Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell, Holy Cross Square Off Saturday at 2 p.m.
1/9/2014 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: Holy Cross (7-8, 1-2 PL) at Bucknell (7-7, 2-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, 2 p.m.
Internet Video: Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network (free)
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Tickets: 570-577-1000 or buy online
With a Win over Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its third straight game and improve to 8-7 overall, 3-1 in the Patriot League.
• ... improve to 4-3 at home this season.
• ... improve to 116-36 overall and 80-16 against Patriot League opponents at Sojka Pavilion.
• ... defeat the Crusaders for the third straight time.
Headlines
• Bucknell remained one game off the Patriot League lead with a 96-86 win at Lafayette on Wednesday. The hot-shooting Bison went 12-for-15 from 3-point range and set a program record for points in a Patriot League road game.
• After Wednesday's performance at Lafayette, Bucknell now leads the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 44.0%.
• At 2-1 in the league, Bucknell is one game behind American, Army and Boston University, all of which are off to 3-0 starts. Holy Cross posted its first PL win of the year on Wednesday at home against Colgate.
• Saturday's game will be immediately followed by Bucknell's annual Alumni Game. Among the expected participants are recent Bison standouts Boakai Lalugba, Stephen Tyree, Darren Mastropaolo, Daryl Shazier and Charles Lee.
• Senior Cameron Ayers continues to lead the team in scoring at 14.4 ppg. Chris Hass (10.6 ppg) has emerged as a scorer in league play, setting new career highs with 18 points against American and then 26 against Colgate last Sunday. Hass added 21 points in Wednesday's victory at Lafayette, and he is now tied for the Patriot League lead in conference scoring at 21.7 points per game. Army's Kyle Wilson is also averaging 21.7 ppg. Ben Brackney broke out of a recent shooting slump with a career-high 25 points at Lafayette. Brackney hit 6 of 8 tries from the arc.
• 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.
• Bucknell returned 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.
• Holy Cross snapped a three-game losing streak with a 73-64 home victory over Colgate on Wednesday. The Crusaders won five out of seven games in one stretch in November and December, including a wild 122-118 double-overtime win over Sacred Heart, but they have gone 2-5 since then. Holy Cross has gotten balanced scoring this season — six players scored in double figures against Colgate — and the Crusaders feature one of the league's top big men in Dave Dudzinski (16.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg). Cullen Hamilton also scores in double figures at 13.9 ppg.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will not be televised, however a free live webcast will be available on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.
• 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.
• Live stats can be accessed at BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross
The Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry has been one of the league's best through the years. Some of the highlights:
• The Bison and Crusaders have combined to win eight of the last 13 Patriot League titles.
• These two teams have met in 13 of the 23 Patriot League Tournaments, including four times in the championship game. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the 2005 and 2006 title tilts, while the Crusaders topped the Bison in the final in 1993 and 2007.
• The Bison and Crusaders had never met until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91, but this will be the 60th meeting in 23 years.
• Bucknell leads the series 33-26. The road team has won six of the last 14, including Holy Cross' upset of the Bison in the 2010 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals at Sojka Pavilion.
• Bucknell is 16-10 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 9-4 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 13-13 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
• Bucknell head coach Dave Paulsen is 8-5 against Holy Cross, including his Williams College team's 78-71 upset of the Crusaders at the Hart Center on Dec. 4, 2003.
• Bucknell swept the season series from the Crusaders last season. The Bison 65-58 at the Hart Center, led by 16 points each from Bryson Johnson and Joe Willman, 15 from Cameron Ayers and 13 points and 11 rebounds from Mike Muscala. Dave Dudzinski had a huge game for Holy Cross with 26 points. In the rematch on Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion, Muscala scored 25 points and Ayers added 15 in Bucknell's 74-57 victory. Justin Burrell led the Crusaders with 16 points, and this time the Bison held Dudzinski to one field goal and four points.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 213-97 (.687) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. They have finished at least .500 in PL play in 19 of 23 seasons.
• Bucknell won the last three outright Patriot League regular-season titles, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat.
• The Bison went 13-1 in the league in 2011 and 12-2 in each of the last two seasons, making them 37-5 over the previous three campaigns. Dating back to mid-2010, Bucknell has won 46 of its last 54 league games.
• Bucknell won Patriot League Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013. The Bison have made it to the semifinals 18 times and to the championship game 10 times in the 23-year history of the league.
• The Bison are the only team to go unbeaten in league play in a season (14-0 in 2006).
Last Time Out
• Both teams shot the lights out on Wednesday at the Kirby Sports Center, but big runs late in the first half and early in the second lifted Bucknell to a 96-86 win over Lafayette. The Bison were 12-for-15 (.778) from 3-point range and shot 52.8% overall, while Lafayette went 10-for-17 from the arc and shot an even 50% from the field. At one point, the two teams were a combined 21-for-27 from 3-point distance.
• The 96 points were the most ever scored by Bucknell in a Patriot League road game. It was also the team's highest scoring output in any road game since a 97-67 win at Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 4, 1991.
• The last time Bucknell scored at least 96 points in a game came in a 104-98 overtime loss to Cornell on Dec. 2, 2009. This was the team's highest point total in any regulation-time game since a 98-52 win over Carnegie Mellon on Jan. 2, 1998.
• Ben Brackney broke out of a 3-for-19 shooting slump in a big way. Brackney went 6-for-8 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 25 points. He also hit five big free throws in the final 1:19 to help salt the game away.
• Chris Hass hit the 20-point mark for the second straight game. He tallied 21 on 5-for-7 shooting, and he went 10-for-12 from the free-throw stripe.
• Cameron Ayers was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point distance and tallied 18 points. He scored 15 points in the first half, and then Brackney (16) and Hass (15) combined for 31 of the team's 52 points in the second half.
• Dom Hoffman was just 1-for-6 from the floor, but he hit 9 of 10 at the foul line to finish with 11 points. Hoffman was 6-for-6 at the line in the last 3:15.
• One game after posting 10 rebounds and seven assists against Colgate, Steven Kaspar had eight boards and six assists in the win over Lafayette.
• In addition to Hoffman's 11 points, Bucknell also received big bench minutes from Ryan Frazier (9 pts.) and D.J. MacLeay (3 pts., 1 blk., 1 stl. in 8 min.). Bucknell's game-changing 19-5 run late in the first half came with freshmen MacLeay and John Azzinaro on the floor.
• Bucknell is now 40-14 against Lafayette in the Patriot League era, including wins in the 2011 and 2013 Patriot League championship games.
Numbers Worth Noting
• This season Bucknell is 6-3 coming off three or fewer days off, but is just 1-3 following four or more days of rest.
• Bucknell had shot just 38.0% in their previous seven games before breaking out against Lafayette on Wednesday.
• Bucknell leads the nation in 3-point percentage (.440), but if the season ended today that would only be the fourth-best mark in program history. The Bison shot over 45% from the arc in three straight years from 1986-87 to 1988-89, including an incredible 47.0% in 1987-88.
• The Bison have almost identical shooting percentages from 2-point distance (.449) as 3-point distance (.440).
• Oddly, Bucknell has shot much better on the road (46.6 FG%, 48.6 3FG%, 78.5 FT%) this season than at home (41.9 FG%, 37.2 3FG%, 72.0 FT%).
• In each of the last two seasons, Bucknell led the nation in defensive rebounding percentage (i.e. percentage of opponents' missed shots that Bucknell has rebounded). This year, despite playing almost exclusively with a four-guard lineup, the Bison still rank a respectable 7th out of 351 Division I teams in DR%. Last year, led by senior big men Mike Muscala and Joe Willman, Bucknell grabbed 79.0% of its opponents' misses. This year that figure is still a solid 78.2%. Bucknell has conceded only 14 offensive rebounds in the last three games.
• Bucknell has typically ranked among the very best in the nation in fewest turnovers under coach Dave Paulsen, and this year has been no different. The Bison are averaging only 9.4 turnovers per game to rank seventh nationally.
• Last season Bucknell featured one of the nation's most prolific shot-blockers in Mike Muscala, but so far this season the Bison have blocked only 11 shots in 14 games, compared to 61 by their opponents. Bucknell ranks last nationally in blocks per game (0.8). Muscala alone had 33 blocks through 14 games last season.
• Bucknell has upped its steal totals in recent games. The Bison recorded 30 steals in their first nine games (3.3 spg), but now they have 26 thefts in their last five contests (5.2 spg), including a season-high eight against American.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell heads to Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip against Navy at Alumni Hall.
• The Bison will enter that contest with eight straight wins over the Midshipmen.
• Navy is 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the Patriot League heading into Saturday's clash with Army in Annapolis.
