Bulldogs battle Wildcats in the Chace Athletic Center Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team returns home to take on the University of New Hampshire on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. on NECFrontRow.com and WOON 1240 AM (Tristan Hobbes). 

THE SERIES
Saturday's meeting is the fifth in five seasons between the Bulldogs and the Wildcats. New Hampshire got its first win in the series at home last season, 75-67, but Bryant won the first three meetings and is 2-0 in Smithfield. 

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
New Hampshire is off to a strong non-conference start at 6-3 with road wins over Temple and American University in hand. It is a team led primarily by upperclassmen, specifically senior guard Jaleen Smith, who paces the Wildcats on both ends of the floor. He leads the team with 15.4 points per game on a .467 clip from the field, sits second on the squad with 7.7 rebounds per effort, leads the team in assists, steals and blocked shots, averages the fourth-most minutes per game in the country and is one of just 10 players in the nation to have recorded a triple-double this season. Junior forward Tanner Leissner is averaging 14.9 points and pulls down an America East-leading 8.9 boards per game and senior guard Daniel Dion tallies 12.0 points per contest. Collectively, the Wildcats sit 30th nationally with just under 30 defensive rebounds per game and sit 46th with a 6.2 rebounding margin. BRYANT vs. THE AMERICA EASTSaturday's matchup is the only contest against a member of the America East for the Bulldogs in 2016-17. Bryant enters the game 5-5 against the conference at the Division I level and 15-13 against current America East members since the start of the 2000-01 season, as it is 8-8 against the most recent addition to the conference, UMass Lowell. In total, Bryant has met up with America East members Binghamton (1-1), New Hampshire (3-1), Vermont (1-1) and Albany (0-2) since joining the Division I ranks in 2008-09.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs enjoyed one of their best starts to the season and in program history as they jumped out to a 49-24 halftime lead over Navy on Tuesday night in Annapolis. But the Midshipmen turned on the propellers in the second half, kept creeping closer and closer, as Bryant was held to just two points over the first 11 minutes. Navy finally took its first lead with under a minute to play and a shot at the buzzer to tie hit back iron allowing the hosts to escape with a 76-74 win. Freshman Adam Grant netted a career-best 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting, sophomore Nisre Zouzoua scored 21 points and classmate Marcel Pettway scored eight points and matched his career-best with 13 rebounds.    

QUICK HITS

» Assisted Living: The Bulldogs dished out 23 assists against Navy on Tuesday, tying for the second-most helpers in the program's Division I history. Bryant also tallied 23 assists in last year's season finale at LIU Brooklyn and Tuesday's effort marked just its third 20+ assist game since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.  

» Call It A Comeback: It has been over 65 years since a team has overcome a double-digit halftime deficit that Navy faced against Bryant on Tuesday. The 25-point comeback win tied for the seventh-largest in NCAA history and it was the largest since 2012.    

» Just Lead It: The Bulldogs fell to Midshipmen on Tuesday night despite holding a lead with 2:00 to go. It was their first loss when leading at the 2:00 mark since 2014-15 and Bryant is 62-26 in such games at the Division I level. 

» Effective and Deceptive: Bryant shot 50% from the floor in the loss to Navy (30-60), marking the first time it has lost a game when hitting shots at a .50 clip since 2014-15. Since joining the Division I ranks in 2008, the Bulldogs are 35-13 when they hit at least 50% of their shots.  

» Cooling Off: The Bulldogs were very effective from behind the arc in the first half in their last three losses (at Brown, at Ohio, at Navy), shooting 44.1 percent (15-34). But the team struggled in the second half of those three games, combining to shoot a mere 18.1 percent (6-33), as it has drained a total of two second-half triples in the last two contests.    

JUST ZOO IT
After lighting up the Northeast Conference for over 19.0 points per game to finish out the final month of last season, sophomore Nisre Zouzoua was expected to have a better second campaign. But he has exceeded expecations with an impressive 22.0 points per game over the first 10 contests to lead the league and sit 21st nationally, while hitting a conference-best 3.2 triples per game. He has scored 21 points or more in eight of the last nine outings, including a new career high of 31 points at Brown on Nov. 28, his second 30-point game of the year. 

THIRTY MIND
Zouzoua's 30 points vs. La.-Monroe on Nov. 22 made him the first Bulldog to tally 30 or more since Dyami Starks ('15) did so on Feb. 12, 2015. Zouzoua is just the second Bulldog to score 30 or more points in two games over a three-game span and the second player to average at least 22.0 points over the first 10 games of any season in the program's DI history (Starks did it in 2013-14).

ALL THE NIS-WAY UP
Zouzoua eclipsed 500 career points in the win over La.-Monroe to become the second fasted Bulldog to reach the milestone in the program's Division I history (36 games). Alex Francis ('14) did it in 34 games. The sophomore is also the second-fastest Bulldog to score 200 points in a season, as he did so in the season's 10th game against the Midshipmen. Starks reached the 200-point mark in the ninth game of 2013-14.     

GRANTED PERMISSION
Freshman Adam Grant has played like a seasoned vet through his first 10 collegiate games. He has netted double-digit points in all but one game this season and scored no fewer than nine points. Grant is second on the team with 16.3 points per game to sit fifth in the NEC, first among league rookies, and he has a .527 field-goal clip to sit third in the conference. 

WARE DID HE GO
Junior wing Hunter Ware led the Bulldogs in scoring seven times in 2015-16, had four 20-point games and scored in double-figures a team-high 20 times. Ware's role this season has changed dramatically, as he is averaging 16.8 minutes per game off the bench and netting just 2.4 points per game. He has yet to score more than six points this season and has yet to make a three pointer after leading the team with 61 last year.    

MR. STEAL YOUR BALL
The 11 steals against Brown are the most for the Bulldogs since the start of the 2014-15 season (69 games). Bryant also theft the Bears 10 times in last season's meeting on Dec. 5, 2015. The team is averaging 6.5 steals per game and is on pace to break its previous high for a single season at the Division I level, which was 5.9.
 
TWO MINUTE SWARMING
The Nov. 30 victory over Yale was the first in the series since 2013 and the first at home since 2009. The Bulldogs trailed with under 2:00 to play and still won by nine, 79-70, marking just the fifth time Bryant has won a game in which it trailed with 2:00 to play at the Division I level. 

NAIL BITER
The 91-90 loss at Brown on Nov. 28 marked the sixth game determined by one point since the program joined the Division I ranks in 2008. Bryant led by just 46 seconds in the game and is now 3-3 in games decided by one point at the DI level. 

90'S KIDS
The 90 points against Brown on Nov. 28 are the most points scored for the Bulldogs since they scored 91 on March 4, 2015 against Sacred Heart. It marked just the sixth time Bryant scored 90 or more points in a game at the Division I level.   

SHOTS FOR CHARITY
The Bulldogs were not blessed by the whistle gods in the Nov. 18 loss at No. 14/14 Gonzaga. The Zags went to the line 45 times, marking the first time in Bryant's Division I history that it allowed an opponent to shoot more than 40 free throws. Bryant was then whistled for 28 fouls against Eastern Washington on Nov. 21 and surrendered 34 attempts from the line. In those two games, the Bulldogs allowed 64 points from the free-throw line. Against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 22 The Bulldogs only allowed three free throws. The three attempts from the line were tied for the fewest that Bryant had surrendered at the Division I level.

DOUBLE THE DIGITS DOUBLE THE FUN
After not having five double-digit scorers in a game since Dec. 9, 2014 against Army, the Bulldogs produced five double-figure scorers three times last season, including three of four games with the last coming at Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9. Five Bulldogs scored in double-figures against Salve Regina on Nov. 15, marking the 20th time that has happened in the program's Division I history, as Bryant is 18-2 in such games.

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game and season ticket packages are available for the 2016-17 Bryant University men's and women's basketball seasons. Fans can purchase tickets online at bryantbulldogs.com/tickets or by calling the Bryant Athletics Ticket Office at 401-319-TIXX.

NO TICKET, NO PROBLEM
Bryant University Athletics and the Northeast Conference are once again affiliated with the Pack Network and 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 90 Bryant University home contests during the 2016-17 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 DVR functionality. Visit NECFrontRow.com for more information and a complete schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the ninth 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 alongside color analyst Tristan Hobbes.

ON TAP
The Bulldogs will enjoy 10 days off for finals before taking the court again when they host Dartmouth on December 22 at 11:00 a.m