Established stars, talented newcomers to power Bryant
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team opens its 58th season and 12th in Division I Tuesday with an increased level of optimism and expectations for a program on the rise.
Head coach Jared Grasso has melded together a roster full of new faces with a returning core of key contributors as the Bulldogs look to become the first team in Smithfield to win a Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
Despite Bryant's changes in personnel on the court in 2019-20, the Bulldogs still have the benefit of returning three starters from the 2018-19 squad that achieved one of the nation's best win improvements.
Senior duo Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) and SaBastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.), who have been playing competitive basketball together since the age of 11, return for one final season together in Smithfield. Grant (15.6 ppg) and Townes (15.1) are two of the top four returning scorers in the NEC after a junior campaign in which both were named All-NEC honorees. Grant earned one of the five spots on the preseason all-conference team announced in October.
Grant saw his offensive efficiency rise in his first year under Grasso, raising his effective field goal percentage (a metric that weights the values of two and three-point shots) by nearly six percent. He shot 43.4 percent from beyond the arc in NEC play.
Townes expanded his range and his game in 2018-19, becoming a threat from the perimeter and delivering a pair of game-winning three-pointers against Dartmouth and Central Connecticut. The slimmed-down forward averaged 16.7 points per game in conference games and played in 77.6 percent of Bryant's NEC minutes, up from 35.0 as a sophomore.
Senior Juan Cardenas (Apartado, Colombia) returns for his second season in Smithfield after a strong finish to his junior campaign. Cardenas averaged 11.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in his final 10 contests of 2018-19 and was a proficient shot-blocker throughout the season, turning aside 46 shots during the year.
Sophomore Patrick Harding (Fairfield, Conn.) was a presence on the glass in his first year at Bryant, pulling down 27.4 percent of potential defensive rebounds while on the court, a percentage that led all freshmen nationally. Harding recorded double-digit rebounds three times on the year, against the teams picked in the top two in this year's NEC preseason poll (Long Island, Sacred Heart) and A10 contender Rhode Island.
Senior Tanner Johnson (Lexington, Ky.), who put on a three-point display in Bryant's near-upset of No. 24 Iowa last December, returns for the Black & Gold, as does redshirt-sophomore Dren Dedushaj (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a 7-2 center who appeared in five contests a year ago.
Bryant regains the services of redshirt-junior Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.), who will play a pivotal role on both sides of the ball after redshirting due to injury last season. The dynamic point guard, who led Bryant in assists, rebounds and steals while ranking second in scoring in 2017-18, gives Grasso a consistent floor general to lead his up-tempo offense.
Grasso and his staff have brought in nine newcomers to Smithfield for 2019-20 with a combination of freshmen and transfers. The group provides impact players who will contribute right away and a level of depth that will be key during the twice-weekly battle for NEC position.
The group includes four junior transfers joining Bryant this winter – guard Ayo Dada (Houston, Texas) and forwards Hall Elisias (Valley Stream, N.Y.), Mikail Simmons (Murphy, Texas) and Nick Crocker (East Falmouth, Mass.).
Dada averaged 9.8 points per game on 40.4 percent shooting at Eastern Florida in 2018-19 and gives Grasso another shooter as the Bulldogs look to increase their offensive output. Elisias, a junior college transfer who began his career at LIU Post, will provide a force in the paint at both ends of the floor, while Simmons, who played his freshman year at Loyola Marymount before a junior college season, looks to make an impact at the rim and as a shooter. Crocker joins the Bulldogs after two years at Bridgewater State, where he shot 55 percent for the Bears last season.
Bryant adds a five-member freshman class of forward Nathaniel Stokes (Tacoma, Wash.) and guards Michael Green III (Bronx, N.Y.), Benson Lin (New Taipei City, Taiwan), Charles Pride (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Timmy Kiggins (Westbury, N.Y.).
Green, a point guard from the New York City Catholic league, is joined by a duo from Connecticut's Putnam Science Academy (Pride and Stokes) and another New England prep school newcomer in Lin, who also has international experience with the Chinese Taipei National Team, along with Kiggins, a guard from Long Island. The group provides Grasso with a collection of proficient scorers who will give the Bryant head coach the opportunity to play the style of basketball that led to five NCAA tournament appearances in Grasso's eight years on the staff at Iona.
The 16 members of the Bryant University men's basketball team will begin their 2019-20 season Tuesday when Brown visits the Chace Athletic Center at 7 p.m. Tickets for Tuesday's opener are available HERE.
Bryant Men's Basketball 2019-20 season tickets are available by clicking HERE.
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