LIU Brooklyn visits Bryant for Saturday clash

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team concludes a four-game homestand Saturday when the Bulldogs host LIU Brooklyn in the back end of a Bryant Basketball doubleheader.

The game is the Bulldogs' annual Bryant Basketball Reunion Day. Saturday's gameday programs will feature Bryant alumni Chris Burns '07, Frankie Dobbs '13 and Alex Francis '14 and be available in the lobby of the Chace Athletic Center.

THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: LIU Brooklyn
Game Time: Saturday, Feb. 3 – 4 p.m.
Tickets: BryantBulldogs.com
Watch Live: NEC Front Row (Jon Wallach, Tristan Hobbes)
Listen Live: WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach, Tristan Hobbes)
Live Stats: BryantBulldogs.com
Game Notes: Bryant 

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
LIU Brooklyn is sixth in the NEC at 6-5, one game back of a four-team logjam of teams at 7-4. The Blackbirds won 69-60 in a nationally televised game at Sacred Heart Thursday. 

Joel Hernandez (2nd, 19.7 ppg) and Raiquan Clark (6th, 17.6) are one of two sets of NEC teammates both in the top 10 in the conference in scoring. Zach Coleman (6th, 6.8 rpg), Clark (7th, 6.7) and Hernandez (9th, 6.6) all rank in the top 10 in the NEC in rebounding.

THE SERIES
The Bulldogs are 6-11 against the Blackbirds in the Division I era but 5-4 since the start of 2014. 

The teams last met Jan. 18 in Brooklyn with the Blackbirds picking up an 83-79 win. The game featured 12 ties and 21 lead changes, as sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) led the Bulldogs with 20 points.

LAST TIME OUT: ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN 73, BRYANT 69
Sophomore Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) scored a game-high 23 points, but St. Francis Brooklyn erased a 12-point deficit for a 73-69 win over Bryant Thursday at the Chace Athletic Center. Sophomore Adam Grant added 18 points, while sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) chipped in 11. 

MONTY RAISING HIS PLAY AGAINST CONFERENCE SLATE
Freshman Monty Urmilevicius (Kaunas, Lithuania) has given the Bulldogs a lift against NEC competition, averaging 6.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Urmilevicius has scored 10 points three times in NEC play and recorded his first-career double-double vs. Central Connecticut (1/25) with a career-best 11 rebounds. 

Urmilevicius ranks fourth in the NEC in conference play in offensive rebounds per game (2.9) while shooting 52 percent from the floor.

SOME GENERAL STATS ON GRANT
Sophomore Adam Grant has averaged 17.8 points per game on the year with 10 20-point games, including seven of his last nine. The sophomore guard averaged 23.0 points per game in the month of January. 

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.

BOSKO GETS BUCKETS
Senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) has been efficient from both inside and outside the arc this season. Kostur is shooting 48.9 percent on two-pointers and 44.7 percent from three in addition to 84.2 percent from the free-throw line. 

WE LIKE IKE
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba has raised his scoring average from 6.0 points per game as a freshman to 13.3 as a sophomore. Ndugba is averaging 18.0 points per game over his last six games with 22 or more points in three of them. 

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 passed Alex Francis for fourth in Bryant's Division I era in assists in the game at Albany (12/6) and now has 245 in his career.

WARE RISING IN RECORD BOOK
Senior Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) has climbed into the top five in Bryant's Division I history with 97 steals and has 124 career assists. 

SOPHOMORES TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Bryant's sophomore class - Adam Grant, Tanner Johnson (Lexington, Ky.), Ikenna Ndugba and Sabastian Townes - has accounted for 58.7 percent of the team's scoring in 2017-18. All four have elevated their points per game averages from a year ago, while Grant (17.8 ppg), Ndugba (13.3) and Townes (12.7) are the Bulldogs' top three scorers. 

KOSTUR NAMED TO 3X3U WATCH LIST
Senior Bosko Kostur was named to the Early Season Watch List for the inaugural Intersport 3X3U National Championship to be held in San Antonio during Final Four weekend. The tournament will feature a team of graduating seniors from each of the 32 Division I conferences in a three-day event March 30-April 1. 

BULLDOGS LEAD NATION IN LINEUP COMBINATIONS
Bryant has used 15 different starting lineup combinations this season, which is tied with FGCU for the most nationally entering the week. The Bulldogs have started 12 different players this season, with only Ikenna Ndugba (23) and Adam Grant (20) starting in at least two-thirds of Bryant's 24 games.

NEXT UP: WAGNER
Bryant plays its first road game since Jan. 20 when the Bulldogs travel to Staten Island for a game Thursday at Wagner. The 5 p.m. tip will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

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

Follow Bryant University men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram to get an inside look at the program.