Men's Basketball Visits No. 24/23 Michigan Monday Night on Big Ten Network

11/16/2014 1:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: TBD

What: Bucknell (1-0) at No. 24/23 Michigan (1-0)
Where: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.
When: Monday, Nov. 17, 2014, 8 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com

With a Win over Michigan, Bucknell Would ...
•... start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2012-13.
•... defeat a Big Ten team for the third year in a row (Purdue 2012-13, Penn State 2013-14).
•... win its fourth straight road game dating back to last season.
•... win a game in the state of Michigan for the first time (0-1).

Headlines
• After opening the 2014-15 season with a tightly contested 75-72 victory over Marist on Friday, the Bison hit the road for the first time to take on Michigan (No. 24 AP, No. 23 ESPN/USA Today) on Monday night on the Big Ten Network.
• The Bison and Wolverines will be meeting for the first time.
• Two Bucknell players are Michigan natives and will be playing in their home state for the first time at the collegiate level. Senior Cory Starkey (Petoskey) and junior Chris Hass (Pellston) both come from small towns in the northern part of the state.
• Bucknell head coach Dave Paulsen was a graduate assistant coach on Steve Fisher's staff at Michigan in 1989-90. He was part of a Wolverines program that went 23-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Michigan won the national championship the year before Paulsen joined the program.
• Bucknell is playing in the Progressive Legends Classic for the second time. In 2011-12 the Bison lost a Legends Classic game at No. 18/20 Vanderbilt 80-68, and then Bucknell hosted a tournament subregional and won all three games against Princeton, West Alabama and Morehead State.
• The Bison were picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
• Bucknell lost four players to graduation following last season, including 2014 Patriot League Player of the Year Cameron Ayers. Also gone are former starting center Brian Fitzpatrick and experienced role players Ben Brackney and Ryan Hill. The Bison do return 10 letterman from last year's 16-14 squad, including 2014 Third Team All-Patriot League selection Chris Hass.
• Michigan opened its season on Saturday with a 92-68 win over in-state foe Hillsdale College. Caris LeVert logged 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while Derrick Walton Jr. (22) and Zak Irvin (21) also hit the 20-point mark. The Wolverines won their first outright Big Ten title in 28 years and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight a year ago.

How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Michigan game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Kevin Kugler will handle the play-by-play, joined by analyst Seth Davis.
• 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 also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
• Live stats can be accessed at mgoblue.com.

Bucknell vs. Michigan Series Notes
• This will be the first-ever meeting between the Bison and Wolverines.
• Bucknell has played only one other game in the state of Michigan, a 64-52 loss at third-ranked Michigan State in the 2003-04 season opener. The Bison held the lead for most of that game, but they were undone by an inexplicable 1-for-17 showing from the free-throw line.

Bucknell vs. The Big Ten
• The Bison are 34-111 (.234) against current members of the Big Ten (25-76 vs. Penn State, 8-22 vs. Rutgers, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-7 vs. Maryland, 0-1 vs. Michigan State, 0-1 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Iowa, 0-1 vs. Northwestern, 0-1 vs. Wisconsin, 0-1 vs. Minnesota), however many of the games vs. Penn State and all of the games against Maryland and Rutgers came before those teams joined the Big Ten.
• The Bison are 2-18 against teams who were Big Ten members at the time of the game (1-12 vs. Penn State, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-1 vs. Michigan State, 0-1 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Iowa, 0-1 vs. Northwestern, 0-1 vs. Wisconsin, 0-1 vs. Minnesota), with the victories coming in each of the last two seasons at Purdue (70-65 in 2012-13) and Penn State (90-80 in 2013-14).
• Bucknell has faced one Big Ten team in the NCAA Tournament, a 71-62 loss to Wisconsin in the second round in 2005.

Last Time Out
• Bucknell and Marist played an entertaining game on Friday night at Sojka Pavilion, and the bench helped carry the Bison to a 75-72 victory.
• For the first time since November of 2012 at Niagara, five Bucknell players scored in double figures. Dom Hoffman had a big night with 14 points and nine rebounds — matching career highs in both categories — and John Azzinaro (13), J.C. Show (12), D.J. MacLeay (11) and Steven Kaspar (10) also hit double digits in the scoring column.
• Azzinaro, Show, MacLeay and Cory Starkey led a superb performance by the reserves. Bucknell finished with a 38-5 edge in bench scoring, and Azzinaro, Show and MacLeay all finished a tight game on the floor. Show, a freshman making his collegiate debut, scored seven of his points in the final two minutes, including a lefty runner in the lane and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions that stretched a three-point lead up to eight. All three hit clutch free throws to help hold off a lights-out shooting display by Marist guard Khallid Hart.
• Hart scored 33 points on 11-for-22 shooting (7-11 3FG), including his team's last 14 points of the night. Hart hit four threes in the final 2:28, but Azzinaro denied him the ball on the final possession, and Marist could not get a shot off before the final buzzer.
• Bucknell won despite a cold shooting night from top returning scorer Chris Hass, who was held to five points on 2-for-10 shooting.
• Center Nana Foulland became the first Bison freshman to start on opening night since Joe Willman vs. Mercer in 2009-10.
• Bucknell dominated the glass, outrebounding Marist 41-29. The Bison grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and had a 9-0 edge in second-chance points.

Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell's difficult week continues on Thursday in Philadelphia, where the Bison will take on No. 12 Villanova at The Pavilion. That game is also part of the Progressive Legends Classic.
• Villanova head coach Jay Wright is a 1983 Bucknell graduate. He led the Bison in scoring as a junior and was team captain as a senior.