Bison Continue Road Trip Saturday Night at Albany

11/22/2013 11:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: TBD

What: Bucknell (2-2) at Albnay (2-2)
Where: SEFCU Arena, Albany, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Nov. 23, 7 p.m.
Internet Video: AmericaEast.tv
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com

With a Win over Albany, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 3-2 on the season.
• ... improve to 2-2 on the road this season.
• ... improve to 5-2 all-time against Albany.

Headlines
• Bucknell looks to bounce back from a narrow four-point loss at St. John's when it visits Albany Saturday night in a battle of 2013 NCAA Tournament teams. The Bison and Great Danes both come in with 2-2 records.
• Both of Bucknell's losses this season have come by four-point margins on the road against major-conference opponents. The Bison opened the season with a 72-68 setback at Stanford, and on Tuesday they fell 67-63 at St. John's. Bucknell's wins are both by double-digit margins, 90-80 at Penn State and 72-50 at home against Saint Francis (Pa.).
• The Bison have shot the ball very well in the early going. As a team they are shooting 50.7% from the field, 42.6 from 3-point range and 79.2% from the foul line. Cameron Ayers is 12-for-15 from 3-point range in the last three games.
• Junior point guard Steven Kaspar has turned heads so far. After logging career highs with 12 points, seven rebounds and nine assists against Stanford, he more than doubled his career high with 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting in the win at Penn State. Kaspar is averaging 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists so far while shooting 51.4 FG%.
• Bucknell used only two different starting lineups all of last season. The Bison have already had three different starting fives this year and have yet to use the same starting lineup in consecutive games.
• This is a “new-look” Bison squad, as three standout players from last year's NCAA Tournament team have graduated (Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson, Joe Willman). Three Bucknell players made their first career starts at Stanford (Brian Fitzpatrick, Dom Hoffman, Ben Brackney), Ryan Frazier started for the first time in his career at Penn State, and Chris Hass did the same against Saint Francis.
• The Bison were picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Senior guard Cameron Ayers was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection.
• Bucknell returns two starters and 11 lettermen from last year's squad that won a school-record 28 games, captured Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history.
• Albany opened the year with back-to-back wins over Siena (74-62) and NJIT (71-65), but since then the Great Danes have dropped two straight to Quinnipiac (79-69) and Duquesne (70-59). Peter Hooley leads the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game, while Sam Rowley is averaging 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. Last season the Great Danes went 24-11 and won the America East championship before falling to Duke 73-61 in the NCAA Tournament.

How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Albany game will not be televised, however an internet webcast will be available at AmericaEast.tv.
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong calling the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.

Bucknell vs. Albany Series Notes
• Bucknell has a 4-2 lead in a series that dates back to 2000.
• Bucknell won the first meeting 72-61 on Feb. 23, 2000 in Davis Gym.
• The most recent meeting came in the 2007-08 season opener at Sojka Pavilion, when the Bison prevailed 55-52 behind 16 points from Patrick Behan. John Griffin hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with just over a minute to play.
• In the last meeting in Albany, the Great Danes came from 15 points down and won a defensive struggle 55-49 at SEFCU Arena in the 2006-07 season opener.
• Even though they have not met in an official game in six years, these two programs should be familiar with one another. Bucknell and Albany got together for preseason closed scrimmages in each of the four seasons prior to this one.

Bucknell vs. America East
Bucknell is 16-10 (.615) all-time against the current members of the America East. The Bison are 6-2 against UMBC, 4-2 vs. Albany, 3-1 vs. Binghamton, 2-2 vs. Maine, 1-1 vs. Hartford and 0-2 vs. Vermont. Bucknell has never played New Hampshire, Stony Brook or UMass-Lowell.

Last Time Out
• Bucknell and St. John's met for the first time since 1912 on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena, and the Red Storm rallied from nine points down in the second half to win 67-63. The Bison led for most of the night, but a late 11-0 run proved to be the difference.
• The loss spoiled another terrific performance by Cameron Ayers, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Ayers entered the game nine for his last 10 from 3-point range, and he hit his first two in this one to stretch that streak to 11-for-12. He would end up 3-for-5 from long distance on the night.
• Dom Hoffman logged 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds, with five of those boards coming on the offensive end. In fact, all five of Hoffman's field goals came on put-backs.
• Brian Fitzpatrick reached double figures for the third time in four games with 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
• The Bison were shooting well over 50% as a team until hitting a six-minute scoring drought in the latter part of the second half. They finished at 46.4% for the night.
• Steven Kaspar had another solid all-around game with six points, six rebounds and six assists. He had all six of Bucknell's assists in the game. The Bison committed a season-high 12 turnovers.
• A big factor in the game was St. John's shot-blocking ability. The Red Storm led the nation in blocked shots last season, and they rejected 13 shots against Bucknell, led by seven from Chris Obekpa and four from Orlando Sanchez. Of Bucknell's 30 missed shots, 43.3% where blocked by St. John's.
• Bucknell outrebounded St. John's 35-32, had a 12-9 edge in second-chance points and led 34-24 in points in the paint.

Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell wraps up a three-game road trip on Tuesday at Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m.
• The Mount is coached by Jamion Christian, who was Bucknell's very first manager of basketball operations under head coach Pat Flannery.
• These two teams will be meeting for the first time since the 2001-02 season. Bucknell leads the series 12-8.
• Mount St. Mary's is 0-5 heading into Saturday's home game against American. Of their five losses, three have come against West Virginia, Villanova and BYU, and all five games have been on the road.