Big Green Shoot for Fifth Straight Win at Bryant on Friday

DARTMOUTH (8-5)
at BRYANT (2-7)
Friday, Dec. 21, 2018 | 3 PM | NEC Front Row
Chace Athletic Center (2,600) | Smithfield, R.I.

• Dartmouth will be striving to win its fifth straight game for just the third time in the last 20 years when it plays at Bryant on Friday morning.
• Yes, I said morning as the Bulldogs are hosting over 1,000 children for an Education Day, much like the men did against Sacred Heart back on Dec. 10.
• The Big Green's most recent triumph came at Albany despite falling behind by as many as 16 in the first half before rallying for a 61-52 victory.
• The last time Dartmouth came back from a deficit so large was on March 6, 2015, when the Green set a school record by overcoming a 24-point hole against Brown in the final 14 minutes.
• Junior Brendan Barry was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for averaging 21.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists in three victories.
• Barry leads the nation in 3-point percentage (.558) — one of four Ivy Leaguers in the top 11 — and ranks 17th in made threes per game (3.7).
• Dartmouth's leading scorer, sophomore Chris Knight, had 16 points to match Barry at Albany for the team lead and ranks sixth in the Ivy League at 15.4 ppg. He also is second in the conference on the boards (7.8 rpg).
• The other three starters are all scoring in double figures as well — juniors James Foye (10.3 ppg) and Ian Sistare (10.2), as well as sophomore Adrease Jackson (10.0).
• As a team, the Big Green rank among the top 10 nationally in both 3-pointers made per game (11.5) as well as accuracy from the perimeter (41.8 percent).

Series vs. Bryant
• These two teams are meeting for the eighth straight year since starting the series in the 2011-12 campaign.
• Dartmouth won the initial encounter, 66-62, and reclaimed the series lead at 4-3 with a 75-58 triumph at Leede Arena last year.
• Brendan Barry had a season-high 25 points in the win last year with Miles Wright grabbing 13 rebounds and Will Emery 12 as the Big Green had their most rebounds of the year against the Bulldogs (45) for the second straight year.
• Dartmouth is 15-13 against current Northeast Conference schools, having beaten Sacred Heart already this year. The Green have played Bryant more often than any other program in the league.

Scouting the Bulldogs
• Bryant has struggled so far, but do have home victories against New Hampshire and Saint Peter's.
• Dartmouth is the fourth Ivy League opponent for the Bulldogs, who have lost the first three games by an average of 27.3 points.
• Last time out, Hartford handed Byrant a 91-74 home defeat, though SaBastian Townes went off for 34 points on 13-of-17 shooting while the rest of the team hit just 12-of-42 from the floor.
• Townes is only the team's third-leading scorer this year (12.9 ppg) with Adam Grant providing 16.3 ppg and Byron Hawkins 15.9.
• Both Grant and Hawkins are the main long-ball threats, though they have combined to hit just 31.0 percent (49-of-158).
• The Bulldogs defense has allowed opponents to shoot 52.2 percent overall and a whopping 47.1 percent from downtown.
• The opposition has also snared over seven more rebounds per game than Bryant.
• Jared Grasso (Quinnipiac '02) took over the reins (well, leash) of the Bulldogs as the program's eighth head coach. He spent the last eight years as an assistant at Iona, plus had nearly one full season as interim head coach at Fordham in 2009-10.

Four In A Row
With the 61-52 win at Albany on Dec. 15, Dartmouth enjoyed its first four-game win streak since the end of the 2014-15 regular season when the Green won five straight to finish fourth in the Ivy League and qualify for postseason play.

Barry Ivy Player of the Week
It was no surprise that the Ivy League chose Brendan Barry as its Player of the Week on Dec. 17 after the junior lit up three opponents for 21.3 ppg while averaging 5.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists in three victories. His award was the second straight for a Big Green player after Chris Knight took home the honor the week prior. Dartmouth had not had consecutive Player of the Week awards since the end of the 1994-95 season (Sea Lonergan and Jamie Halligan).

Sweet Sixteen Comeback
It looked as if Albany might avenge its 91-77 loss to Dartmouth at the Belfast Classic when the Great Danes jumped out to a 29-13 lead after 14 minutes of action on Dec. 15. But the Big Green gradually clawed their way back to earn a 61-52 victory. The Dartmouth defense shined in the second half, holding Albany to five points over a 12-minute stretch and just 22.6 percent shooting in the stanza, allowing the Green to overcome their largest deficit in a victory since being down 24 against Brown on March 6, 2015 with less than 14 minutes to play.

Above .500
The win over Albany boosted Dartmouth's record to 8-5, the best 13-game mark for the Big Green since the 1996-97 team was 10-3 en route to an 18-8 record. Dartmouth has not finished a season at .500 or better in 20 years (14-12 in 1998-99).

49 Percent Threshold Broken
Through the first 12 games, Dartmouth had won every game in which it shot at least 49 percent from the floor and lost every game when it did not. That trend came to an end at Albany as the Big Green shot just 41.5 percent (22-of-53) for the afternoon. But with their defense holding the Great Danes to 30 percent for the game, the lowest for a Division I opponent since Old Dominion hit just 28.8 percent on Nov. 30, 2016 (yet still beat Dartmouth, 59-47).

Board Games
Chris Knight has been a terror on the glass during the four-game win streak, averaging 10.5 rebounds in that span to move up to second in the Ivy League on the season with 7.8 rpg. Against Albany, his nine rebounds tied for the team lead with Ian Sistare, who increased his career high by 50 percent with the effort. You do the math to figure out what his high was previously. Gotta keep your brain limber!

Rai Déjà Vu
An injury during the offseason slowed Aaryn Rai during the first few weeks of the season, but the sophomore looked more like the player that started 17 games last season as a rookie when he came off the bench to provide six points and seven rebounds, as well as a pair of blocks — all season highs — in the win over Boston University. Two days later, he matched his point and rebound totals, but the glitch in the matrix was that he had only one blocked shot.

Lighting It Up
• Dartmouth ranks fifth in the nation in 3-pointers made (11.5 per game) and eighth in percentage as a team (.418) after struggling a bit at Albany, hitting just 7-of-24 from the perimeter.
• In eight of the first 13 games, the Big Green have hit at least 10 treys. The last season with at least that many games in double digits was the 2002-03 campaign (9) while the school record is 16 set the year prior (2001-02).
• The Big Green are well on pace to shatter the program record of 263 3-pointers made — set in that 2001-02 season — with 150 treys after just 13 games. At that rate, Dartmouth would finish the regular season with 346.
• Dartmouth started the year with four straight games with at least 10 3-pointers, its longest such streak since a six-game stretch in 2002.
• Brendan Barry leads the country at 55.8 percent (48-of-86) behind the arc while James Foye and Ian Sistare have both hit half of their attempts, but have not made quite enough triples to qualify for the rankings.
• The Big Green hit 22 trifectas in the season opener, breaking the team record of 18 set in a win over Albany on Jan. 20, 2001.
• Dartmouth has had 15 or more 3-pointers in a game three times this season after reaching that total just four times previously since the 3-point line was instituted 32 years ago.

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