GAME NOTES
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team looks to stay perfect through the first set of Northeast Conference tips Monday afternoon but will have to take down league-favorite St. Francis Brooklyn on the road to do so. The 4:00 p.m. tip from the Pope Center can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com.
THE SERIES
Monday's game marks the 10th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Terriers, with St. Francis Brooklyn holding a 6-3 edge after a series split last season. The Black and Gold are winless on the road against the Terriers in four previous meetings.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
The 7-7 Terriers enter Monday's NEC contest on a four-game winning streak, having most recently edged Sacred Heart, 73-71, Saturday in the league opener. Preseason all-conference pick Jalen Cannon leads St. Francis Brooklyn and averages nearly a double-double with 14.8 points and an NEC-best 9.9 rebounds per game while shooting just shy of 50 percent from the floor. Brent Jones also averages double-figure points at 13.8 points per outing and paces the side with 65 assists and a league-leading 33 steals. Andy Fall and Cannon account for 39 of the team's 63 blocks (20 and 19, respectively). As a unit, the Terriers shoot 39.7 percent from the floor and 28.5 percent from 3-point range with 39.7 rebounds each time out.
CURRENT BULLDOGS vs. ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
Six current Bulldogs have seen action against the Terriers in their careers, with three of them facing off against St. Francis Brooklyn more than once. Senior sharpshooter Dyami Starks averages an impressive 25.3 points per game in three career outings against the Terriers, including scoring 31 points in Bryant's 83-79 home win on Jan. 25, 2014. He has not been limited to fewer than 20 points in any of the three previous contests and has proven deadly from the floor (61.9 percent), from long distance (68.8 percent) and from the line (92.9 percent) against Monday's opponent. Senior guard Joe O'Shea averages 7.3 points per outing, also over three games, while junior point guard Shane McLaughlin scored 11 points in a pair of contests last season and has appeared against the Terriers three times. Junior Curtis Oakley, sophomore Dan Garvin and sophomore Ellis Williams have also seen limited minutes in a single appearance against St. Francis Brooklyn last season. Current Bulldogs are shooting a lifetime .521 (37-71) against the Terriers.
BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 1-0 against the Northeast Conference in 2014-15 with a 32-56 record (.364) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 46-73 (.387). Bryant finished 2013-14 NEC play with a 10-6 league record, earning the No. 3 seed in the 2014 NEC Tournament.
OPENING DAY
After Saturday's 67-63 comeback win over LIU Brooklyn, Bryant is now 3-3 in Northeast Conference openers since playing its first-official league slate during the 2009-10 campaign. The Bulldogs have now won the three most recent league debuts and are 2-2 when starting their league schedule away from home.
WINNING WITHOUT THE THREE
For the first time this season, the Bulldogs converted fewer than five 3-pointers in Saturday's contest over LIU Brooklyn, also marking a second-straight season low when it comes to accuracy from distance (3-17). But the two season lows didn't affect the Black and Gold, who simply got it done from inside the arc, starting off the first 10 minutes of the second half 8-for-12 from the floor without a single attempted three to close a 10-point gap and eventually take over the lead in the final five minutes. Bryant fired just four triples in the second half after taking 13 in the opening 20 minutes, draining two en route to the 67-63 victory.
ALL ABOARD
And while Bryant was less than stellar from beyond the arc, the Bulldogs were better than ever on the glass, besting their previous season high by 11 rebounds. Bryant's 45 boards fell just one shy of tying the program's Division I mark and were the most in a game since Feb. 24, 2011 (46 at LIU Brooklyn). The Black and Gold are 4-0 this season when winning the margin on the glass.
THE STATS ON STARKS
The leading scorer in the NEC and the team's leading scorer in 9-of-10 contests, senior guard Dyami Starks enters Monday's game ranked 28th in the nation at 19.3 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 58 percent (111) of his 193 points this season. Starks currently sits sixth in the national rankings for threes per game, draining 3.7 each time out. He also ranks 22nd in minutes per game (36:24, 2nd in NEC) and 64th in 3-point percentage (.398, 2nd in NEC). He needs just seven points against St. Francis Brooklyn to reach 200 on the year just 11 games into the 2014-15 season.
HOLD ON TIGHT
As a team, the Bulldogs currently rank second in the nation in fewest turnovers, giving the ball away just 118 times. They rank 63rd in the country and tops in the NEC with an 11.8 per-game average.
O'SHEA LEADS THE WAY
For the first time all season, someone other than senior guard Dyami Starks led the Bulldogs in points scored. On Dec. 31, fellow senior guard and co-captain Joe O'Shea scored a team-high 12 points at home against Dartmouth, 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) and has now led the Black and Gold offense in 9-of-10 outings this season after dropping in 25 in Saturday's 67-63 win at LIU Brooklyn. O'Shea has now scored 30 points over the last two contests (18 at LIU).
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 220 trifectas over the course of his career at Bryant (three seasons), Starks sits tied for 26th in the conference's all-time rankings. To reach the top-20 by year's end, the Minnesota native would need to hit just 19 more treys. Already, Starks is Bryant's Division I leader in threes and ranks sixth on the all-time list, needing just one more to enter the top five. Including his rookie season at Columbia, Starks has 239 career trifectas.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs return home to kick off a three-game homestand against NEC opponents and will next take on Saint Francis U. at the Chace Athletic Center on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7:00 p.m. Thursday's contest can be seen live and free-of-charge at NECFrontRow.com and heard on WOON 1240 AM.
