Nov. 17, 2009
WHAT: Bucknell (1-2) vs. Delaware (0-1)
WHERE: Bob Carpenter Center, Newark, Del.
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 18
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
LIVE STATISTICS: BlueHens.com
Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win Over Delaware, the Bison Would ...
... win their second straight game and improve to 2-2 on the season.
... avenge a home loss to the Blue Hens last season.
... improve to 52-34 all-time against the Blue Hens.
About The Game
After playing three games in about 43 hours over the weekend at the World Vision Invitational in Providence, the Bison are back on the road Wednesday night taking on former East Coast Conference and Middle Atlantic Conference rival Delaware. This is Bucknell's return trip to Delaware after the Blue Hens were sent to Lewisburg for a BracketBusters game last February. The Bison are 1-2 on the season after dropping back-and-forth affairs to Mercer and Providence and defeating Bryant. Delaware has played once so far, falling at home to Temple, 76-56, on Saturday. Junior guard Jawan Carter, who scored 26 points in a win over Bucknell last season, led the Blue Hens with 17 against Temple. In that game Delaware shot 25.0% from the floor in the first half and fell behind 40-19 at the break. Bucknell's top scorer is Bryan Cohen at 15.3 ppg.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Delaware game will not be televised. The game can be heard locally on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Ed Sigl on the call. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off. The audio feed is available free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com. Live statistics are available through BlueHens.com.
Bucknell vs. Delaware Series Notes
Bucknell and Delaware have met 85 times previously, with the Bison holding a 51-34 series lead. Many of those matchups came as conference rivals, as Bucknell and Delaware played together in both the Middle Atlantic Conference (1958-74) and the East Coast Conference (1974-90).
Bucknell is 34-10 all-time against Delaware in Lewisburg and 17-23 in Newark. Bucknell's last trip to Delaware came during the 1995-96 season, a game won by the Blue Hens 73-64.
Last season the two teams were paired up for a BracketBusters matchup at Sojka Pavilion. That was the first time the Bison and Blue Hens had met since the 1996-97 season. Last year's game was a frustrating one for the Bison, who were in complete control of the game for about 33 minutes, only to see Delaware score the final 25 points of the game to win 81-68. With seven minutes to play Bucknell was ahead 68-56 and was shooting 52.1% from the field. From that point on, however, the Bison went 0-for-11 with five turnovers and Delaware took advantage. Patrick Behan led Bucknell with 23 points while G.W. Boon added 16 and Bryan Cohen 11. Jawan Carter scored 26 points to lead the Blue Hens.
Bucknell's last win came on Dec. 4, 1996 in Davis Gym, 81-57. Gordon Mboya scored 26 points and J.R. Holden added 24 in that victory. The Mike Brey-led Blue Hens had just beaten Florida 88-78 at the San Juan Shootout before coming to Lewisburg.
Bucknell was 2-1 against Delaware in ECC postseason play, including an 81-71 first-round win 1987. The Bison went on to win the title and secure its first-ever NCAA bid that season.
Bucknell vs. The CAA
Bucknell is 106-76 against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association, with most of those games coming against former conference rivals Delaware (51-34), Hofstra (19-10), Towson (17-8) and Drexel (15-15). The Bison are also 3-6 against George Mason, 1-2 against Old Dominion and 0-1 vs. James Madison. Bucknell went 2-1 against the CAA last season, defeating Old Dominion (83-82, 2OT) and Drexel (81-75) before falling to Delaware (81-68).
Familiar Faces
Delaware redshirt-freshman forward Kelvin McNeil is a former teammate of Bucknell guard Darryl Shazier at Menchville High School in Newport News, Va. McNeil, who sat out last season due to a shoulder injury, had six points and three rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench against Temple.
This will actually be the third time the Bison have faced Blue Hens star guard Jawan Carter. Carter started in the Saint Joseph's backcourt three years ago before transferring to Delaware. In St. Joe's 63-53 win over Bucknell on Nov. 19, 2006 in Philadelphia, Carter played 35 minutes and tallied eight points (2-8 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT), two rebounds, two steals and four turnovers. He then had 26 points for Delaware against the Bison last season.
Recapping the Weekend
Bucknell played three games in three days at the World Vision Invitational in Providence, R.I., over the weekend and went 1-2. The Bison played very well in large stretches against two talented teams in Providence and Mercer, only to come away with losses. Then in the final game against Bryant, the Bison really struggled at times on short rest against a transitioning Division I team, but came away with the victory anyway.
In the season opener on Friday, Mercer prevailed 89-80 in a back-and-forth offensive shootout. There were 10 lead changes in the second half alone, but Bucknell just could not get enough stops down the stretch and Mercer closed it out with some good free-throw shooting. Freshman Bryson Johnson scored a team-high 18 points in his collegiate debut, while Bryan Cohen and Darryl Shazier had 17 each. All-America candidate James Florence, the No. 2 active scorer in Division I basketball, had 33 for Mercer.
On Saturday night the Bison gave Big East foe Providence fits before falling 76-65. The game was much closer than the final score indicates, however, as Bucknell led or was tied for more than 25 of the 40 minutes. The game was tied with 7:25 to play and it was just a four-point game with 2:30 left, but a key 3-pointer by Sharaud Curry just after a Bison turnover stretched the Friars' lead to nine with 90 seconds remaining. Cohen led the Bison with 18, while Curry had 17 to lead Providence.
In a noon start on Sunday, Bucknell cracked the win column with a 59-56 verdict over Bryant, which had been blown out by Providence and Mercer the two previous nights. This one seemed headed that way when the Bison took a 39-19 lead with 14 minutes to play, but a 21-4 run by the Bulldogs brought them all the way back within three by the eight-minute mark. A drawn charge and five straight points by Cohen stemmed the tide, however, and the Bison held on. Freshman Mike Muscala led the team in scoring with 12 points, while Cohen and Johnson had 11 each. Cecil Gresham had 26 for Bryant, 17 in the second half.
Freshman Contributions
Three of Bucknell's five freshman made major contributions in Providence, and all three had at least one double-digit scoring game.
Forward Joe Willman earned a starting assignment. He had six points and three rebounds against Mercer; 11 points and six boards against Providence; and four points and six rebounds in the win over Bryant.
Guard Bryson Johnson made the biggest splash on opening night. He made six of his first eight 3-point attempts and finished with a team-high 18 points. He was kept off the scoreboard against Providence, but then came back to hit three more treys against Bryant and scored 11 points. Johnson was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday for his efforts.
Center/forward Mike Muscala battled foul trouble on opening night against Mercer and finished with two points in 11 minutes. He had two points and three rebounds in 22 minutes against Providence, then he had his best game yet against Bryant, totaling a team-high 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes. In the Bryant win he hit a critical jumper off an inbounds play and also blocked a shot down the stretch.
In Good Company
Bryson Johnson's 18 points on opening night were tied for third-most by a Bucknell freshman on opening night.
Player Points Year Opponent
Bob Barry 28 1976 Bloomsburg
Mike Bright 20 1989 Susquehanna
Bryson Johnson 18 2009 Mercer
John Griffin 18 2004 Princeton
Jeff Werner 18 1974 South Carolina
Barry and Bright currently rank No. 2 and 3, respectively, on Bucknell's all-time scoring list and are both in the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame. Griffin was also a 1,000-point scorer at Bucknell.
Cohen Earns All-Tournament Honors
Sophomore Bryan Cohen was named to the All-Tournament Team at the World Vision Invitational. He averaged 15.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in the three games, while shooting a crisp 64.3% (9-14) from 3-point distance.
Cohen's Second-Half Success
In the three games at the World Vision Invitational, Bryan Cohen did the majority of his damage in the second halves of games. He scored 35 of his 46 points and made 6 of 8 3-point attempts after halftime.
Opponent Cohen Half 1 Cohen Half 2 Total
Mercer 2 (1-3 FG, 0-0 3FG) 15 (4-7 FG, 3-3 3FG) 17 (5-10 FG, 3-3 3FG)
Providence 6 (2-3 FG, 2-3 3FG) 12 (5-9 FG, 2-4 3FG) 18 (7-12 FG, 4-7 3FG)
Bryant 3 (1-4 FG, 1-3 3FG) 8 (2-6 FG, 1-1 3FG) 11 (3-10 FG, 2-4 3FG)
Total 11 (4-10 FG, 3-6 3FG) 35 (11-22 FG, 6-8 3FG) 46 (15-32 FG, 9-14 3FG)
Cohen on Frosh Scoring Chart
Bryan Cohen scored 353 points last season, the fourth-highest total ever by a Bucknell freshman. Only Gerald Purnell (467 in 1974-75), Bob Barry (441 in 1976-77) and Al Leslie (367 in 1977-78) scored more as freshmen.
Sure-Handed Shazier
Darryl Shazier led the Patriot League in both assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio last season, and he appears to have picked up where he left off in 2009-10. Playing 108 of a possible 120 minutes, Shazier had 14 assists and only two turnovers in the three games over the weekend. Bucknell faced constant full-court pressure against Providence, and Bucknell did not turn the ball over once against the press. Shazier had only one turnover against the Friars, that coming in a halfcourt set.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's opening week of play:
Bucknell attempted 189 fewer free throws than its opponents last season, but so far this year it has been dead even. The Bison attempted 62 free throws in the three games in Providence, the same number as its opponents.
Bucknell outrebounded two of its first three opponents. Providence had a major edge — 46-31 overall and 24-13 on the offensive glass — but the Bison won the battle of the boards against both Mercer (32-31) and Bryant (40-36).
The Bison are averaging a respectable 12.3 turnovers per game (down from 14.2 last season) so far. After committing 16 miscues against Mercer on opening night, they had only 11 against Providence's pressure defense and only 10 in the win over Bryant.
Bucknell started red-hot from long distance, making 11 of its first 16 3-point tries of the season. The Bison have cooled off a bit since then, making 10 of their last 39.
Bryan Cohen and Bryson Johnson are a combined 18-for-36 (.500) from 3-point distance, while the rest of the team is 3-for-19 (.158).
Welcome Back Stephen
Bucknell received a major blow a year ago when Stephen Tyree went down with an ACL injury in an organized pick-up game just prior to the official start of preseason practice. Tyree, a starter in every game in 2007-08 when he was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, missed the entire 2008-09 campaign. Now a senior, Tyree was named a co-captain this season, and he is back in the starting lineup. He totaled 20 points and 13 rebounds while averaging 25.7 minutes over the first three games. Tyree is shooting 63.6% (7-11) from the field.
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell plays its home opener on Saturday night against Saint Francis (Pa.), which is coached by former Bison assistant Don Friday. The men's basketball game will cap off a sports tripleheader at Bucknell on Saturday. The Bison football team hosts Holy Cross at 1 p.m., then the women's basketball team plays Fordham at home at 5 p.m., followed the men's basketball tilt at 7:30 p.m.
