Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Looks to Stay Hot Tuesday Night in Hamilton
1/29/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2007
WHAT: Bucknell (12-8, 6-1) vs. Colgate (7-13, 2-5)
WHERE: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
WHEN: Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius 118
LIVE ONLINE VIDEO: Patriot League All-Access
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Coming off two of its most complete performances of the 2006-07 season in home victories over Lehigh and Army -- the Patriot League's third- and fourth-place teams -- Bucknell now hits the road for three straight beginning Tuesday night at Colgate. The Bison have won four straight, seven of their last eight and 12 of their last 16. Defense has been a major key of late. On their recent three-game homestand they allowed an average of only 43.0 points per game, including a season-low 36 against Colgate in a 14-point win 10 days ago. The Raiders snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday with a 66-58 win over Navy in Annapolis, despite playing without No. 2 scorer Kendall Chones and talented forward Alex Woodhouse, who were both out with illnesses. Guard Jon Simon continues to lead the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg.
with a victory over colgate, bucknell would ...
-- ... win its season-high fifth game in a row.
-- ... improve to 13-4 since an 0-4 start.
-- ... win its 6th straight game against the Raiders.
-- ... win its 3rd straight game at Cotterell Court.
-- ... improve to 32-4 in Patriot League play since the start of the 2004-05 season.
bucknell vs. colgate all-time
In a series that dates back to 1920, Bucknell leads 48-38. The Bison have swept each of the last two season series and have beaten Colgate five straight times. As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 27 of the 38 meetings, including 9 of 16 in Hamilton.
bucknell vs. colgate earlier this season
In its best defensive performance of the year, Bucknell held Colgate to 26.7% shooting, including an 0-for-14 showing from 3-point range, in a 50-36 victory at Sojka Pavilion just 10 days ago. The Bison led by three at 31-28 with 14:57 to play but held the Raiders to only one more field goal the rest of the way while pulling away. Chris McNaughton led all players with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Donald Brown posted 11 points, six boards and five assists. Kendall Chones led Colgate with nine points.
bucknell vs. colgate last season
The Bison took two from the Raiders a year ago, one a lopsided decision at home, the other a hard-fought, come-from-behind win on the road.
-- On Jan. 21 at Sojka Pavilion, Chris McNaughton scored 16 points and Donald Brown had 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench to lead Bucknell to a 62-43 victory. The Bison held Colgate to 34.0% shooting and only two field goals in the last 10:18 of the game. Alvin Reed and Kyle Roemer scored 11 points apiece to lead the Raiders.
-- On Feb. 4 at Cotterell Court, the Bison trailed by 12 points in the second half but rallied for a 68-59 win behind 17 points from Kevin Bettencourt and 13 points and seven assists from Charles Lee. The Bison started 2-for-17 from the field to fall behind, but then went 14-for-21 in the second half, when they outscored Colgate 48-31. Roemer led all scorers with 19 for the Raiders.
last time out
Bucknell rode a spectacular first half to a 74-49 win over Army at sold-out Sojka Pavilion on Saturday night. The Bison ran out to a 26-6 lead and went to the locker room ahead 43-15. Bucknell held Army to six first-half field goals, and at the other end the Bison made 7-of-10 3-point tries and shot 65.2% overall. Donald Brown and Jason Vegotsky led the team with 12 points apiece.
inside the army boxscore
-- No Bucknell player saw more than 27 minutes of action, and 11 played at least eight minutes.
-- Bucknell shot a season-best 57.1% from the floor against an Army team that came in leading the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense.
-- Bucknell shot over 50% from 3-point range (9-17) for the second time this season (11-21 at Xavier).
-- The Bison held a 34-22 rebounding edge. During their current four-game winning streak, Bucknell has outrebounded its opponents 145-96 (+49).
-- Abe Badmus went 3-for-3 from 3-point range, all in the first half. Badmus had not made more than one trey in a game all year until combining for five in the last two games.
-- Bucknell defeated Army for the 13th straight time overall and 11th straight time at home.
-- Bucknell's bench combined for 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
-- The Bison did not allow Army to score back-to-back points until there was 12:44 left in the game.
roarin' 30's
Since the start of the 2002-03 season, Bucknell has now held an opponent to 39 points or less nine times and 49 points or less 30 times.
dee-fense!
The Bison are coming off their three best defensive showings of the season in wins over Colgate, Lehigh and Army. In those three games Bucknell yielded a total of 129 points on 45-for-146 (.308) shooting from the floor and 13-for-56 (.232) shooting from 3-point range. The Bison have now retaken the Patriot League lead and rank 16th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 59.2 ppg.
odd stat of the day
One would expect teams to shoot better from the free-throw line at home than on the road, but the opposite has been the case for Bucknell this season. In home games, the Bison are shooting 63.7% from the line, while in away games they are much better at 74.7%. The biggest difference can be found in Bucknell's two starting frontcourt players, Chris McNaughton (52.8% at home, 73.0% away) and Donald Brown (58.1% home, 74.2% away).
success when getting to the line
Bucknell has shot more free throws than its opponent 11 times this season and is 10-1 in those games. In Patriot League play, the Bison have outscored their seven opponents 109-67 from the stripe.
righting the ship
Bucknell got off to a frustrating 0-4 start this season, with two of the losses coming in overtime to Wake Forest and Penn State. Since then, however, the Bison are 12-4, with three of those setbacks coming to teams (Northern Iowa, Texas Tech, Holy Cross) with a combined 46-18 record. Since the 0-4 start, Bucknell has quality non-league wins over Xavier and George Mason. Three times they have come back from double-digit deficits to win (Saint Francis, Cornell, Lafayette), and five times they have won by 14 or more points, including each of the last three.
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton how has 1,362 points, and he moved into eighth place on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 11 points Saturday against Army. He is 137 points behind Bill Courtney for the No. 7 spot.
-- Abe Badmus just became only the second player in Bucknell history to record 200 career steals. He is 86 thefts shy of the school record set by Mike Bright (286) from 1989-93. Badmus has also moved into fifth place on the school chart with 345 career assists. He needs 54 more to catch Cal Puriefoy for fourth place.
-- Against Texas Tech, John Griffin became the 12th player in school history to record 100 career 3-pointers (he now has 111, which is tied for ninth-most in school history).
-- Donald Brown recorded his 100th career steal against Lehigh and needs 22 to crack the top 10 on Bucknell's career list.
who's got next?
Bucknell's three-game road trip continues on Friday with a late-night (9 p.m.) affair against Navy at Alumni Hall. The game will be televised live on ESPNU. Bucknell topped Navy 59-51 to open Patriot League play on Jan. 6.
