Game 21
Fairleigh Dickinson (6-14, 3-6 NEC) at Bryant (2-20, 1-8 NEC)
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2018
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Chace Athletic Center - Smithfield, R.I.
Coverage: NEC Front Row


The Series...Bryant leads 8-7
at Bryant...4-4
Last Five...2-3
Streak... W2
Last Meeting...FDU 72, Bryant 73 - OT (1/28/17 at Bryant)

The Knights begin a three-game road trip on Saturday in their first of two meetings this season against Bryant.

FDU COACHES TO TAKE PART IN SUITS AND SNEAKERS WEEK
Thousands of basketball coaches across the country -- including fifth-year head coach Greg Herenda and his FDU coaching staff -- will once again trade their dress shoes for sneakers to wear with their suits during the annual Coaches vs. Cancer Suits And Sneakers Week, January 22-28. Fans can also be part of the action by participating in a nationwide online auction featuring sneakers and ties signed by Division I basketball coaches.

Fans can also purchase a specially-designed pair of gold sneaker laces from longtime Coaches vs. Cancer partner Shoe Carnival – in stores and online. These laces honor the memory of Lacey Holsworth, an avid basketball fan who died of cancer at the age of eight in 2014. One hundred percent of the funds from the sale of laces will benefit both Coaches vs. Cancer (85% of proceeds) and Princess Lacey's Legacy (15% of proceeds), specifically to fight pediatric cancer.

For the past 25 years, the Coaches vs. Cancer program, in collaboration with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, has united coaches and fans nationwide to help the American Cancer Society defeat a common enemy – cancer. With your passion and dedicated support, the impact has been felt in communities nationwide. Through fundraising and education initiatives, the Coaches vs. Cancer program has supported the American Cancer Society in improving and saving lives from cancer in the US and worldwide. The fight isn't over, and we need you on our team. For more information and to join coaches in the fight against cancer, visit coachesvscancer.org.

Opening Tip: The Knights are looking three-game road skid when they take on the Bulldogs of Bryant who are 0-7 at home this season.
<> The largest margin of victory in the last five meetings between these teams in just five points with an average margin of 3.2 points per game.
<> The last two meetings have come down to a final shot with Bryant's Nisre Zouzoua hitting an overtime jumper in the waning seconds to win the last meeting at Bryant. Coincidentally, Zouzoua missed a game-tying 3-point try in the first meeting at FDU as time expired.
<> The Knights have played in their share of tight games in NEC action as the last eight have all been by single-digit margins.
<> Sophomore forward Kaleb Bishop is surging of late for FDU earning NEC Primetime Performer recognition and logging a double-double in his last game against St. Francis Brooklyn.
<> Without Zouzoua this season, the Bulldogs have scuffled to a 2-20 mark and one win in their last 17 outings. Much like the Knights, the Bulldogs have also played in their fair share of closely contested battles, with six consecutive single-digit margins of victory/defeat.
<> The team's last win came back on January 6 in a 79-74 win at Sacred Heart. Last time out, the Bulldogs suffered an 80-74 setback at home to CCSU. Senior Bosko Kostur and sophomore Ikenna Ndugba scored 22 points each, but the team's late comeback bid fell short.
<> The Bulldogs permit 82.4 points per game -- the highest rate in the NEC. Despite their struggles, they rank third in the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage at 34.9%.

Knights Last Time Out
The Knights cut a 16-point, second-half deficit down to three but was unable to surpass St. Francis Brooklyn in a 76-70 loss at the Rothman Center on Thursday night. Sophomore Kaleb Bishop recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and the Knights (6-14, 3-6 NEC) featured four players in double figures led by junior guard Darnell Edge's 18 points and a career-high 17 points by freshman guard Jahlil Jenkins. FDU forward Mike Holloway Jr. narrowly missed a double-double by scoring 14 points with nine rebounds to go along with three blocked shots.

The Knights, who boast a +2.3 turnover-margin, committed 12 first-half turnovers and 19 in total, while only nabbing one steal in the loss. Entering the game, the team ranked 14th in the nation with 8.5 steals per contest.

The Terriers (9-12, 6-3 NEC) started red-hot from downtown, connecting on seven of their first nine from distance and finished 10-of-24 from behind the arc. Despite losing the rebound battle 34-29, the Terriers' ball control led to 12 more field goal attempts than the Knights as they totaled 26-of-59 (44.1 percent) compared to FDU's 23-of-47 (48.9 percent).

Sophomore guard Rasheem Dunn scored 18 to pace the Terriers and added six rebounds and six assists to his ledger, while freshman guard Chauncey Hawkins scored 16 on 4-of-6 shooting and 6-of-8 at the line.

Herenda Postgame:
"We played the team that is arguably playing the best basketball in our league right now and we simply never played at their level tonight. We fought hard to have the ball with a chance to take the lead late in the game but made a costly turnover. St. Francis was just the better team tonight."
"Now we have a quick turnaround to get ready to win a conference road game and we need to play much better in every phase of the game to do that. We have to harden up and make the tough basketball plays that are necessary to win college basketball games and tonight we simply did not make enough of them."

Knights vs Bulldogs
Last Five Meetings:
1/28/17: FDU 72,  Bryant 73 (OT) (at Bryant)
1/7/17: FDU 87, Bryant 84 (at FDU)
2/11/16:  FDU 91, Bryant 77 (at Bryant)
1/4/16:   FDU 80, Bryant 85 (at FDU)
2/12/15: FDU 71, Bryant 74 (at FDU)

Last Meeting Recap:
With nine seconds remaining in overtime, Darnell Edge stole Bryant's inbound pass and found Earl Potts Jr., who raced ahead for the go-ahead layup, which briefly gave the Knights a 72-71 lead. On the ensuing possession, the NEC's leading scorer Nisre Zouzoua, delivered the heroics for Bryant (8-15, 5-5 NEC) as he pulled up just inside the 3-point line and nailed the long two-pointer, which resulted in the game-winner with 2.4 ticks to go in the 73-72 win. The Knights had one final chance but Darian Anderson's half-court heave ricocheted off the mark as the final horn sounded. The Knights (10-11, 8-2 NEC) shot 39.7 percent in the game but were unable to find the touch from 3-point range. After knocking down 5-of-15 (33.3%) in the first half, the team went 1-for-11 from downtown combined in the second half and overtime. The team was able to compensate for its struggles from behind the arc by netting a 16-of-19 (84.2%) performance at the free throw line and scoring 30 points in the paint.

All-Time Record: With the loss to St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday, the Knights all-time program record sits at .500 at 915-915.

Balanced Scoring: Four Knights are averaging double figures in scoring this season and freshman forward Noah Morgan is at 9.6 ppg. In 14 of the Knights' 20 games four or more players have scored in double figures.  The team has logged five in double figures three different times this season including seven double-digit scorers against Kean.

Kaleb's Rising: High-Flying sophmore forward Kaleb Bishop has started the last eight games for the Knights and poured in a career-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds on January 18 at CCSU. He followed that performance with his first double-double in the team's loss to St. Francis on Thursday night. Bishop earned NEC Primetime Performer honors last week after averaging 14.5 points and eight rebounds on 50 percent shooting. In addition, he is always a threat to make the highlight reel and recently made a SportsCenter Top 10 appearance after dunking on LIU Brooklyn.

Next Up: The Knights travel to Loretto, Pennsylvania to take on Saint Francis U next Thursday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m. That game will air on CBS Sports Network.