Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Puts Lid on 2010 with Home Game vs. Dartmouth on Thursday
12/29/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2010
WHAT: Dartmouth (4-7) at Bucknell (7-7)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 30, 7 p.m. ET
PROMOTIONS: Community Night
WEBCAST: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
VIDEO PREVIEW: In the Herd
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over Dartmouth, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its sixth game in its last seven outings and move over .500 for the first time this season at 8-7.
• ... improve to 6-1 in the month of December.
• ... improve to 4-1 at home this season.
• ... improve to 74-29 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.
• ... defeat the Big Green for the first time since 1905.
Hot Topics
• Bucknell continued its recent strong play with another road win on Tuesday night, 70-59 at Loyola (Md.). The victory completed an excellent 3-1 road trip, with wins coming against La Salle, Cornell and Loyola, and the loss an 84-80 nailbiter at Boston College. Now the Bison get to play at home for the first time in 26 days when Dartmouth visits Sojka Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game.
• The Bison have been red-hot offensively of late, averaging 78.5 points while shooting 50.0% from the field and 52.1% from the 3-point stripe over their last four games.
• Sophomore center Mike Muscala has five 20-point games this season and continues to lead the team in scoring (13.9), rebounding (6.1) and blocked shots (1.5). Senior forward G.W. Boon is also in double figures at 10.9 points per game, and seven Bison are scoring at least 6.9 points per game. Senior point guard Darryl Shazier is leading the Patriot League in assists (5.8) and now leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.76). Johnson's average is up to 9.8 ppg after his 25-point game at Boston College and a 13-point showing at Loyola, and he is now shooting 45.7% from the 3-point arc.
• In his last four games, junior guard Bryan Cohen is 8-for-10 from the 3-point arc. Cohen is now up to 46.7% from the arc on the season, the No. 2 figure in the Patriot League. Cohen is also averaging 12.2 ppg in his last six games.
• As a team, Bucknell is leading the Patriot League in field-goal percentage (.447) and 3-point percentage (.415).
• Dartmouth comes in with a 4-7 record. The Big Green have been idle since Dec. 21, when they knocked off Drake of the Missouri Valley Conference 67-59 on the road. Dartmouth have also beaten Hartford and Patriot League foes Army and Colgate.
• Bucknell and Dartmouth have played one common opponent so far: Loyola (Md.). While the Bison won 70-59 at Reitz Arena on Monday night, Dartmouth lost at Loyola 73-59 on Nov. 21.
• Dartmouth's top scorer is guard Jabari Trotter at 10.2 ppg. Trotter shoots 48.6% (18-37) from 3-point distance. David Rufful averages 9.5 ppg and a team-high 5.7 rpg.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Dartmouth 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.
• The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• A live Webcast (subscription required) will be carried on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com.
• Live statistics are available on GameTracker via BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Dartmouth Series Notes
• The Bison and Big Green have only met twice previously, with nearly 105 years separating those two contests.
• The first meeting between the Bison and Big Green came on Feb. 27, 1905. Bucknell won that one 24-13 on the way to an 8-1 season. The second matchup came just last season in Hanover, N.H., with Dartmouth winning a defensive struggle 49-43.
• In last year's game, Bucknell shot just 30.6% from the floor and 25.0% from 3-point range and had 15 turnovers en route to a season scoring low. The Bison cut a 14-point deficit down to four with four minutes to play, but then never scored again. G.W. Boon led the team with 12 points, while Patrick Behan had 10. R.J. Griffin scored 16 points for the Big Green.
Bucknell vs. The Ivy League
• Bucknell is 40-44 (.476) all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 46 games against Cornell, but only 38 combined against the other seven Ivy teams. In addition to its 23-23 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, 2-2 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
• The Bison had lost five straight against the Ivies dating back to 2007-08 before beating Columbia 73-68 on Dec. 1. They followed that up with a 75-64 win at Cornell on Dec. 20 and are 2-1 against the Ivy League this season.
More from the Loyola Game
• Bucknell responded well against Loyola after a frustrating four-point loss at Boston College, followed by a six-day layoff filled with holiday travel. The Bison fell behind 12-2 early, but made a couple of big runs to take the game over. Trailing 25-21, Bucknell outscored the Greyhounds 26-6 over a span of 11 minutes, and the Bison led by at least eight points for the last 42 minutes of the game.
• Bucknell's offensive punch game primarily from the “4” position, where G.W. Boon and Joe Willman combined for 32 points. Willman went to the bench early with two fouls, and Boon subbed in and scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. Then Willman came back in the second half and scored all of his career-high 16 points in the final 20 minutes. He made seven of Bucknell's 11 second-half field goals.
• After going 7-for-12 from the arc one game earlier against Boston College, Bryson Johnson went 3-for-3 from long range in the first half against Loyola, and he finished with 13 points.
• As a team, Bucknell was 6-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half, then cooled off (1-6) in the second. The Bison were actually 7-for-10 before missing their final five.
• Center Mike Muscala was held without a field goal for the first time in 38 games, but he still contributed with a season-high 10 rebounds along with three assists, two blocks and 7-for-8 free-throw shooting.
• Cameron Ayers had a solid game off the bench with seven points and a career-high five rebounds.
• For only the second time all year (Marquette), Bucknell had more turnovers (14) than assists (11) in a game.
• Point guard Darryl Shazier had four assists and one turnover to maintain his national lead in assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Bucknell was outrebounded 13-5 on the offensive glass, but the Bison had an overall 38-35 rebounding edge.
• The Bison had a great night at the free-throw line, finishing 19-for-21, including 9-for-10 in the final five minutes.
On a Roll on the Road
• Bucknell played its best offensive basketball of the season on the just-concluded trip, encompassing wins over La Salle (89-77), Cornell (75-64) and Loyola (70-59) along with the 84-80 loss at Boston College.
• In those four games, the Bison scored 78.5 points per game and shot 50.0% from the field, 52.1% from 3-point range (37-71) and 80.9% from the free-throw line. They also had 66 assists and 41 turnovers in the four games.
• Bucknell has now scored 70 or more points in four straight games for the first time in 10 seasons (Feb. 18-March 3, 2001).
• The last time Bucknell scored 70+ points in four straight road games within one season was all the way back in 1995-96.
Sweet December
• Bucknell is currently 5-1 in the month of December and can wrap up one of the best Decembers in school history with a win over Dartmouth.
• The school record for wins in the month is seven (7-1), set in December 1956. The only other six-win December came in 1958 (6-2).
• The last time the team posted only one loss in December was in 2004 (5-1).
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first 14 games:
• Bucknell has a 212-to-156 assist-to-turnover ratio in 14 games, the best mark in the Patriot League. The Bison have had a negative ratio only twice all season (17:18 at Marquette and 11:14 at Loyola). Their 11.1 turnovers per game is the 16th-best mark in Division I basketball.
• The Bison as a team are shooting 41.5% from long range, up from last season's 32.9% mark. Bucknell ranks 12th nationally in 3-point accuracy.
• Bucknell's 44.7% field-goal shooting is now the best mark in the Patriot League, and the Bison rank No. 2 in the league and No. 11 in the nation in free-throw percentage at 77.6%.
• While the team's 3-point percentage is up, a lower percentage of Bucknell's total shots have come from beyond the 3-point arc. So far 31.4% of the team's attempts have come from long range, down from 34.7% last year and 35.0% in 2008-09.
• Bucknell has recorded an assist on 61.8% of its field goals this season. By comparison, last year the team was credited with an assist on only 51.6% of its baskets.
• Over its last eight games, Bucknell is shooting 81.0% (136-168) from the free-throw line.
• Bucknell had committed 10 turnovers or less in five straight games before turning it over 14 times on Monday at Loyola.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell opens the 2011 calendar year with a tough road test at Richmond on Sunday. The Spiders improved to 10-3 with a win over Seton Hall on Sunday, and they also have wins over Purdue and Arizona State this season. The Spiders hosted Wake Forest on Wednesday night.
