Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men Back on Road Saturday at Boston University
1/23/2015 9:23:00 AM | Men's Basketball
What: Bucknell (10-10, 5-2 PL) at Boston University (8-10, 4-3 PL)
Where: Agganis Arena, Boston, Mass.
When: Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, 1 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: GoTerriers.com
With a Win over Boston University, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its fourth straight game and improve to 6-2 in the Patriot League and 11-10 overall.
• ... move over .500 on the season for the first time since a season-open win over Marist.
• ... maintain at least a share of first place in the Patriot League.
• ... improve to 229-105 all-time in Patriot League games.
• ... win its second straight road game and improve to 3-8 on the road this season.
• ... win at Agganis Arena for the second straight year.
Headlines
• Bucknell won its third consecutive game on Wednesday, 75-61 at Loyola, and that result combined with Colgate's loss to Army moved the Bison into a first-place tie with the Raiders at 5-2 in Patriot League play.
• Bucknell snapped a five-game road losing streak with that win at Loyola. The Bison are now 2-8 on the road this year, but at home they have won six straight and are 7-2.
• The Patriot League standings remain tight entering the eighth round of conference play this weekend. Bucknell and Colgate are now tied for first place, but nine of the 10 teams in the league are within two games of the lead. American and Boston University are a game back at 4-3, and then five other squads are 3-4.
• Junior Chris Hass is Bucknell's leading scorer at 16.3 ppg. He snapped a 28-for-87 (.322) shooting slump with back-to-back 20-point games in the last week (23 vs. Army, 26 at Loyola). 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.
• Freshman center Nana Foulland has been the Lids Team Sports Patriot League Rookie of the Week in two of the last three weeks. Foulland had the best game of his young career at Colgate, when he posted 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and then he matched that with 17 points and nine rebounds against Army last Saturday. Dating back to the Penn State game on Nov. 28, Foulland is averaging 10.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg and shooting 55.0% in 14 contests. Foulland set a career high with six blocked shots against Lafayette, the most by a Bucknell freshman since Mike Muscala had seven against Navy in 2009-10.
• Guards Steven Kaspar and John Azzinaro, both coming off the bench now after starting earlier in the year, have been terrific in reserve roles in recent games. In his last five contests, Kaspar has recorded 42 points and 23 assists with only five turnovers. He leads the league in assist-turnover ratio (5.0) in PL games. Azzinaro is 9-for-12 from 3-point range in his last three games.
• 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.
• Boston University won the Patriot League regular-season title with a 15-3 record last season and ended up in the NIT after losing to American in the league championship game. The Terriers lost three starters from that team and are 8-10 overall, 4-3 in the league. Cedric Hankerson is having a terrific season, averaging 17.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Hankerson had a monster game in a win over American on Wednesday, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and a school-record nine steals.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Boston University game will not be televised, but a free live webcast will be available 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 GoTerriers.com.
Last Time Out
• Chris Hass scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half to lead Bucknell to a 75-61 win at Loyola on Wednesday. The Bison never trailed in the game. They led 36-28 at the break, then finished strong after a 15-minute delay due to a shot-clock malfunction.
• Hass was 10-for-15 from the field, tying his career high for made field goals in a game. He hit four 3-pointers, three of them coming on successive shots as part of a key 16-6 run in the second half. It was his sixth 20-point game of the year.
• Steven Kaspar scored a season-high 14 points in 26 minutes off the bench. He hit two 3-pointers in the first half to help the Bison build a lead, and then he was 6-for-8 at the foul line to help seal the victory. Kaspar also dished out four assists and blocked two layups late in the game.
• Nana Foulland was Bucknell's third double-digit scorer. He tallied 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the floor and also grabbed seven rebounds.
• John Azzinaro hit three 3-pointers off the bench and scored nine points. As a team, Bucknell was 9-for-21 from the arc while shooting 52.9% for the game, its best road percentage of the season.
• Bucknell had 15 assists on 27 buckets and committed only eight turnovers against Loyola's pressing defense. The Greyhounds had only three points off turnovers.
Bucknell vs. Boston University
• Bucknell and Boston University have met seven times previously on the hardwood, and the Bison have a narrow 4-3 lead in the series.
• In games played in Boston, Bucknell is 1-1 at Agganis Arena and 1-0 at Case Gym.
• The two teams met for the first time at the 2005 Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara. The Bison won that one 63-57.
• The Bison and Terriers split their season series last season, with the road team victorious each time. In the first meeting at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell trailed by 20 points with eight minutes to play, but rallied within three and had a possession to tie it in the final seconds, but Maurice Watson's steal preserved a 64-61 Boston University win. Cameron Ayers led all scorers with 23 points for the Bison, while five Terriers scored between 10-12 points. Bucknell finished off a big rally in the rematch at Agganis Arena, coming from nine points down in the second half to win 63-53. The bench scored 30 of Bucknell's final 32 points, and the Bison benefitted from a 46-27 rebounding advantage.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 228-105 (.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 60 of its last 76 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
• Bucknell led the nation in defensive rebounding percentage in both 2011-12 and 2012-13 and ranked in the top 10 last season, but the Bison struggled a bit on the defensive glass in non-league play this season. They have turned that around in league play, however, allowing only 48 offensive boards in seven Patriot League games.
• Rebounding has been a key for the Bison. They are 8-2 this season when outrebounding their opponent but 2-8 when losing the battle on the glass.
• 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 46.6% from the field and 43.9% from 3-point distance. In road games those numbers drop to 41.3% from the field and 32.2% from the arc. Bucknell is averaging 72.8 points at home, where it is 7-2 this season, and 61.7 on the road, where it is 2-8.
• Bench scoring has been a positive for Bucknell this season. Bison reserves are averaging 26.1 points per game, compared to 16.8 for their opponents. In the last eight games, Bucknell has piled up a 239-123 edge in bench scoring.
• In Patriot League play Bucknell has a +4.4 rebounding margin and an 154-129 edge in free-throw attempts.
• Bucknell's leader in individual +/- (scoring differential while that player was on the floor) is J.C. Show at +48. D.J. MacLeay is next at +18.
• Bucknell has a 150-108 assist-turnover ratio in its victories this season and a 113-130 ratio in its losses.
• Nana Foulland has made 18 of his last 27 free throws after starting the season 13-for-33. Steven Kaspar was a career 49.4% free-throw shooter entering the season, but he is 72.0% this season, including 20-26 (.769) in Patriot League play.
• As a team, however, the Bison have struggled at the foul line in recent games. Bucknell is shooting 64.3% at the line in its six Patriot League contests.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell closes out the first half of Patriot League play on Wednesday with a home game against Lehigh.
• That game will tip at 8 p.m. and will be televised by the American Sports Network.
