After several weeks of practice and scrimmages, the Fairfield University men's basketball team will finally have a chance to play someone outside the program when it hosts the University of Bridgeport on Friday night. The Stags and the Purple Knights will face off at the Webster Bank Arena at 7 pm.

The exhibition game has become an annual event as this will be the seventh straight meeting between Bridgeport and Fairfield. The Stags hold a 5-1 edge in the series that started with a 68-51 win in 2006. Fairfield posted a 97-70 win in last year's match up which was also the debut of Head Coach Sydney Johnson. The Purple Knights left the Arena with a victory in 2009 when they benefitted a 75-69 decision.

Fairfield comes off its third straight 20-win season as it finished the 2011-12 campaign with a 22-15 mark. The team also advanced to postseason play for the third consecutive year by accepting a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Stags reached the tournament semifinals by defeating Yale, Manhattan, and Robert Morris, the most postseason wins in a single tournament by any Fairfield team.

The team returns several student-athletes who were part of the starting lineup during the 2011-12 season, led by the backcourt of Derek Needham and Desmond Wade. Needham is the team's top returning scorer with an 11.8 scoring average and reached triple figures in assists for the third time by dishing off 100 assists over his 29 starts. Wade started 30 of his 32 appearances and was next in line with 97 assists in addition to averaging 6.3 points every forty minutes.

Maurice Barrow is the only returning player to start all 37 games last season, averaging 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Nickerson was the team's top shooter a year ago by making 52 percent of his field goal attempts which helped him average 4.7 points per game.

Bridgeport ended the 2011-12 season with a 19-10 overall record including an 8-6 mark on the road. The team finished the season strongly with 12 wins in its last 16 contests. The Purple Knights  won 12 of 16 conference games last year and were just one game off the .500 mark in non-conference outings at 7-8.

Darian David was the team's leading scorer last season with 19.2 points per game, one of four double-digit scorers for the Purple Knights. He was also the top three-point shooting threat with 52 long-range jumpers in 29 appearances. Lloyd Antoine will also be back for the Purple Knights in 2012-13, averaging 7.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

The Stags open the 2012-13 regular season on November 10 when they head to Hartford for the fourth annual Connecticut 6 Classic. Fairfield will play the third game in the tripleheader, battling Central Connecticut State University at the Chase Family Arena on the campus of the University of Hartford. Game time is slated for 8 pm.

To purchase Fairfield University basketball season tickets, please call the Athletics Ticket Office at (203) 254-4136. Single-game tickets are also available through www.ticketmaster.com as well as through the Webster Bank Arena box office.