Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Basketball Back in Action Saturday at Cornell
12/14/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2006
WHAT: Bucknell (3-5) vs. Cornell (4-4)
WHERE: Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y.
WHEN: Saturday, December 16, 2006, 3:30 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
LIVE VIDEO: CornellBigRed.com
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Two teams eager to get back in action meet on Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena. Bucknell and Cornell are both coming off extended layoffs for final exams. For the Bison, it has been 13 days since their most recent outing, a 60-57 victory over George Mason at the BB&T Classic in Washington, D.C. Even though the break came after a 3-1 stretch, Bucknell needed the rest. The Bison had played four games in eight days, including a grueling back-to-back against Northern Iowa and George Mason. Meanwhile, it has been 14 days since Cornell last took the floor in a 73-68 overtime loss to William & Mary in the championship game of the Tribe's Tip-Off Classic. The Big Red began the year 3-1, including a nice road win at Northwestern to start the campaign, but they dropped 3 of 4 prior to the hiatus for exams.
with a victory over cornell, bucknell would ...
-- ... win for the fourth time in five games and improve to 4-5 on the season.
-- ... win its third straight game against the Big Red.
-- ... win its sixth straight against Ivy League competition.
-- ... give head coach Pat Flannery his 299th career victory.
bucknell vs. cornell last season
In a season of many outstanding performances, the Bison authored one of their most complete efforts last Dec. 17 in an 83-39 victory over Cornell at Sojka Pavilion. A dozen different Bucknell players scored, led by 12 points each from Jason Vegotsky and Chris McNaughton. The Bison made 20 of 29 shots from the floor en route to a Sojka Pavilion-record 51-point first half. They led 51-17 at the break and held Cornell to 13 field goals in the game.
last time out
Donald Brown had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Bucknell to a strong 60-57 victory over 2006 Final Four participant George Mason on Dec. 3 at the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The victory was all the more impressive considering the Bison had wrapped up a hard-fought game against Northern Iowa less than 24 hours earlier in Lewisburg, while the Patriots had six days rest and were playing only about a half-hour from home. Bucknell looked like the fresher team in the first half, using a 13-2 run to take a 16-point lead at 33-17. George Mason got back in it in the second half, but two huge jumpers from Abe Badmus, a late 3-pointer from John Griffin and good free-throw shooting down the stretch helped the Bison prevail.
inside the george mason boxscore
-- The Bison shot 52.8% from the field and made 8 of 16 3-point attempts, while holding George Mason to 41.8% shooting and a 7-for-21 showing from the arc.
-- Donald Brown went 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line.
-- Guards Abe Badmus and John Griffin, who handled the bulk of the ballhandling duties, did not commit a turnover in a combined 66 minutes of action.
-- Defensively the Bison held George Mason leading scorer John Vaughan, who came in averaging 15.2 points per game, to six points on 3-for-11 shooting (0-for-6 from 3-point range). Center Will Thomas (13.8 ppg), who was shooting 67.5 percent from the field entering the game, finished with eight points on 4-for-12 shooting.
-- It was Bucknell's first appearance in the BB&T Classic and its first game at the Verizon Center, which is the home of the Washington Wizards.
-- The Bison finished with a 29-24 rebounding edge.
bucknell vs. final four teams
Bucknell's most recent game against George Mason was the first time in 45 years it had played a team that had been in the Final Four the previous season. It was the first time the Bison defeated a reigning Final Four team since 1959 when they knocked off Temple. Bucknell is now 2-2 all-time against defending Final Four teams.
Date/Opponent Result Opponent the Previous Year 12/3/06 vs. George Mason W, 60-57 Patriots lost to Florida in Final Four 12/2/61 vs. Saint Joseph's L, 79-49 Hawks lost to Ohio State in Final Four 2/5/59 vs. Temple W, 79-72 Owls lost to Kentucky in Final Four 1/5/55 vs. Penn State L, 94-45 Nittany Lions lost to La Salle in Final Four
on the road again
Saturday's game at Cornell is the second in a run of six straight road/neutral site games for the Bison, who will not play at home again until opening Patriot League play on Jan. 6 against Navy. Bucknell had only two home games scheduled for November and December (Wake Forest, Northern Iowa). After the game against the Big Red, this pre-Christmas road stretch will continue next week with two tough ones at Xavier, which has been ranked in the top 25 this year, and Texas Tech. If Texas Tech wins at Arkansas on Saturday, coach Bobby Knight will look to tie Dean Smith's all-time victory record against Bucknell on Dec. 23 (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m. ET).
lineup change
Coach Pat Flannery tweaked the starting lineup last time out against George Mason. In an effort to get an extra ballhandler on the floor, sophomore guard Jason Vegotsky made his first career start. Junior forward Darren Mastropaolo came off the bench for the first time this season. The move paid dividends for the Bison, as Vegotsky opened the scoring for Bucknell with back-to-back 3-pointers, while Mastropaolo was a defensive spark off the bench, particularly in keeping George Mason's star center Will Thomas in check.
griffin's free-throw streak still intact
Junior guard John Griffin officially went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line against George Mason, keeping him perfect on the season (16-for-16) and extending his streak to 29 straight charity tosses. The Bucknell record is 39 in a row, set by Bo Heiden in 1986-87. Griffin's streak appeared to be over, however, when he went 1-for-2 from the line after an intentional foul in the first half against GMU. However, the officials mistakenly sent the wrong player to the line, and Griffin's miss was stricken from the record.
comeback kids
On Nov. 29, the Bison pieced together their best comeback victory in recent memory at Saint Francis (Pa.). The Bison trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, they were down 13 in the second half and were still down by eight with 2:55 to play before finishing the game on a 14-2 run for a 60-56 win.
reminiscing
Two of Bucknell's critical plays in the final minute of the comeback win at Saint Francis were eerily similar to the winning plays in the team's NCAA Tournament wins in 2005 and 2006. In Bucknell's very first NCAA triumph over Kansas in 2005, Chris McNaughton hit the go-ahead jump hook in the lane with 10.5 seconds left. Against Saint Francis, there was more time remaining (40 seconds) and he was closer to the hoop, but it was another McNaughton jump hook that proved to be the game-winner. In last year's NCAA victory over Arkansas, Abe Badmus went to the foul line with seven seconds left and a two-point lead, and he made both free throws to ice the victory. Against Saint Francis, he walked to the stripe with a two-point lead and three ticks left and again put the game away with two clutch free throws.
second-half resurgence
In each of its two recent road victories over Yale and Saint Francis, Bucknell has put together impressive second halves. The Bison outscored Yale 41-28 after the break, then had a 38-24 edge in the second half against Saint Francis. In those two halves combined, Bucknell has shot 58.1% from the field while holding its opponents to 30.2% shooting.
castleberry a spark off bench
Sophomore guard Justin Castleberry had not seen much significant playing time prior to the fifth game of the season at Yale, but as coach Pat Flannery continued to take a look at different player combinations, Castleberry got his first extended look and certainly made the most of it. In 18 minutes on the floor, he made his first career 3-pointer, went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and scored a career-high 11 points. Coming into the contest, Castleberry had six career points and had never played more than six minutes in any game. He is averaging 15.3 minutes per game since the Yale game and appears to have secured a permanent spot in the guard rotation.
scoring balance
Bucknell is currently the only Patriot League team that does not have a player with a double-digit scoring average, but the Bison have gotten good scoring balance in the early going. The team has six players averaging at least 6.8 points per game, and nine different players have scored 10 points in a game at least once. Donald Brown (9.4 ppg) took over the team scoring lead after his 16-point performance against George Mason, making him the sixth different player to lead the team in scoring this year.
mcnaughton joins 1,000/500 club
Senior center Chris McNaughton needed six rebounds against George Mason for 500 in his career, and he hit that number on the button. McNaughton surpassed the 1,000-point mark during his junior season, and he is now just the 16th player in school history to own 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton recently surpassed the 1,200-point mark in his career. With 1,231 points, he ranks 12th on Bucknell's career list, and he is now 96 points behind J.R. Holden (1,327) for 11th.
-- McNaughton needs four field goals to become the ninth player in Bucknell history to have 500 career buckets.
-- Abe Badmus now ranks second on Bucknell's career steals list (182). He needs 104 thefts to catch Mike Bright (286) for the school record. Against Yale Badmus recorded his 300th career assist. His total of 309 helpers now ranks seventh in school history, two shy of sixth-place Dan Blankenship.
-- Pat Flannery needs two victories for 300 in his career.
-- John Griffin needs to make 10 free throws in a row to tie Bo Heiden's school record of 39 straight.
-- Donald Brown needs 15 points for 600 in his career.
-- In a three-game span, McNaughton played in his 100th career game at Saint Francis, Brown played in his 100th game against Northern Iowa and Badmus hit the century mark against George Mason.
home, sweet home
Bucknell was 14-1 at home last season and is 26-4 in Sojka Pavilion since the start of the 2004-05 season. The Bison had a 13-game overall home winning streak end with the loss to Wake Forest, but they still have a 27-game run against league foes. All told, the Bison are 39-9 (.813) in Sojka Pavilion since debuting in the new facility on Jan. 15, 2003.
road warriors
Last season Bucknell tied its school record with 11 road victories en route to an 11-3 record on enemy hardwood. The 1983-84 team also won 11 road contests, but no other team has reached double digits since 1927-28. The Bison are scheduled to play at least 15 regular-season away contests in 2006-07.
patriot league all-access live video streaming
The Patriot League and College Sports Television Online announced that more than 100 men's and women's basketball games will be shown live on the Internet as part of the new Patriot League All-Access package beginning in January 2007. Nearly every intraleague contest, including Bucknell's men's and women's games, will be available through video streaming on www.PatriotLeague.com and www.BucknellBison.com. The Patriot League All-Access package is available for $6.95 per month. The monthly fee allows a subscriber to watch any Patriot League basketball games that are part of the package. The first games will be streamed on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007. Bucknell's men's and women's teams take on Navy in a doubleheader at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. that day.
who's got next?
Bucknell will fly to Cincinnati on Monday in advance of Wednesday evening's contest at Xavier. The Musketeers started the season 7-1 and moved into the Top 25, but they have since lost two straight on the road to Creighton and Cincinnati. Xavier takes on Arizona State at home on Saturday evening before hosting the Bison on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Cintas Center. Bucknell will travel from Cincinnati to Lubbock, Texas for Saturday's ESPN2-televised matchup with Texas Tech.
