GAME NOTES
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team kicks off 2015 with its Northeast Conference opener Saturday, taking on LIU Brooklyn on the road. The 4:30 p.m. tip can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com.
THE SERIES
Saturday's game is the 11th all-time meeting between the two programs, with LIU holding a 7-3 edge in the series. The Blackbirds had won six-straight games against Bryant before the Bulldogs swept the 2013-14 season series with an 87-79 win at home Jan. 23 and an 81-62 victory at the Steinberg Wellness Center to wrap up the 2013-14 regular season March 1.
SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
After opening the season 0-6, LIU Brooklyn has now won four of its last five outings dating back to Dec. 9. Elvar Fridriksson paces the side with 11.2 points and 4.5 assists per game, while second-leading scorer Landon Atterberry contributes 9.3 points per outing to compliment a team-high 6.0 rebounds each time out. Martin Hermannsson and Gerrell Martin both average more than nine points a game as well, while fellow 11-game starter Nura Zanna converts a side-leading 48.5 percent of his shots (33-68, 8.0 ppg). The Blackbirds' top 3-point shooters are Martin (.400) and Iverson Fleming (.423), as LIU Brooklyn shoots nearly as well from distance (.320) and it does from the floor (.388). The Blackbirds are among the league's top rebounding teams 37.6 each time out.
CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. LIU BROOKLYN
Just five current Bulldogs have seen action against the Blackbirds in their careers, with four of them facing off against LIU Brooklyn more than once. Senior sharpshooter Dyami Starks averages 20 points per game against the Blackbirds over three career outings, scoring 35 in a pair of contests last season. He has been deadly accurate from the floor (.455) and from long distance (.448) against Saturday's opponent with 10 total rebounds, eight assists and six steals. Junior point guard Shane McLaughlin scored a career-high 15 points against the Blackbirds last time out (March 1) and averages 7.3 points per game in three matchups while going 9-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Senior Joe O'Shea also averages double figures with 10 points each time out (3 games), while junior Curtis Oakley has 14 points in a pair of outings over the last two campaigns. In his only appearance against LIU Brooklyn, sophomore Dan Garvin dropped in eight points with four rebounds and a 4-for-5 mark from the floor. Current Bulldogs are shooting a lifetime .500 (42-84) against the Blackbirds, with a .462 mark from 3-point range (24-52).
BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs start 2014-15 Northeast Conference play with a 31-56 record (.356) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 45-73 (.381). Bryant finished 2013-14 NEC play with a 10-6 league record, earning the No. 3 seed in the 2014 NEC Tournament.
OPENING DAY
Bryant is 2-3 in Northeast Conference openers since playing its first-official league slate during the 2009-10 campaign and have won the two most recent league debuts after falling in the program's first three NEC openers. The Bulldogs took a 77-67 win over Saint Francis U. last season at home in the Jan. 9, 2014 opening contest and topped Robert Morris on the road in the 2012-13 NEC opener, 84-77, on Jan. 3, 2013. Bryant has debuted against the Blackbirds once before, falling to LIU Brooklyn, 62-46, back on Dec. 3, 2009. The Bulldogs are 1-2 when starting their league schedule away from home.
O'SHEA LEADS THE WAY
For the first time all season, someone other than senior guard Dyami Starks led the Bulldogs in points scored. Fellow senior guard and co-captain Joe O'Shea scored a team-high 12 points against Dartmouth Dec. 31, going 4-for-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Starks added 10 points in the contest (3-12) after averaging 19.8 ppg entering the New Year's Eve matchup and leading the Black and Gold offense in the previous eight outings.
GREEN MONSTER
The Bulldogs allowed a season-high 76 points to Dartmouth last time out, also shooting a season-low 22.7 percent (5-22) from 3-point range. After entering the contest ranked 22nd in the nation in 3-pointers per game, Bryant now ranks 38th as a team but still leads the NEC with 8.1 each time out.
AULD LANG SYNE
The Bulldogs weren't able to break their New Year's Eve streak in 2014, falling to Dartmouth at home, 76-59, to fall to 0-3 on the last day of the year at the Division I level. Previously, Bryant had lost at home to Lehigh, 72-55, on Dec. 31, 2011 and at Brown the season prior, falling to the Bears, 84-71, on Dec. 31, 2010.
TAKING IT EASY
With just nine appearances so far this season, the Bulldogs have played the fewest games in the nation through Jan. 1. Bryant is joined by Alabama State, Appalachian State and New Orleans as one of four schools to have played just nine contests.
THE STATS ON STARKS
The leading scorer in the NEC and the team's leading scorer in 8-of-9 contests, senior guard Dyami Starks enters Saturday's game ranked 38th in the nation at 18.7 points per game. A big part of his scoring prowess comes from his deadliness beyond the arc, from which the senior captain accounts for nearly 61 percent (102) of his 168 points this season. Starks currently sits sixth in the national rankings for threes per game, draining 3.78 each time out. He also ranks 42nd in free throw percentage (.867, 1st in NEC), 31st in minutes per game (36.0, 2nd in NEC) and 67th in 3-point percentage (.395, 2nd in NEC).
HOLD ON TIGHT
As a team, the Bulldogs currently rank second in the nation in fewest turnovers, giving the ball away just 107 times. They rank 61st in the country and tops in the NEC with an 11.9 per-game average.
STARKS DRAINS 200TH TRIPLE, CLIMBS NEC'S ALL-TIME RANKINGS
Bryant senior guard Dyami Starks landed on some round numbers in early December when he became the 50th player in NEC history to reach 200 career 3-pointers. He hit the mark in a seven-point setback to Yale on Dec. 3, making 5-of-6 from beyond the arc to finish with a game-high 23 points. With 217 trifectas over the course of his career at Bryant (three seasons), Starks sits tied for 32nd in the conference's all-time rankings. To reach the top-20 by year's end, the Minnesota native would need to hit just 22 more treys. Already, Starks is Bryant's Division I leader in threes and ranks sixth on the all-time list, needing just four more to enter the top five. Including his rookie season at Columbia, Starks has 236 career trifectas.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs continue through their Northeast Conference schedule, staying in New York to take on league-favorite St. Francis Brooklyn Monday, Jan. 5 at 4:00 p.m. Monday's game can be seen live and free-of-charge at NECFrontRow.com.
