THE MATCHUP:
St. Francis Brooklyn vs. Bryant
Thursday, January 3, at 7 p.m.
Smithfield, RI
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The Terriers (8-5) travel to Smithfield, RI to open up their 2019 Northeast Conference (NEC) slate against Bryant (3-8). St. Francis Brooklyn is set to play a nine-week, 18-game round-robin schedule, beginning on Thursday, January 3, and ending on Saturday, March 2. The top eight teams from the regular season will advance to the NEC Tournament. The Terriers enter conference play with the most wins in the league and are the only team over the .500 mark. They picked up a 72-56 win over Manhattan in their last contest on December 23. The Terriers are winners of six out of their last eight games. The Bulldogs battled for 40 minutes with No. 24 ranked Iowa on December 29, but were edged, 72-67. Thursday's game marks the second time in the past three years that the Terriers and Bulldogs will open up league play against one another.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
St. Francis Brooklyn has an 11-6 record against Bryant dating to their first meeting in the 2008-09 season. The Terriers swept the season series from the Bulldogs last season as they picked up an 85-80 win at home on January 20 and then followed it up with a 73-69 victory in Smithfield on February 1. In their last meeting on February 1, 2018, the Terriers were paced by
Glenn Sanabria who poured in a team-high 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and knocked down 2-of-3 from long range. He dished out six assists and pulled down three rebounds in 29 minutes. The Terriers are 4-1 in their last five meetings with Bryant.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Terriers used a strong second half to defeat Manhattan, 72-56, and close out their non-conference slate with eight wins, the most among NEC teams. St. Francis Brooklyn put forth another gritty effort on its home court en route to its fifth win at the Pope Physical Education Center this season. The Terriers improved to a perfect 5-0 on their home floor and are now 15-3 in games at the Pope dating back to the start of last season.
NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES:
The eight non-conference wins are the most for the Terriers since they posted nine during the 2013-14 season. The Terriers are 5-0 at home during non-conference play. St. Francis Brooklyn recorded the most non-conference wins in the NEC, the most home wins (five), were tied for the most road wins (three), had the most wins by 10 or more points (five), and were the only team over .500. The Terriers were on a three-game winning streak from November 24 to December 3. It was the longest winning streak for the Terriers since they won four-straight (Feb. 18-27) to close out the 2015-16 season.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS:
After winning three games in 2017-18, Bryant has already matched that win total with three this season under first-year head coach Jared Grasso. The Bulldogs have been paced by a trio of players scoring in double figures. Adam Grant leads the way with 16.5 points per game, which is good for sixth in the league. Byron Hawkins is tallying 13.6 points per game, and SaBastian Townes is averaging 13.1 points per contest. Freshman guard Joe Kasperzyk has been named the NEC Rookie of the Week in each of the past two weeks.
ROAD WARRIORS COME OUT TO PLAY:
The Terriers are 3-4 in seven road game this season and won three-straight road contests (Nov. 18-28) before falling at NJIT on December 8. With the three wins on the road, the Terriers have already matched their 2017-18 total for road wins. The three road victories are the most for the Terriers since the 2015-16 season when they posted six wins away from the Pope Physical Education Center.
NCAA NET RANKINGS:
St. Francis Brooklyn ranks 197th and first among NEC members in the latest NCAA NET rankings (Dec. 30, 2018). The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive, and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.
NEC RANKINGS:
The Terriers have allowed the second-fewest points per game (70.3 ppg), and have the best scoring margin (+2.2) in the NEC this season. St. Francis Brooklyn has been the second-toughest team in the conference to shoot against, opposing teams are just shooting 43.4 percent from the field against the Terriers. Opposing teams are shooting only 30.5 percent from behind the arc which is the lowest mark in the conference. St. Francis Brooklyn is the second-best rebounding offense (39.9 rpg) and have the fourth-best rebounding margin (+1.5) in the league. The Terriers are the best defensive rebounding team in the conference averaging 28.2 per game. As a team, the Terriers are blocking 4.6 shots per game and have swatted away 60 shots. They lead the league in both blocks and blocks per game. They are averaging the third-most made threes per game (8.8) and have made the second-most in the league (114).
Jalen Jordan ranks ninth in the NEC in scoring (15.5 ppg), Hawkins is 19th (13.6 ppg), and Sanabria ranks tied for 22nd in scoring (11.0 ppg). Jordan is shooting 45.2 percent from three, which is the best mark in the league. He has knocked down 42 threes and is averaging 3.2 makes from threes per game. Jordan is second in the league in made threes per game and second in total three-pointers.
Christian Rohlehr is second in the NEC in blocks per game (1.6) and second in total blocks (19).
GS1K:
Graduate guard
Glenn Sanabria scored his 1,000th career point in a win over Niagara on November 24. Sanabria became the 32nd player to join the Terriers' 1,000-point club and the first since Brent Jones did so on February 5, 2015, against Central Connecticut. He currently is in 25th place on the Terriers' all-time scoring list with 1,085 points. The next member of the 1,000-point club that he is chasing is Cliff Strong with a total of 1,090 in 24th place.
TERRIERS COACHING RECORDS:
St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball head coach
Glenn Braica passed Rody Cooney for third place on the program's all-time wins list for victories by a head coach. Braica has compiled 123 wins over his nine seasons on Remsen Street. Braica is just one of four Terriers' head coaches to win over 100 games in their career.
TERRIERS INK QUARTLEBAUM:
On November 16, St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball announced the signing of Trey Quartlebaum. Quartlebaum is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard from Lawrence, KS and attends Lawrence High School. He is originally from Dobbs Ferry, NY and plays AAU ball for KC Run GMC. The guard averaged 13.0 points per game during his junior year at Lawrence and was a Kansas 6A All-State Honorable Mention.
UP NEXT:
The Terriers take a short trip over the Verrazano Bridge to take on Wagner in Staten Island, NY, on Saturday, January 5, at 4 p.m.
