Bucknell University Athletics
ORANGE OUT Declared as First-Place Bison Host Second-Place Colgate Saturday Night
1/30/2015 2:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bison Fans, an "Orange Out" has been declared for Saturday night's home game against Colgate. All fans are encouraged to wear orange to the game, and the Bison players will be wearing orange uniforms as well. Go Bison!
What: Colgate (9-13, 6-3 PL) at Bucknell (12-10, 7-2 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, 7 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 Colgate, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its sixth straight game and improve to 8-2 in the Patriot League and 13-10 overall.
• ... move a season-high three games over .500.
• ... open up a two-game lead on the Raiders atop the Patriot League standings.
• ... improve to 231-105 all-time in Patriot League games.
• ... defeat the Raiders for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings and improve to 63-41 all-time against them.
• ... improve to 9-2 at home this season.
• ... improve to 129-41 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 90-19 against Patriot League opponents at Sojka.
Headlines
• The top two teams in the Patriot League clash on Saturday night, when second-place Colgate visits league-leading Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion at 7 p.m. The Bison and Raiders entered the week tied atop the PL standings, but on Wednesday Bucknell defeated Lehigh while Colgate lost to Lafayette.
• This could prove to be a big swing game for the winner. Colgate defeated Bucknell 68-62 back on Jan. 3, so a Raiders win on Saturday would not only move them back into a tie for first place, but it would also give them the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bison. On the other hand, Bucknell would have a commanding two-game lead with a victory.
• The Bison had been rolling offensively in recent games. They set season highs for points (92), field-goal percentage (.561), 3-point percentage (.650) and free-throw percentage (.938) in a win at Boston University last Saturday, and they were shooting better than 50% from the field and from 3-point range in the five games leading up to Wednesday's home game with Lehigh. But for 31 minutes against the Mountain Hawks the Bison just could not get anything going offensively. They were shooting under 30%, were stuck on 34 points, and faced a 16-point deficit to a Lehigh team that seemed poised to win its fourth game in a row. But led by the hot shooting of freshmen Zach Thomas and J.C. Show, the Bison scored 34 points in the final 8:51 and stormed back to win 68-62.
• Head coach Dave Paulsen has used his depth this season. The Bison do not have a player in the top 10 in the league in minutes played, and Chris Hass (30.8) is the only player on the team averaging more than 23.5 minutes per game. But 10 Bison play at least 13.7 minutes per game.
• Hass is Bucknell's leading scorer at 16.7 ppg, and he was on quite a roll before struggling a bit with a 4-for-12 shooting performance against Lehigh. This week's Patriot League Player of the Week scored 20+ points in each of his previous three games: 23 vs. Army, 26 at Loyola and 28 at Boston University. In those three contests, Hass made 29 of 48 (.604) shots from the field, 14 of 22 (.636) from 3-point range and 5 of 5 from the foul line. He scored 77 points in 87 minutes without committing a single turnover in the three Bison victories.
• 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 four 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. Dating back to the Penn State game on Nov. 28, Foulland is averaging 10.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg and shooting 54.5% in 16 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, and he had his first 10-rebound game against Lehigh on Wednesday.
• 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 seven contests, Kaspar has recorded 55 points and 32 assists with only eight turnovers. He leads the league in assist-turnover ratio (4.3) in PL games. Azzinaro is 14-for-23 from 3-point range in his last five 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.
• Colgate has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in Patriot League play, running out to a 6-3 league mark after going 3-10 in non-league action. The veteran Raiders squad has three players with double-figure scoring averages, led by Damon Sherman-Newsome at 15.6 ppg. Ethan Jacobs (12.2) and Austin Tillotson (10.6) are also top point-producers for a Colgate team that shoots 46.6% from the field.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Colgate game will not be televised, however 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 BucknellBison.com.
Last Time Out
• Trailing 50-34 with nine minutes remaining in the contest, Bucknell staged a furious rally and stunned Lehigh 68-62 on Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison doubled their point total in those final nine minutes, outscoring Lehigh 34-12 to steal the win and move into sole possession of first place in the Patriot League.
• Freshman Zach Thomas helped fuel the comeback by scoring 15 of his game-high 19 points in the final 6:27. He scored 12 straight Bucknell points in one stretch, all in a span of just 1:46. Thomas converted a 3-point play and hit three 3-pointers, the last of which gave the Bison a 64-60 lead with 1:26 to go.
• Freshman J.C. Show hit two treys early in the comeback push, one of which was set up by two straight offensive rebounds from freshman Nana Foulland, who had a career-high 10 boards in the game (seven offensive).
• While the rookies were lighting up the scoreboard late in the game, it was veterans Steven Kaspar and Dom Hoffman who provided the foundation for the comeback. Kaspar continued his fine play off the bench with five assists and two steals down the stretch, and he spearheaded a terrific defensive effort that limited Lehigh to just four field goals in the final eight minutes of the game. Hoffman checked into the game for the first time with 12:19 remaining and only played five minutes, but in that span the junior forward scored on a pretty reverse layup, hit a long baseline jumper and blocked a shot to help spark the comeback.
• The 16-point comeback was Bucknell's largest since rallying from a 17-point deficit at Columbia on Dec. 1, 2012.
• The Bison picked up their 100th all-time victory against Lehigh. Bucknell now leads the 113-year-old series 100-63.
• Bucknell finished the game shooting 37.5% overall. The Bison made 9 of 24 from 3-point range and 17 of 26 from the foul line. Lehigh shot 43.1% from the floor and hit 4 of 12 from the arc and 8 of 11 from the foul line.
• Bucknell finished with a 39-32 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive boards.
• All 11 Bison who played in the game scored, and they had a whopping 44-9 edge in bench points.
Bucknell vs. Colgate
• This will be the 104th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 62-41 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (163), Lafayette (157), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (102).
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 41 of the 55 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 13-5 in its last 18 games in Hamilton.
• Colgate defeated Bucknell 68-62 in Hamilton back on Jan. 3. Prior to that, Bucknell had won 10 straight over Colgate, sweeping the season series in each of the previous five seasons. The Raiders last win over the Bison had been a 68-57 decision at Cotterell Court on Feb. 4, 2009.
• In that earlier meeting, Bucknell led 33-20 at the half, but Colgate seemingly could not miss in the second half. The Raiders opened the half on a 12-0 run to get right back in the game, and they went on to shoot 60.0% from the floor and hit 7 of 10 from 3-point distance in a 48-point second half. Damon Sherman-Newsome scored 24 points for Colgate, while Nana Foulland paced the Bison with a career-high 17.
• 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 230-105 (.687) 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 62 of its last 78 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 70 offensive boards in nine Patriot League games.
• Rebounding has been a key for the Bison. They are 10-2 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 45.6% from the field and 43.0% from 3-point distance. In road games those numbers drop to 42.7% from the field and 35.6% from the arc. Bucknell is averaging 72.3 points at home, where it is 8-2 this season, and 64.5 on the road, where it is 3-8.
• Bench scoring has been a major positive for Bucknell this season. Bison reserves are averaging 27.0 points per game, compared to 16.8 for their opponents. In the last 10 games, Bucknell has piled up a 311-157 edge in bench scoring.
• Bucknell's leader in individual +/- (scoring differential while that player was on the floor) is J.C. Show at +55. Steven Kaspar is next at +31, followed by Cory Starkey at +10 and D.J. MacLeay at +10.
• Bucknell has a 184-125 assist-turnover ratio in its victories this season and a 113-130 ratio in its losses.
• Nana Foulland has made 20 of his last 31 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 70.7% this season, including 25-34 (.735) in Patriot League play.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell travels to Easton, Pennsylvania on Wednesday to take on Lafayette at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on the Lafayette Sports Network and will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
• Lafayette plays at Navy on Saturday night before hosting the Bison.
• Bucknell defeated Lafayette 79-69 at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 17.
