BRYANT RETURNS HOME TO PLAY YALE IN SECOND GAME OF DOUBLE-HEADER FRIDAY AFTERNOON
December 31, 2008
BRYANT RETURNS HOME TO PLAY YALE IN SECOND GAME OF DOUBLE-HEADER FRIDAY AFTERNOON
UPDATE
The Bulldogs return home this afternoon looking to
snap a nine-game skid against the Bulldogs from Yale University.
Tipoff is at 4 p.m. It will be a brief stop before heading back out
on the road next week to take on Long Island and Brown. In their
last outing, the Bulldogs dropped a 68-44 decision at Mount St.
Mary's Monday evening. Nick Pontes led the way with 12 points while
Sam Leclerc continued his strong play with nine points to go along
with a pair of assists and two steals. The freshman guard had 12
points against Maryland on Saturday, knocking down four three's.
Cecil Gresham continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging
15.1 points per game while hitting 30 three-pointers. The junior
had 14 points in 38 minutes against Maryland, and had a game-high
24 at Providence on Dec. 22. His 101 career three's made ties him
for sixth all time with Cullen McCarthy.
THE YALE BULLDOGS
Yale University visits the Chace Athletic Center this
afternoon for the first-ever matchup with Bryant. The Bulldogs will
be playing their ninth road contest out of their first 11 games of
the season. Yale is coming off a , 58-56, loss at Hampton on
Tuesday night and have now lost four straight. Earlier this season,
the Bulldogs went into Corvallis, OR and picked up an impressive
53-52 win over Oregon State. The squad's other victory came at home
against Holy Cross, knocking off the Crusaders, 76-66. Junior guard
Alex Zampier leads the way with 14.1 points per game while senior
forward Ross Morin is next with 13.3 to go along with 5.9 rebounds.
Zampier finished tied second in the Ivy League last season with 49
steals.
A SECOND HALF TEAM
The Bulldogs are averaging 5.5 points more per game
in the second half than the first half this season, scoring 28.8
points while shooting 37.8 percent from the floor and 34 percent
from three point land. In the first half, Bryant has had its
struggles, shooting at a clip of 34.8 percent from the floor and
just 29.6 percent from behind the arc while averaging 23.3 points.
Bryant has also minimized the rebounding differential in the second
half, going from a -7 differential in the first half to -3.5 in the
second half.
ON THE REBOUND
Bryant struggled on the boards through the first ten
games of the season, getting outrebounded by an average of 38 to
26.8 per game, surrendering 129 offensive rebounds in that stretch.
The Bulldogs have managed to outrebound just one time thus far this
season, beating Army 26-24 on the glass back on Dec. 8. Bryant has
also been better in the second half, getting outrebounded just 17.8
to 14.3. The squad beat Providence on the glass in the second half,
edging the Friars 11-9 without surrendering an offensive rebound,
and went even with Maryland, as each team pulled down 35 rebounds
apiece.
GRESHAM EXCELS IN SPOTLIGHT
Junior forward Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn. / MCI) averaged
21.7 points per game over a three game span while going 15-25 from
three-point range (60 percent) against Columbia, Quinnipiac and
UConn. The junior grabbed All-Tournament accolades at the Columbia
Classic for his 23 points per game effort. After struggling against
Albany and Iowa, Gresham scored a game-high 14 points while
knocking down four three's and grabbing a season-best seven
rebounds against Army, followed by a 14-point second half
performance against Boston College, including 5 three's and seven
more rebounds to finish with a team-high 19 points on the night.
After scoring a game-high 24 points against Providence, Gresham
showed his dominance against the New England Big Three (UConn, BC,
Providence) averaging 20.7 points and five rebounds per game while
hitting 13 three's. In six games against BCS schools (Iowa,
Rutgers, BC, Providence, Maryland and UConn), Gresham has averaged
15.8 points and four boards per game.
TAKING AIM AT THE RECORD BOOK
Cecil Gresham needs just one more three to pass
Cullen McCarthy for 6th on the Bryant all-time list for
three-pointers made in a career. Gresham currently has 101 made
three-pointers in just his junior year.
WELCOME TO DIVISION I: DIFFICULT DECEMBER
The Bulldogs jump right into a difficult Division I
schedule this season as they face three teams from the Big East
(UConn, Rutgers, Providence), two from the ACC (Boston College,
Maryland) and one from the Big Ten (Iowa) with five of those games
coming in December. Bryant will also play defending Ivy League
Champion, Cornell, as well as each team from the Northeast
Conference. So far, the Bulldogs have fallen to UConn (88-58), Iowa
(61-36), BC (80-61), Rutgers (67-37), Providence (91-64) and
Maryland (72-51). However, the team will see some relief on the
horizon as they finish up the season playing 9 of their final 18
games at home after starting off the year on the road for 10 of
their first 12 contests.
