Bulldogs face Central Connecticut Saturday in New Britain

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Bryant University men's basketball team plays its next three games on the road, beginning with a Saturday afternoon contest against Central Connecticut in New Britain.

THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: Central Connecticut
Game Time: Saturday, Jan. 13 – 3:30 p.m.
Watch Live: NEC Front Row
Listen Live: WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach, Cam Boon)
Live Stats: CCSUBlueDevils.com
Game Notes: Bryant 

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
Central Connecticut is 8-10 on the year and tied with Bryant and Sacred Heart at 1-4 in NEC play. The Blue Devils fell 77-60 at St. Francis Brooklyn Thursday.

Junior college transfer Tyler Kohl leads the Blue Devils with 13.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game with the rebounding total good for third in the NEC. Deion Bute has added 10.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 62.5 percent from the floor.

THE SERIES
The Bulldogs are 10-7 against the Blue Devils in the Division I era and 9-1 since the start of the 2012-13 season. Bryant swept the season series a year ago, including a 91-point performance on Senior Day last season. 

Central Connecticut is the closest NEC school to the Bulldogs geographically, but was a member of the Mid-Continent Conference from 1994-97 with a collection of schools from the Midwest. The Mid-Continent Conference was rebranded as the Summit League after the Blue Devils' departure to the NEC. 

LAST TIME OUT: WAGNER 71, BRYANT 62
Sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) tallied 23 points and the Bulldog sophomore class combined for 40 points in Thursday's game against Wagner. Grant is averaging 26.0 points per game over his last three contests. 

SOME GENERAL STATS ON GRANT
Sophomore Adam Grant has averaged 16.6 points per game on the year with 20-point games against Georgia (24, 11/10), NC State (24, 11/14), Yale (20, 11/29), Mount St. Mary's (29, 1/4), Sacred Heart (26, 1/6) and Wagner (23, 1/11). 

Grant hit nine three-pointers at Mount St. Mary's (1/4), tying his own Division I program record set last year against Sacred Heart. The 29-point performance came 10 years to the week after the first game of nine three-pointers by a Bulldog, as Peter Lambert drained nine threes against Merrimack Jan. 2, 2008, in Bryant's final Division II season.

The sophomore guard is the first NEC player with multiple games of nine or more three-pointers against conference competition since Mount St. Mary's Scott Murphy in 1991.

MONTY PROVIDING A SPARK
Freshman Monty Urmilevicius (Kaunas, Lithuania) has given the Bulldogs a lift over his last three games, averaging 6.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Urmilevicius recorded 10 points and eight rebounds in the game at Mount St. Mary's (1/4) and has started the last two games for the Bulldogs. 

BOSKO GETS BUCKETS
Senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) has been efficient from both inside and outside the arc this season. Kostur is shooting an even 50 percent on two-pointers and 46.7 percent from three. 

Kostur has grabbed at least five rebounds in each of his last six games including a career-high 10 against Saint Francis U (12/31). Kostur is averaging 6.2 rebounds per game in conference play.

WE LIKE IKE
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) has raised his scoring average from 6.0 points per game as a freshman to 11.8 as a sophomore. Ndugba has two double-doubles on the year: a 16-point, 10-rebound outing at Hartford (11/24) and a 17-point, 11-assist performance at Memphis (12/9). Ndugba tallied 12 assists against Saint Francis U (12/31) - the most by a Bryant player since Shane McLaughlin's 12-assist night at LIU Brooklyn (2/27/16). 

Ndugba passed Alex Francis for fourth in Bryant's Division I era in assists in the game at Albany (12/6) and now has 214 in his career.

NEXT UP: LIU BROOKLYN
Bryant opens a two-game trip in Brooklyn with a Thursday night game at LIU Brooklyn. The 7 p.m. tip can be seen on NEC Front Row. 

Tickets for the 2017-18 Bryant University men's basketball season are available by clicking HERE or calling (401) 319-TIXX. 

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