Gotham Classic begins for Bryant with trip to Albany Wednesday on ESPN3
ALBANY, N.Y. – The Bryant University men's basketball team opens the Houzz Gotham Classic Presented by TicketIQ with a Wednesday night game at Albany on ESPN3.
THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: Albany
Game Time: Wednesday, Dec. 6 – 7 p.m.
Tickets: UAlbanySports.com
Watch Live: ESPN3 (Rodger Wyland, Chris Onorato)
Listen Live: WOON 1240 AM (Tristan Hobbes)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Game Notes: Bryant | Albany
SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES
Albany is 8-1 on the year with the lone loss at Monmouth. The Great Danes have collected wins over Iona and Yale and are ranked No. 6 in this week's College Insider Mid-Major Top 25.
Albany ranks sixth in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage and is averaging 82.4 points per game. Joe Cremo leads the Great Danes with 17.7 points per game, while David Nichols has added 17.2 and Travis Charles has chipped in 15.4.
THE SERIES
Bryant and Albany are meeting for the third time in the Bulldogs' Division I era, but for the first time since Bryant's inaugural Division I season in 2008-09. The Bulldogs and Great Danes met twice that year in a home-and-home series that started with Bryant's inaugural Division I game and head coach Tim O'Shea's Bryant debut.
LAST TIME OUT: NEW HAMPSHIRE 75, BRYANT 59
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) matched his career-high with 22 points, but New Hampshire pulled away down the stretch for a 75-59 win over Bryant Saturday at Lundholm Gymnasium.
WE LIKE IKE
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba is averaging 16.3 points per game over his last six contests with at least 15 points in five of six. Ndugba has scored at least 20 points in each of his last two games, including 22 to match his career-high Saturday at New Hampshire.
GRAND START FOR GRANT
Sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) has averaged 17.0 points per game on the year with 14 or more points in six of eight games. Grant has collected 20 or more points seven times in his first 40 collegiate games and 10 or more in 28 of 40.
Grant reached the 500-point mark for his career with nine points Nov. 21 at Rutgers. The sophomore guard reached the mark in his 36th career game, which is tied with Nisre Zouzoua for the third-fastest to reach the 500-point plateau in Bryant's Division I era. Dyami Starks reached 500 points in 29 games in 2012-13, while Alex Francis did it in his 33rd contest in in 2011-12.
MR. STEAL YOUR PASS
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba ranks 29th in the nation as of Tuesday with 2.4 steals per game. Ndugba has recorded a steal in 3.8 percent of defensive possessions, according to KenPom.com.
BK ALL DAY
Senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) has rebounded from a scoreless opening night to average 13.0 points over his last seven games. Kostur's 25 points vs. Navy (11/18) were one shy of his career-high.
20-20-20 VISION
With their performances at Yale (11/29), senior Bosko Kostur (24 points), sophomore Adam Grant (20) and sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (20) were the first trio of Bulldogs to each score 20 points in a game in Bryant's Division I era.
TOWNES ENJOYS A THANKSGIVING FEAST
Sophomore Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) had his two highest scoring outputs of his career in the Bulldogs' Thanksgiving weekend games. Townes scored a career-high 19 points in the win at Hartford (11/24) and followed that with 22 points and seven rebounds against Brown (11/26).
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman Ryan Layman (Wrentham, Mass.) has recorded six or more rebounds in five of his first eight collegiate contests. Layman tallied a career-high 14 points at NC State (11/14) - his first career start.
NEXT UP: MEMPHIS
Bryant continues the Houzz Gotham Classic Presented by TicketIQ when the Bulldogs travel to Memphis for a Saturday afternoon clash at FedEx Forum. The 1 p.m. ET tip can be seen on ESPN3.