has attempted seven or fewer free throws 19 times since joining the DI ranks, and the seven tries from the line are the sixth-fewest attempts in the Black and Gold's DI tenure.

» 2:00 Minute Warning: The Bulldogs defeated Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9 in double-overtime, despite trailing with two minutes to go, making it the first time since Dec. 30, 2013 that they have won a game when behind at the 2:00 mark. Bryant is just 8-69 since joining the Division I ranks when trailing with two minutes remaining in a contest.

» Aided by 80: The Bulldogs are 4-0 this season when scoring 80 or more points, and hold a 22-2 record at the DI level when posting 80 or more points.

» Slow Down, Grab the Ball, Speed Up, Glass Battle: Despite being a slim margin (36-34) the Bulldogs won the battle on the glass in a losing effort against the Blackbirds, marking the first time they have outrebounded an opponent in a loss since Jan. 29, 2015 against none other than Saint Francis University. The Bulldogs have suffered defeats three times when outboarding the opposition since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.

DOING THE HONORS
For a fifth time this season, bigman Marcel Pettway was named the NEC Rookie of the Week (Jan. 18). The frosh forward continued his outstand­ing play, averaging a double-double of 16.0 points and 11.0 rebounds to go along with 3.0 assists in the Bulldogs' two-game split last week. The North Providence, R.I., native posted his fourth-career double-double in Bryant's 61-59 win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Jan. 14 with 12 points and 12 boards. He followed up the performance with 20 points on a 10-for-14 effort from the field while snaring 10 caroms in a setback against LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 16. Pettway is averaging 10.9 points per contest, and ranks second among league rookies with 7.1 rebounds per game, and he currently ranks second in the NEC in field goal percentage (59.6).

LONG RANGE MARKSMEN
Senior captain Shane McLaughlin and junior guard Hunter Ware have been red hot from beyond the arc this season, both shooting at clips above 40 percent. McLaughlin nets 44.2 percent of his triples (19-43) and Ware sinks 40.4 percent (40-99), as the two sit third and fifth, respec­tively, in the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage. Only one player has finished a season among the top-five 3-point NEC shooters in Bryant's Di­vision I history, as that long range assasin was sophomore Bosko Kostur last year with a clip of .441.

MODEL OF ASSISTANCY
Senior captain Shane McLaughlin nearly charted a triple-double by netting 21 points, grabbing a career-high 10 caroms, and dishing out eight assists in the 2OT win over Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9, making the guard the first player in Bryant's Division I history to record at least 20 points, 10 boards and five assists in a game. McLaughlin has now distributed at least five assists in seven of the last eight contests. The Old Tappan, N.J. native leads the Northeast Conference in assists per game (5.1).

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 18 of the season's first 19 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 first as a senior with an average of 37.89 minutes per outing (third na­tionally). As a starter (63 games), McLaughlin has played 37 minutes or more 35 times. He has played the entire game nine times in the span, including all 50 minutes in a double-overtime win against Sacred Heart in last year's NEC Tournament. McLaughlin logged 48 minutes on the floor in the double-overtime win over Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9.

ON THE REBOUND
The Bulldogs have been outrebounded in 16 of their 19 games this season, losing the battle on the glass in each of the first 12 games to begin the year. 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.

FREE THROW WOES
The Bulldogs have struggled from the charity stripe throughout the 2015-16 season, finishing under 60 percent in eight of the team's 19 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 eighth to last in Division I with a 61.2 percent clip on the year.

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 13.8 points per game, ranking him ninth in the NEC while shooting 41.7 percent from the field (91-218) and over 40 percent (40-99) 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.

LINEUP DANCING
Through 19 games in this 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, but has found success in a consistent opening five of late. The cast of senior Shane McLaughlin, sophomore Hunter Ware, freshman Nisre Zouzoua, freshman Marcel Pettway and junior Dan Garvin have earned 10-consecutive starting nods from Dec. 8 - Jan. 16. The Bulldogs have not seen eight or more editions of a starting lineup since the 2011-12 season.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs wrap up their four-game homestand on Saturday when they welcome the defending NEC tournament champs, Robert Morris, into Smithfield. The 4:00 p.m. tipoff in the Chace Athletic Center can be seen on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.