Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts TicketCity Legends Classic Subregional This Weekend
11/23/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2011
WHAT: Bucknell at the TicketCity Legends Classic
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Friday-Sunday (Nov. 25-27)
LIVE WEBCASTS: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
TICKET CITY LEGENDS CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 25
3:30 p.m. – West Alabama vs. Morehead State (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
6 p.m. – Bucknell vs. Princeton (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
Saturday, Nov. 26
2 p.m. – Princeton vs. Morehead State (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
4:30 p.m. – Bucknell vs. West Alabama (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
Sunday, Nov. 27
2 p.m. – West Alabama vs. Princeton (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
4:30 p.m. – Bucknell vs. Morehead State (Bison Vision /GameTracker )
Headlines
• It's a basketball fan's delight this weekend, as Bucknell plays host to three straight days of doubleheaders as part of the TicketCity Legends Classic. Three of the four teams in the Lewisburg Subregional — Bucknell, Princeton and Morehead State — played in the NCAA Tournament last year, and Morehead State provided one of the upsets of the tournament with a win over Louisville.
• This will be the first time in program history that Bucknell has hosted an in-season tournament.
• Bucknell has already played one TicketCity Legends Classic contest, an 80-68 loss at No. 18 Vanderbilt on Nov. 15. The Commodores went on to win the main event at the Izod Center in New Jersey earlier this week.
• Bucknell enters the tournament on a two-game winning streak. After opening up with road losses at Minnesota and No. 18 Vanderbilt, the Bison have come back with solid wins over Saint Francis (Pa.) at home and Marist away. Most recently, the Bison held off Marist 74-68 on Tuesday night.
• Joe Willman continued his fine early season play with 16 points (8-12 FG) and seven rebounds. Willman has shot exactly 66.7 FG% in all four games so far, including 8-for-12 efforts against Vandy and Marist, and he ranks second in the Patriot League in that category.
• Mike Muscala leads the Patriot League in rebounding (8.5), and he leads the team in both scoring (13.3) and rebounding. Muscala, the reigning PL Player of the Year, scored a season-high 17 points at Marist last time out.
• Bryan Cohen has played a huge role in Bucknell's two victories. He scored a team-high 15 points in the win over Saint Francis, and then on Tuesday he logged 14 points and a career-high nine assists at Marist.
• Cohen and head coach Dave Paulsen will both hit century marks in Friday's game against Princeton. Paulsen will coach in his 100th game at Bucknell, and Cohen will play in his 100th game.
• The Bison were unanimously picked as the preseason favorite in the Patriot League by the league's head coaches and SIDs.
• Bucknell returns four starters and 10 lettermen from last year's Patriot League championship squad.
A Look at the Competition
• PRINCETON: The Tigers fell to 1-3 after Tuesday's 56-55 home loss to Elon ... Princeton's win came at home against Buffalo (61-53), while the other losses came against Wagner (73-57) and N.C. State (60-58) ... forward Ian Hummer leads the team in scoring (17.5) and rebounding (8.3), while guard Douglas Davis also scores in double figures at 15.3 ppg ... Princeton has four starters back from last year's team that finished 25-7 and won the Ivy League championship.
• WEST ALABAMA: The Division II Tigers come in with a 1-3 record ... their lone win thus far is a season-opening 77-46 win over Barry ... in its other Legends Classic contest, West Alabama lost 93-60 at Oregon State ... the Tigers' other setbacks have come against Lynn (78-57) and Carver Bible (95-72) ... UWA has three players scoring in double figures, led by Jared Woolfork at 14.0 ppg ... the Tigers finished 11-15 overall and 5-7 in the Gulf South Conference last season.
• MOREHEAD STATE: The Eagles lost three starters from last year's 25-win team that advanced to the NCAA Round of 32 after upsetting Louisville ... one of those losses was NBA first-round draft pick Kenneth Faried, who was one of the best rebounders in the country ... this season, Morehead State is also 1-3, with the victory coming on Nov. 17 against NAIA Asbury (Ky.) (100-48) ... the three losses are all to top-notch opponents: N.C. State (91-61), College of Charleston (72-57) and West Virginia (83-48) ... Terrance Hill leads the Eagles in scoring at 16.0 ppg.
How to Get the Games
• All six games this weekend will be webcast live on Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com (subscription rates apply).
• The Bucknell games can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Terry Conrad describing the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed of the Bucknell games are available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• There will also be GameTracker (live stats) coverage of all six contests.
Bucknell vs. Princeton and The Ivy League
• The Bison are 3-10 all-time against Princeton, with the most recent meeting a 66-55 Princeton win last season at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Harrisonburg, Va.
• Bucknell's last win over Princeton was a 74-62 overtime decision at Jadwin Gym in December 1996. That loss was one of only four all season for the Tigers (the others were Indiana, North Carolina and California).
• These two teams first met on Feb. 12, 1902. Princeton won a 19-18 thriller on its home floor. That was one of only two losses in a 12-2 season for Bucknell.
• Bucknell is 41-44 (.482) all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 46 games against Cornell, but only 39 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, 2-1 vs. Dartmouth, 2-2 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
• The Bison went 3-1 against the Ivy League last season, defeating Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth while falling to Princeton.
• In last year's game against the Tigers, Douglas Davis and Dan Mavraides scored 16 points apiece to lead Princeton to a 66-55 win. G.W. Boon scored 17 for the Bison, who could not sustain a strong start. Bucknell jumped out to an early 11-point lead, but Priceton closed the first half on a 17-2 run. It was just a two-point game in the final five minutes, but the Tigers ourscored the Bison 14-5 in the final 4:17.
First Time vs. West Alabama and Morehead State
• Bucknell has never before faced West Alabama or Morehead State.
• This will also be Bucknell's first game against a team from the Gulf South Conference, and it will be just its second ever against an Ohio Valley Conference squad. The other was an 81-68 loss to Murray State in the 1990 San Juan Shootout.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell turned in a very efficient offensive performance and held off an impressive 3-point shooting barrage by Marist in a 74-68 win over the Red Foxes Tuesday night in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The Bison shot 58.1% in the first half and 53.2% overall while committing only nine turnovers.
• Marist made eight second-half 3-pointers and finished 11-for-25 from the arc to hang around after Bucknell had taken a 15-point lead early in the second half.
• Mike Muscala led the Bison with 17 points along with six rebounds, four blocks and three assists. Joe Willman enjoyed another strong game with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and Bryan Cohen handed out a career-high nine assists while also scoring 14 points. Bryson Johnson chipped in 12 points, including a huge 3FG late in the game, and Cameron Ayers scored eight points as the Bison just missed having all five starters score in double figures.
More from the Marist Game
• For the second straight game the Bison controlled the glass. They outrebounded Marist 36-28 and finished with an 18-5 edge in second-chance points. In the last two games, Bucknell's rebounding margin is +30.
• The Bison canned a season-high 33 field goals in 62 attempts, with 29 of those coming from the starting five.
• Joe Willman scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, and he became the first Bison this season other than Mike Muscala to lead the team in rebounding.
• Bryson Johnson was responsible for perhaps the biggest sequence of the game. With Bucknell ahead by just six points with 4:30 left in the game, Johnson took a charge to wipe out a Marist basket, and then at the other end he nailed a 3-pointer to put the Bison back up by nine at 70-61.
• Bryan Cohen's nine assists were three better than his previous career high. He had only one turnover in the game, and he now has 17 assists with only five turnovers on the season.
• Brian Fitzpatrick helped key Bucknell's 14-4 run late in the first half with a 3-point play and a beautiful reverse layup. Fitzpatrick is now 7-for-8 from the field this season.
Scoring Balance
• Balanced scoring has been a trademark at Bucknell under head coach Dave Paulsen, and that trend has continued this season.
• Entering this weekend, Bucknell had five players averaging between 8.8 and 13.3 points per game.
• The Bison claimed a different scoring leader in each of their first four games of the year.
What's Next?
• Following the TicketCity Legends Classic, the Bison travel to George Mason next Wednesday (Nov. 30). The game will be televised live on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
