Bryant hosts Columbia Friday night

SMITHFIELD, R.I. - The Bryant University men's basketball team looks to match the best 10-game start of its Division I era when the Bulldogs host Columbia Friday night at the Chace Athletic Center.

Bryant is 5-4 on the year and looking to start its season 6-4 for the third time in the program's D1 history. The Bulldogs' five non-conference wins are the team's most since securing eight in 2013-14.

The Particulars
Opponent: Columbia
Location: Chace Athletic Center (Smithfield, R.I.)
Date and Time: Friday, Dec. 6 – 7 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Season Tickets
Watch: NEC Front Row (Tristan Hobbes, Hunter Ware)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Game Notes: Bryant
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #12Seven4 | #NECMBB 

PROMOTIONS
Fans are encouraged to wear black to Friday night's game. One Bryant student dressed in black will have the opportunity for a three-point shot to have their spring semester textbooks covered by Coach Grasso. The team's attire for Friday's contest will be revealed on Twitter prior to the game.

Bryant fans will win a classic chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A Attleboro if Columbia misses both shots on a two-shot free throw in the second half. Your ticket for Friday's game can be used to redeem your sandwich at Chick-Fil-A Attleboro.

Bryant Men's Basketball and Bryant Athletics will honor student government on USG Appreciation Night at the final home game of the fall semester.

SCOUTING THE LIONS

Columbia is 3-6 on the year after an 84-76 road loss Monday to an undefeated Delaware team that is receiving votes in the AP poll. Mike Smith led the Lions with 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the contest in Newark. 

Smith ranks 17th in the nation at 21.9 points per game and has added 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Jake Killingsworth (8.4 ppg), Jack Forrest (8.3) and Ike Nweke (8.0) have provided a trio of reliable scoring options behind Smith.

THE SERIES
The Bulldogs and Lions are meeting for the fifth time with Bryant looking for its first win in the series. Three of the first four contests between the teams have been in Manhattan. 

Columbia defeated Bryant 90-68 last December at Levien Gymnasium despite 23 points from Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) and 22 from Byron Hawkins. The Bulldogs led with 19 minutes to go in last year's matchup before the Lions pulled away down the stretch.

LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 60, NAVY 45
Bryant held Navy to 25 points over the final 26 minutes of the game to open December with a 15-point win Monday. It marked the first time the Bulldogs won while scoring 60 points or less since Jan. 21, 2017. 

A POINT-LESS EXERCISE
Bryant's 44 points allowed at Saint Peter's and 45 vs. Navy marked the first time in the Bulldogs' Division I era holding multiple opponents to 45 points or less in the same season. 

The wins over the Peacocks and Midshipmen are the first pair of victories holding two opponents under 50 points in the same season since wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and NJIT in 2008-09.

CONNECT FOUR
Bryant's winning streak from Nov. 10-18 gave the Bulldogs four straight wins for the first time since Bryant defeated Saint Francis U, Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner and Central Connecticut Jan. 8-17, 2015. 

BOARD MAN GETS WINS
Sophomore Patrick Harding (Fairfield, Conn.) is averaging 11.6 rebounds per game over his first nine games of 2019-20 and ranks sixth in the nation in rebounding average. 

Harding has collected 31.6% of potential defensive rebounds while on the floor this season, good for 10th nationally as of Saturday.

REJECTION LETTERS
Redshirt-junior Hall Elisias (Valley Stream, N.Y.) tallied eight blocks in Monday's win over Navy, one shy of Papa Lo's single-game record set in 2009. All eight of Elisias' blocks came in the second half. 

Elisias has blocked 15.8% of opponents' two-point attempts while on the floor this season. The percentage would rank sixth in the nation if Elisias met the minimum minutes requirement (he is five total minutes shy for the season.)

The 22 total blocks for Elisias this year already rank tied for ninth in a single season in Bryant's Division I era.

GLASS IS IN SESSION
Bryant had zero games of 50 or more rebounds through the Bulldogs' first 340 Division I contests, never reaching more than 46 after 11 seasons and three games. 

The Bulldogs have rewritten that column of the record book over the last three weeks, grabbing 53 rebounds at Saint Peter's, 55 vs. NVU-Lyndon and 52 at Niagara for Bryant's three highest rebounding totals in the program's D1 era in a span of three games.

Bryant's 42.9 rebounds per game rank 10th in the nation.

11'S GOOD FOR 10
Grant has scored 10 or more points 74 times in his time in Black & Gold and in all nine games this season. Grant has scored 20 or more six times on the year and 29 times in his career.