Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Columbia for First Time Wednesday Night
11/30/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2010
WHAT: Columbia (3-3) at Bucknell (2-6)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m. ET
PROMOTIONS: State Farm/BU Dining Feed the Fan (free pizza at halftime)
WEBCAST: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over Columbia, Bucknell Would ...
• ... snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 3-6 overall this season.
• ... defeat the Lions for the first time since 2002 and improve to 2-2 all-time against them.
• ... improve to 72-29 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.
About The Game
• Columbia makes its very first hoops appearance on the Bucknell campus Wednesday night when the Bison and Lions meet at 7 p.m.
• Bucknell is looking to regain its defensive form after allowing an average of 81.0 points in their last two games, losses to James Madison and Wagner. The Bison, who saw Wagner shoot better than 55% from the field in Monday's 77-73 setback, allowed only 59.8 points per game in their first six games.
• Bucknell is 2-6 on the season, and the eight teams on its schedule have combined for a 26-21 record.
• Sophomore center Mike Muscala continues to lead the team in scoring (14.6), rebounding (5.9) and blocked shots (1.5). Senior forward G.W. Boon is also in double figures at 11.6 points per game.
• First-year head coach Kyle Smith has his Columbia team off to a 3-3 start, including back-to-back wins over Colgate and previously unbeaten American last week. The Lions have also beaten Maryland-Eastern Shore, while the losses have come against La Salle, St. John's and Longwood.
• Including a 108-point night in the win over UMES, Columbia is averaging 76.8 points per game while allowing 75.8.
• The Lions are led by junior guard Noruwa Agho, who averages 18.3 points per game. Bucknell knows all about Agho's shooting ability. Last year against the Bison he went 7-for-8 from the 3-point arc and scored 23 points in Columbia's 73-59 win.
• Also scoring in double figures for Columbia is sophomore guard Brian Barbour at 11.3 ppg. Freshman guard Dyami Starks (9.8 ppg) is coming off a 20-point game against American on Sunday.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Columbia game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley 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.
• A live Webcast of the game will be carried live on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com (subscription required).
• The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• Live statistics are available on GameTracker via BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Columbia Series Notes
• Bucknell and Columbia have met three times previously, with the Lions winning two of the three.
• The first two meetings were neutral-site games as part of in-season tournaments. On Nov. 26, 1994, Columbia defeated Bucknell 63-58 in the consolation game of the Pepsi/Marist Classic. That was the second game of coach Pat Flannery's tenure at Bucknell. On Nov. 29, 2002, the Bison beat the Lions 61-47 in the first round of the Red Auerbach Colonial Classic in Washington, D.C. The Bison went on to drop a three-point game to host George Washington in the championship the following day.
• Last season in New York City, the Bison made their first appearance at Levien Gymnasium and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of Noruwa Agho and the hot-shooting Lions. Columbia finished 13-for-18 from 3-point range, including Agho's 7-for-8 effort, and the Lions prevailed 73-59. Patrick Behan led the Bison with 15 points, while Stephen Tyree added 12 and G.W. Boon 11. The Bison led by eight points with 10:14 to play, but they would not make another field goal until the final seconds and were outscored 30-8 down the stretch.
• This is Columbia's first trip to Lewisburg in men's basketball.
Bucknell vs. The Ivy League
• Bucknell is 38-44 (.463) all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 45 games against Cornell, but only 37 combined against the other seven Ivy teams. In addition to its 22-23 record against Cornell, Bucknell is 4-2 against Yale, 3-1 vs. Brown, 3-4 vs. Penn, 3-10 vs. Princeton, 1-1 vs. Dartmouth, 1-2 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
• The Bison went 0-3 against the Ivy League last season, falling to Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth, and they have lost five straight against the Ivies dating back to an 88-75 win over Cornell on Dec. 19, 2007.
More from the Wagner Game
• Bucknell's first-half shooting struggles (7-25, .280) were magnified by an inabilty to slow down the red-hot Seahawks. Bucknell trailed by only four at the half thanks to 15-for-17 free-throw shooting, but even though the Bison warmed up to 57.5% shooting in the second half, Wagner never cooled down. In the second half Wagner shot 55.0% from the field, made 4 of 5 attempts from the arc and 15 of 16 from the foul line en route to the 77-73 win.
• Wagner's 55.3% overall field-goal percentage was the second-best by a Bucknell opponent in Sojka Pavilion.
• Mike Muscala led all scorers with 22 points, his third 20-point game of the season. Muscala made 8 of 15 shots from the field and 6 of 7 from the foul line. He also had four dunks in the game.
• Point guard Darryl Shazier equaled his career high with nine assists to go with six points and two steals. It was Shazier's third career 9-assist game.
• Bryson Johnson (13) and G.W. Boon (10) also scored in double figures for the Bison. Both made two 3-pointers, while Johnson made 7 of 8 from the foul line.
• Freshman guard Ryan Hill canned a second-half 3-pointer for his first career field goal.
• Wagner had four players in double figures, led by Latif Rivers with 20.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first eight games:
• Bucknell has a 121-to-101 assist-to-turnover ratio in seven games. The Bison have had a negative ratio only once all season (17:18 at Marquette), and they lead the Patriot League in that category.
• The Bison as a team are shooting 37.8% from long range, up from last season's 32.9% mark.
• Despite a 2-6 record, Bucknell has been outscored by just one point on the season, 521-520.
• Bucknell has made 13 more field goals than its opponents this season. In three of their six losses, the Bison have made either more or the same number of FGs as their opponent.
• Darryl Shazier leads the Patriot League in assists at 5.4 per game. Shazier's 43-to-11 assist-to-turnover ratio is No. 2 in the league.
• Bucknell is shooting a solid 45.2% from the field as a team.
• As a team, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in assists per game (15.1).
• Bucknell has recorded an assist on 63.0% of its field goals this season. By comparison, last year the team was credited with an assist on only 51.6% of its baskets.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell's three-game homestand wraps up Saturday night against Boston University at 7 p.m.
• The Bison will be looking to avenge last season's 63-53 loss to the Terriers in Boston.
• The Boston University game will be Bucknell's last before a 13-day break for final exams.
