Monday night contest brings Bryant to Niagara
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. - The Bryant University men's basketball team plays the first of three straight road games when the Bulldogs travel to Western New York to face Niagara Monday night as part of the Garden State Showcase.
Bryant, coming off a 116-point outburst Friday night against Northern Vermont-Lyndon, looks for its first four-game winning streak in nearly five seasons.
The Particulars
Opponent: Niagara
Location: Gallagher Center (Niagara University, N.Y.)
Date and Time: Monday, November 18 – 7 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+ (Todd Callen, Richard Walsh)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Game Notes: Bryant
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #12Seven4 | #NECMBB
SCOUTING THE PURPLE EAGLES
Niagara enters its home opener at 0-3 after single-digit losses to Drexel and Stephen F. Austin sandwiching a lopsided defeat at Rutgers. The Purple Eagles trailed the Lumberjacks by as many as 21 in the second half before chipping away at the deficit and forcing SFA to close out its win at the free-throw line.
THE SERIES
The Bulldogs and Purple Eagles are facing each other for the first time Monday. Niagara will be the sixth current MAAC member Bryant has faced, joining Quinnipiac (10 meetings), Monmouth (7), Saint Peter's (2), Siena (2) and Iona (1). Head coach Jared Grasso is 2-0 against his former conference since arriving in Smithfield with a pair of victories over Saint Peter's, including a 69-44 win last Wednesday.
LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 116, NVU-LYNDON 67
Bryant erupted for 116 points in Friday's victory - the Bulldogs' most in a game since defeating Assumption in 1993. Seven Bulldogs were in double figures, led by 21 points from senior Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.).
SWEET 116
Bryant's 116 points Friday were the Bulldogs' most in any game since scoring 119 in an overtime win over Assumption in 1993. The offensive explosion was Bryant's highest point total in a 40-minute contest in 43 seasons, as it was the most since the then-Indians dropped 124 on Rhode Island College during the 1976-77 season.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DAWGS
Seven Bryant players scored 10 or more points Friday, led by 21 from Grant and with 13 points each from redshirt-junior Hall Elisias (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and freshmen Benson Lin (New Taipei City, N.Y.) and Charles Pride (Syracuse, N.Y.), 12 points from sophomore Patrick Harding (Fairfield, Conn.), and 10 each from redshirt-junior Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) and junior Mikail Simmons (Murphy, Texas). The seven Bulldogs in double figures were the most since Bryant's move to Division I in 2008-09.
TALK OF THE TOWNES
Senior SaBastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) made his season debut Friday after missing the Bulldogs' first four games due to injury. Townes scored five points and added two rebounds, two assists and a block in 12 minutes of action.
BOARD MAN GETS WINS
Harding is averaging 12.6 rebounds per game over his last five games and 15.7 during Bryant's three-game winning streak. Harding has added 9.7 points per game during the three-game stretch against Cornell, Saint Peter's and NVU-Lyndon.
Harding has collected 32.9% of potential defensive rebounds while on the floor this season, good for 26th nationally and first in the NEC. The sophomore from Connecticut ranked 25th in the nation last season and first among freshmen.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION
Ndugba and Harding recorded double-doubles in Friday's win, becoming the first Bulldog duo to achieve the feat in the same game since Dan Garvin and Marcel Pettway did against Army West Point on Dec. 8, 2015.
TIC-TAC-TOE
Bryant's Friday victory gave the Bulldogs three straight wins for the first time since Feb. 11-18, 2017, when the Bulldogs defeated St. Francis Brooklyn, Robert Morris and Saint Francis U.
Defeating Niagara Monday would give Bryant its first four-game winning streak since Jan. 8-17, 2015.
NEW DAWG CITY
Bryant's newcomers have provided 55.5% of the Bulldogs' scoring so far this season, including four of Bryant's top six in points per game. Pride (10.8 ppg) and freshman Michael Green III (Bronx, N.Y.) (10.4) are two of the three Bulldogs averaging 10+ points per contest.
UP NEXT: DREXEL
Bryant travels to Philadelphia for a Wednesday night game at Drexel. The 7 p.m. contest can be seen on FloSports.
Bryant Men's Basketball 2019-20 season tickets are available by clicking HERE. The Bulldogs' next home game will be the second half of a Bryant Basketball doubleheader Monday, Dec. 2, when Bryant hosts Navy at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the Dec. 2 contest are available HERE.
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