Bucknell University Athletics
Seniors, 88-89 Team to be Honored when Bison Host Army Saturday Night
2/14/2014 5:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: Army (12-12, 8-5 PL) at Bucknell (11-13, 6-7 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, 7 p.m.
Webcast: Bison Vision on Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Happenings: Senior Night (pregame ceremony), 1988-89 NCAA Tournament Team celebration (halftime ceremony)
With a Win over Army, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its second game in a row and improve to 12-13 overall, 7-7 in the Patriot League.
• ... earn a split in the season series with the Black Knights.
• ... pull within one game of the Black Knights for fourth place in the Patriot League standings.
• ... defeat the Black Knights for the seventh straight time at Sojka Pavilion.
• ... improve to 119-38 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 83-18 against Patriot League foes at Sojka.
• ... give head coach Dave Paulsen his 111th Bucknell victory, moving him into sole possession of third place on Bucknell's all-time list. He is currently tied with Hall-of-Famer Malcolm Musser, who had four different stints as head basketball coach at Bucknell: 1917-18, 1919-20, 1925-26 and 1932-42.
Headlines
• Bucknell shook off a two-game losing streak with a convincing 78-57 home win over Navy on Wednesday, and at 6-7 in the Patriot League the Bison moved up into a tie for fifth place in the standings. Bucknell now hosts fourth-place Army (8-5), which is two games clear of the Bison and Lehigh. Two key mileposts that teams are striving for are to finish at least sixth (to avoid playing a Patriot League Tournament first-round game) and then to finish at least fourth (to guarantee hosting a quarterfinal game).
• Senior Cameron Ayers is working on a streak of 18 straight double-figure scoring games, however his run of four straight 20-point games came to an end last Sunday when he was held to 15 (all in the first half) in a 66-50 loss at Holy Cross. Ayers continues to lead the team and rank third in the Patriot league in scoring at 15.3 ppg.
• Brian Fitzpatrick continues to lead the league in field-goal percentage (.620), thanks to a 47-for-66 (.712) stretch over his last 11 games. Fitzpatrick is shooting 66.2% in Patriot League play.
• Chris Hass (11.1 ppg) has emerged as a scorer in league play, where he ranks seventh in the PL with a 14.3 ppg league average. That total includes a career-high 26-point performance against Colgate in the first meeting between the two teams. Hass missed the Jan. 22 Loyola game with a knee injury, but he returned against Boston University and scored 17 points off the bench, all of them coming during Bucknell's late comeback attempt.
• Starting forward Ben Brackney and reserve forward D.J. MacLeay both missed Wednesday's game with injuries sustained in practice earlier in the week. That allowed Ben Oberfeld (6 pts., 2 reb. in 12 min.) and Cory Starkey (2 pts., 4 reb., 2 asst., 3 stl.) to see extended action, and both played very well up front. Brackney and MacLeay are questionable for Saturday's game vs. Army.
• This is a “new-look” Bison squad, as three standout players from last year's NCAA Tournament team graduated (Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson, Joe Willman) and are all playing professionally overseas. Three Bucknell players made their first career starts on opening night 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.
• Army jumped out to a 4-0 start in Patriot League play and has been in the top four in the standings all year. The Black Knights have dropped two straight contests, however, including a 79-57 home loss to rival Navy last weekend and a 66-63 setback at third-place Holy Cross on Wednesday. Army is led by the league's No. 2 scorer in Kyle Wilson (18.9 ppg), who had 28 points in Army's 74-67 win over Bucknell at West Point last month. The Black Knights are the highest-scoring team in the Patriot League at 73.2 ppg, but they also allow the second-most points in the league (73.1).
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Army game will not be televised, however a free live webstream will be available on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network. Visit BucknellBison.com or PatriotLeague.tv to access the coverage.
• 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.
1988-89 Team and Seniors to be Honored
• Bucknell's 1988-89 East Coast Conference championship and NCAA Tournament team will be staging a 25-year reunion on Saturday. The team will be honored at halftime.
• Hall of Fame coach Charlie Woollum is expected to be in attendance along with his assistant coaches Tommy Thompson, George Petrie and Doug Allen. Among the players expected back are Mike Butts, Mike Joseph, Greg Leggett, Keith Fenton, Bobby Woollum, Rob Joy and Steve Leshinski.
• Saturday will also be Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion. Cameron Ayers, Ben Brackney, Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Hill will all be honored prior to the game.
Bucknell-Boston U. Game Picked up By CBS Sports Network
• The Patriot League announced this week that the Feb. 23 Bucknell-Boston University game in Boston has been picked up by CBS Sports Network. Tip-off remains at noon from Agganis Arena.
Bucknell vs. Army
• The Bison hold a 46-20 lead in a series that dates back to 1929. Bucknell had its seven-game series winning streak come to an end with a 74-67 loss at West Point back on Jan. 19.
• The Bison are 26-4 all-time at home against Army.
• Army won the first 10 series showdowns, nine of them coming prior to 1966.
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 45 of 55 meetings.
• In Patriot League Tournament action, Bucknell is 7-1 against Army. Six of those eight postseason meetings have come in the quarterfinals. Last season, the Bison won a semifinal clash with the Black Knights, 78-70, behind 21 points and 14 rebounds from Mike Muscala. Cameron Ayers scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.
• Last month at Christl Arena, Josh Herbeck went 6-for-6 from the 3-point arc, including a game-changing 35-footer as the shot clock expired late in the contest, to lead Army to a 74-67 win over the Bison. Kyle Wilson scored 14 of his 28 points from the foul line and Herbeck finished with 18 to help the Black Knights snap a seven-game series losing streak. Brian Fitzpatrick led Bucknell with 17 points on 8-for-8 shooting.
• Ayers has excelled against Army throughout his career. He has averaged 15.2 points and scored in double figures in all nine previous matchups against the Black Knights.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 217-103 (.678) 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 50 of its last 64 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
• The Bison got back on the winning side with a 78-57 rout of Navy on Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell outscored Navy 36-12 over the last 15 minutes of the first half to go up 44-21 at the break, and the Bison would lead by as many as 28 points on a couple of occasions in the second half.
• Four Bison scored in double figures, led by Chris Hass with 15 points. Brian Fitzpatrick and Dom Hoffman scored 14 each and Cameron Ayers had 13 as Bucknell shot 46.2% and made 8 of 14 from 3-point distance.
• Hoffman scored all 14 of his point in a sensational first half. He also finished with eight rebounds.
• Cory Starkey and Ben Oberfeld both saw extended minutes in the frontcourt with Ben Brackney and D.J. MacLeay both out with injuries. Starkey logged two points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals in 15 minutes. Oberfield scored the firts six points of his career and also grabbed two offensive rebounds and blocked a shot.
• Steven Kaspar had a terrific stat line for a point guard: 3 points, 10 assists, 1 turnover, 9 rebounds, 4 steals in 25 minutes. It was Kaspar's second career 10-assist game, with the other won coming in Annapolis in the first meeting of the year between Bucknell and Navy.
• John Azzinaro went 2-for-2 from 3-point range, snapping an 0-for-15 streak from the arc.
• Bucknell set season highs for offensive rebounds (16) and steals (14). The steal total was the team's highest since recording 15 thefts against Army in the 2006 Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell scored 21 points off Navy's 18 turnovers, and the Bison finished with a 24-10 edge in second-chance points.
Numbers Worth Noting
• After shooting 12-for-15 from 3-point range at Lafayette on Jan. 8, Bucknell ranked No. 1 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.440). In the 10 games since then, however, the Bison have gone 62-for-186 (.333) from the arc, lowering their season percentage to .392. That is still the 23rd-best mark in the nation.
• Oddly, Bucknell has shot much better on the road (44.7 FG%, 42.7 3FG%, 76.9 FT%) this season than at home (41.2 FG%, 34.6 3FG%, 74.6 FT%).
• In wins this season, Bucknell has shot 49.2 FG%, 49.7 3FG%, 78.0 FT%. In the losses, the Bison have shot 38.3 FG%, 31.4 3FG%, 73.4 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 10th 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 76.2%.
• 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 9.9 turnovers per game to rank 11th nationally. They turned the ball over a season-low four times at Colgate on Feb. 1.
• 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 35 shots in 24 games, compared to 107 by their opponents. Bucknell ranked last nationally in blocks per game, before climbing out of the cellar with a season-high six rejections against Loyola on Jan. 22. At 1.5 blocks per game, the Bison are now ahead of Central Michigan, Sacramento State and Abilene Christian.
• Bucknell ranks 28th nationally in fewest personal fouls per game (16.9).
• Brian Fitzpatrick is now shooting 66.2% in Patriot League games, and he is 47-for-66 (.712) in his last 11 contests. His 62.0% accuracy for the season is No. 1 among all Patriot League players and No. 17 among all Division I players.
• Cameron Ayers now leads the Patriot League and ranks 44th in the nation in free-throw shooting at 87.7%. As a team, Bucknell ranks No. 13 nationally in free-throw percentage at 75.8%.
