Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Look for Second Straight PL Win Saturday at Colgate
1/2/2015 2:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: Bucknell (6-8, 1-0 PL) at Colgate (4-10, 1-0 PL)
Where: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Jan. 3, 2014, 2 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: GoColgateRaiders.com
With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 2-0 in the Patriot League and 7-8 overall.
• ... defeat the Raiders for the 11th straight time and improve to 63-40 all-time against them.
• ... improve to 225-103 all-time in Patriot League games.
• ... improve to 2-6 on the road this season.
Headlines
• Bucknell and Colgate both won their conference openers on Wednesday, and now both teams will be vying for 2-0 Patriot League starts when they square off on Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court. The Bison broke open a tie game at the half and beat defending-champion American 57-47 at Sojka Pavilion, while Colgate went on the road and topped Lehigh 68-61.
• Junior Chris Hass is Bucknell's leading scorer at 16.9 ppg. Hass was terrific in the two games against top-25 opponents earlier in the year. He scored 21 points at Michigan, and then pumped in a career-high 32 at Villanova, which is a program record for points in a game against a ranked opponent. In the two games combined, Hass produced 53 points and hit 16 of 26 from the field, 8 of 14 from 3-point distance and 13 of 14 from the foul line. Including a 14-point performance against Penn State and a 26-point showing at Wake Forest, Hass averaged 23.3 ppg in the four games against major-conference opponents this season.
• Hass was named the Lids Team Sports Patriot League Player of the Week on Nov. 24 and again on Dec. 15 after a 26-point showing in a win over Albany. Hass ranks third in the Patriot League in scoring, second in free-throw percentage (.883), fourth in 3-point percentage (.418) and fourth in 3-pointers made (2.7 per game). He led the Bison with 17 points against American on Wednesday.
• Freshman guard J.C. Show went into the Christmas break mired in a 5-for-27 shooting slump (2-18 3FG), but he has heated up in the two games since then, making 11 of 19 shots (6-12 3FG) in games against Siena (23 points) and American (10 points).
• 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 did return 10 lettermen from last year's 16-14 squad, including a 2014 Third Team All-Patriot League selection in Hass.
• Colgate went 3-10 in non-league play, but then used a 17-2 second-half run to surge past Lehigh in the Patriot League opener on Wednesday. Ethan Jacobs went 9-for-9 from the field and scored 24 points in the win over the Mountain Hawks. Damon Sherman-Newsome leads the team in scoring at 13.9 ppg, while Austin Tillotson (12.1) and Jacobs (11.9) also score in double figures.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Colgate game will not be televised, however a free live webcast will be available on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network. Log on to PatriotLeague.TV to access the stream.
• 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 BucknellBison.com.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell used defense, rebounding and 52.4% shooting in the second half to break open a close game and defeat American 57-47 on Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion. The game was tied at 22-22 at the half and again at 25 early in the second, but a 9-2 run sparked by five points from J.C. Show sent the Bison on their way. Chris Hass supplied the dagger with a late-shot-clock 3-pointer that put Bucknell in front 50-40 with 1:32 to play.
• Hass led the Bison with 17 points and also had six rebounds, a career-high four assists and no turnovers in 33 minutes.
• Show hit three of his five field-goal attempts and scored 10 points. He also played strong defense on American's talented point guard Pee Wee Gardner.
• D.J. MacLeay was also terrific off the bench for the Bison. He tallied eight points and a game-high eight rebounds in 22 minutes. All told, Bucknell had a 24-5 advantage in bench scoring.
• Bucknell outrebounded American 35-23 and only allowed the Eagles to get two offensive rebounds all day.
• The 47 points allowed were Bucknell's fewest since 58-42 home win over Navy in the 2013 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. The Bison held the Eagles to 38.1% shooting.
Bucknell vs. Colgate
• This will be the 103rd all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 62-40 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (162), Lafayette (156), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (102).
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 41 of the 54 meetings, including 21 of 24 in Lewisburg.
• Bucknell is 11-1 against Colgate at Sojka Pavilion. The Raiders won there in the arena's inaugural season (2002-03), but since then the Bison have won 11 in a row, including a 68-57 verdict last year.
• Bucknell is 13-4 in its last 17 games in Hamilton, including a 79-68 win there last season.
• Bucknell has won 10 straight over Colgate, sweeping the season series in each of the last five seasons. The Raiders last win over the Bison was 68-57 decision at Cotterell Court on Feb. 4, 2009.
• Last season Bucknell posted a pair of 11-point wins over Colgate, prevailing 68-57 in Lewisburg and 79-68 in Hamilton. In the game at Sojka Pavilion, Chris Hass scored a then-career-high 26 points, hitting 10 of 15 from the field, and the Bison held the nation's No. 1 3-point shooting team to 1-for-12 accuracy from the arc. Steven Kaspar added seven assists and 10 rebounds for the Bison, while Austin Tillotson led Colgate with 15 points. In the rematch later in the year, Cameron Ayers led four Bison in double figures with 21 points, offsetting 20 points from the Raiders' Murphy Burnatowski.
patriot league success
• Bucknell is 224-103 (.685) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. The Bison have finished at least .500 in PL play in 20 of the 24 Patriot League seasons.
• Bucknell won three straight outright Patriot League regular-season titles from 2011-13, 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 both 2012 and 2013, making them 37-5 over those three campaigns. Dating back to mid-2010, Bucknell has won 56 of its last 70 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 24-year history of the league.
• The Bison are the only team to go unbeaten in league play in a season (14-0 in 2006).
Numbers Worth Noting
• Chris Hass has scored 26.2% of Bucknell's points this season, the highest percentage in the Patriot League.
• Hass ranked in the top-10 nationally in free-throw percentage (.922) until going 6-for-9 at the line against American on Wednesday. He had a streak of 23 straight made free throws come to an end.
• Hass has made a 3-pointer in 15 straight games dating back to last season. His last game without a trey was the win at American in the 2013-14 regular-season finale.
• Last season the Bison shot the ball significantly better on the road than at home, but this year those numbers have reversed. At Sojka Pavilion the Bison are shooting 47.3% from the field and 41.1% from 3-point distance. In road games those numbers drop to 38.0% from the field and 29.9% from the arc. Bucknell is averaging 71.7 points at home and 59.7 on the road.
• Bucknell led the nation in defensive rebounding percentage in both 2011-12 and 2012-13 and ranked in the top 10 last season, but so far this year the Bison have struggled a bit on the defensive glass, ranking 69th while collecting 74.3% of their opponents' misses. Bucknell is, however, coming off its best rebounding game of the season against American, as the Eagles managed only two offensive rebounds in the game.
• Bench scoring has been a positive for Bucknell this season. Bison reserves are averaging 24.7 points per game, compared to 16.0 for their opponents. In the last two games against Siena and American, Bucknell has piled up a 63-11 edge in bench scoring.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell hosts high-scoring Lafayette on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
• The Leopards are 9-3 on the season and posted an impressive 92-78 win at Army in the league opener earlier this week.
• Lafayette averages 79.0 points per game and is shooting 50.2% overall and 43.2% from 3-point range.
