Bulldogs and Knights meet in the Chace Athletic Center Saturday at noon on MSG+/FCS/YurViewNE

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball returns home for the first time since Jan. 16 when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday at noon for a national game being televised on MSG+/Fox College Sports/Cox (Dave Popkin, Terry O'Connor, John Schmeelk). The game can also be heard on WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach). 

THE SERIES
Saturday's matchup between the Bulldogs and Knights will be the 15th in the series, as the two sides have each won seven times. Bryant trails FDU, 4-3, in Smithfield, but has a 4-3 edge in Hackensack. Saturday's visitors have won two-straight and three of the last four meetings in the Chace Athletic Center.   

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
The Knights are playing as good as anyone in the NEC, having won four-straight games by a combined 42 points. There is now a quartet of double-digit scorers led by junior guard Darian Anderson, who is third in the conference with 17.6 points per game on a .423 clip from the floor and a .397 clip from three. Classmate guard Stephan Jiggets nets 14.0 points per game, leads the league with 4.5 helpers per contest and is one of just 17 players in the country to record a triple-double this year. Sophomore bigman Mike Holloway sits third on the team with 12.0 points per outing on a team-best 60.0 percent from the field and leads the Knights with 5.7 rebounds per game. FDU leads the NEC with a 76.0 free-throw percentage, has the fewest turnovers in the league and boasts the second-best scoring offense.

CURRENT DAWGS vs. FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON
Eleven current Bulldogs have faced the Knights in their careers, six seeing them more than once. Senior forward Dan Garvin has matched up with the Knights six times and is averaging nearly a double-double at 10.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.7 percent from the floor. He averaged 13.0 points and 10.5 boards per game in two meetings as a sophomore two seasons ago and had a season-high 11 points in the Jan. 7 meeting of this year. Sophomore Marcel Pettway netted 16.0 points and corralled 7.5 boards per contest against FDU last year and went for 21 points and six boards on Jan. 7. Classmate Nisre Zouzoua poured in 19.0 points per game while shooting at a .500 clip from both the floor and beyond the arc. He tallied 22 points in the 87-84 loss to FDU on Jan. 7. Junior Bosko Kostur netted 17 points in that matchup.   

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs hold an overall record of 52-80 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 43-36 record over the last four seasons. The Black and Gold are 24-16 at home versus the NEC and 22-22 on the road since the start of 2012-13. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 66-97.

LAST TIME OUT
It was a series of runs for much of the night in Wednesday's televised contest at Central Connecticut State University. The Bulldogs closed the first half on an 8-0 run that extended to an 11-0 stretch in the second half, only to be answered by an 11-0 run from the Blue Devils. After an 8-0 CCSU run gave it a one-point lead, Bryant used a 12-0 run to take the games first double-digit edge with just over a minute to play, giving it control and allowing it to walk away with a 65-54 victory. Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua led all scorers with 24 points, junior Bosko Kostur netted 15 and sophomore Taylor McHugh notched a career-high 12 points.  

DEFEND THE BALL
Bryant is 5-0 this season when holding an opponent to fewer than 70 points. This success has become a trend over the past few years, as the Bulldogs are 43-14 since the start of the 2013-14 season when surrendering less than 70 points. The Black and Gold have now held consecutive opponents to less than 60 points (56 at Robert Morris, 54 at CCSU). Bryant is virtually unbeatable since the start of the 2010-11 season when surrendering fewer than 60 points, as it holds a 17-1 record. At the Division I level, the Bulldogs hold a 23-7 record when limiting the opposition to less than 60 points. 

GRANTED PERMISSION
Freshman Adam Grant has played like a seasoned vet in his first collegiate campaign. He has netted double-digit points 14 times this season and is second on the team with 13.9 points per game to sit eighth in the NEC, first among league rookies. The 32 points he scored against the Pioneers on Jan. 14 were the second-most by a Bryant rookie at the DI level. Alex Francis ('14) scored 43 points on Feb. 24, 2011.   

JUST ZOO IT
Sophomore Nisre Zouzoua is in the midst of a superb sophomore campaign with an impressive 20.0 points per game to lead the league and sit 35th nationally, while hitting 2.52 triples per game. He has scored 21 points or more in 12 outings, including a career-high 31 points at Brown on Nov. 28, his second 30-point game of the year.  

TAYLOR MADE
The Bulldogs have found a spark off the bench and another floor general in the form of sophomore Taylor McHugh over the last eight games. McHugh is averaging over 22 minutes per game since Jan. 5, has scored in six-straight contests and has tallied at least two assists in all but one of the eight games, including seven helpers against Sacred Heart on Jan. 14 and six against CCSU on Wednesday. He scored a career-best 12 points in Wednesday's win over the Blue Devils and knocked down a personal-best three trifectas to go along with his six assists and four rebounds.  
 
HULK BASH
Sabastian Townes was stellar off the bench in his collegiate debut on Nov. 12 against the Fighting Irish. The rookie had 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and a 6-for-11 effort at the line. He scored 10 points in the second half and tied sophomore Nisre Zouzoua and Alex Francis ('14) for the most points scored by a Bryant freshman in his debut in the program's Division I history. Townes has elevated his play offensively recently with 12.5 points per game on an impressive 66.6 percent from the field from from Jan. 14 - Jan. 21. He netted 11 points in just 12 minutes off the bench against Sacred Heart on Jan. 14, a career-high 17 against Harvard on Jan. 16 and 14 off the bench against Saint Francis U. on Jan. 19 before tallying 11 against Robert Morris on Saturday. Townes averaged just over 1.5 points per minute during the four-game stretch.  

RESILIENT IS BRILLIANT
The Bulldogs have overcome four halftime deficits this season and come back to win. Bryant nearly erased a 22-point halftime deficit on Jan. 7 against FDU (87-84 loss) which would have been the largest halftime deficit overcome in program history. The Bulldogs then dwindled what was a 22-point second-half Harvard lead on Monday to just one point before ultimately falling by five. Along with vanquishing a seven-point halftime deficit against Robert Morris on Jan. 21, Bryant erased an eight-point deficit on Nov. 30 against Yale, a four-point deficit against Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 5 and a two-point deficit against Wagner on Jan. 12. The Bulldogs have won 25 games at the DI level when they have trailed at the intermission.   

MR. STEAL YOUR BALL
The Bulldogs also set a new Division I record with 15 steals in the game against the Pioneers, nine off the program record. The team is averaging 6.7 steals per game this year and is on pace to break its previous high for a single season at the Division I level, which was 5.9. BK ALL DAYJunior forward Bosko Kostur has provided the Bulldogs with an additional threat of late and reemerged as a consistent contributor. After scoring no more than four points and playing no more than eight minutes over the first six games of the year, he has played 20+ minutes in eight-straight games, has started each of those contests and scored in double figures in six of the last eight. He averaged 17.6 points in five games from Jan. 5 - Jan. 16, scoring no fewer than 15 points.  

NOT BEREFT OF DEPTH
With the addition of talented freshmen guards Ikenna Ndugba and Adam Grant, the elevation of Nisre Zouzoua's offensive prowess, and more depth offensively, junior Hunter Ware has stepped into a slightly different role this season and not been asked to handle as heavy a load as last year. While the sharpshooter has played in every game this campaign, primarily off the bench, he is averaging 13.4 minutes per game and contributing 1.8 points per contest. Ware's season high is six points this year and he has been limited to two triples after leading the Bulldogs with 20 double-digit scoring efforts last year and 61 made threes in 2015-16. 

ON TAP
The Bulldogs head down to Maryland for the final two-game roadtrip of the season, beginning with Mount St. Mary's on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.