Men's Basketball Opens Patriot League Play Wednesday at Home vs. Navy

12/29/2015 4:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: TBD

What: Navy (9-4, 0-0 PL) at Bucknell (3-8, 0-0 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, 7 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Satellite Radio: Sirius 134
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Tickets: 570-577-1000 or buy online
•COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (6.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 4.7 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (6.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G: Chris Hass (18.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
F: Zach Thomas (14.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (12.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg)

With a Win over Navy, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 14-12 in Patriot League openers.
• ... beat the Midshipmen for the fourth straight time and improve to 37-35 all-time against them.
• ... snap a seven-game losing streak.
• ... avoid its first eight-game losing streak since 2008-09 and its first winless December since 1969-70.
• ... improve to 4-8 overall and 2-4 at home this season.
• ... improve to 134-47 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines
• Bucknell has dropped seven straight games after a 3-1 start, but the Bison get to wipe the slate clean as the 26th season of Patriot League play begins on Wednesday night with Navy coming to Sojka Pavilion. The Bison are looking to shake their longest losing streak since 2008-09, and they will have to do so against a Navy squad that posted the Patriot League's second-best non-league record at 9-4. This will be a matchup between a Bison team averaging nearly 80 points per game and a Navy team allowing under 60 points per contest.
• Head coach Nathan Davis will be going up against his old team on Wednesday. Davis was an assistant coach under Don DeVoe at Navy from 1998-2003.
• Bucknell held second half leads against all three of its power-five-conference opponents this season (Wake Forest, Penn State, N.C. State), but went 0-3 in those games. In fact, the Bison have led in the second half in six of their eight losses, with the exceptions being the Dec. 2 setback against Columbia and the Dec. 22 loss to Princeton. Bucknell's victory ledger includes a pair of 2015 NCAA Tournament participants in Robert Morris and Manhattan.
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points in seven of their first 11 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 79.7 points per game. Bucknell leads the league in field-goal percentage (.470) and ranks third in 3-point percentage (.367). But at the other end of the floor, the Bison are conceding 80.1 points per game, including 92.5 ppg in the last four outings.
• Preseason All-Patriot League selection Chris Hass is Bucknell's leading scorer at 18.1 points per game. Hass broke out of a 3-for-21 slide from 3-point range by canning a career-high seven 3-pointers in a 29-point performance against N.C. State on Dec. 5. Hass also had 26 against Wake Forest on Nov. 15 and has had at least 18 points in all but three games so far. Hass became Bucknell's 39th all-time 1,000-point scorer in the game against Columbia, and he is currently tied for 30th on the all-time scoring list alongside assistant coach John Griffin with 1,084 points.
• The Bison were picked to finish second (behind Lehigh) in the Patriot League in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
• A year ago, the Bison captured the outright Patriot League regular-season title for the fourth time in the last five years before being upset by Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
• Bucknell lost four players from last year's squad: point guard Steven Kaspar (graduation), forward Joshea Singleton (graduation), forward Cory Starkey (graduation) and guard J.C. Show (transfer to Binghamton).
• The Bison returned all five starters and five of the top six scorers from last season. In 2015-16 Bucknell brought back 77.6% of its scoring and 74.6% of its rebounding. Heading the list of returnees are 2014-15 First Team All-Patriot League guard Chris Hass, and 2014-15 Patriot League All-Rookie Team center Nana Foulland.
• Buoyed by a seven-game winning streak, Navy compiled a 9-4 non-conference record. The Midshipmen have been idle since Dec. 22, when they defeated Furman at home, 62-49. Navy has been excellent defensively and leads the league in scoring defense (59.5), field-goal percentage defense (.404) and rebounding margin (+6.5). Jace Hogan leads the team in both scoring (12.3) and rebounding (6.6), while Shawn Anderson also scores in double figures at 11.7 ppg. Will Kelly scores 8.6 ppg and leads the Patriot League with 32 blocked shots.

How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Navy game will be not televised, however a free webcast will be available through the Patriot League Network at PatriotLeague.TV.
• 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, and for a small charge through the official Bison Athletics mobile app available in the Apple and Android marketplaces.
• This will also be the first of six Bucknell regular-season games that will air on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio as part of the Patriot League's 20-game package with the Heritage Sports Radio Network. Glenn Clark and Adam Pohl will have the call on the Bucknell-Navy game, which will air on Sirius Channel 132 and XM Channel 204.
• Live statistics can be viewed at BucknellBison.com.

Bucknell vs. Navy
• This will be the 72nd all-time meeting between the Bison and Midshipmen, with Bucknell holding a narrow 36-35 edge in the series.
• Bucknell has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including a season sweep last year.
• The Mids won 12 of 16 from the Bison prior to joining the Patriot League in 1991-92.
• As conference rivals, Bucknell leads 32-23, with the home team winning most of the time. Since Navy joined the league, Bucknell is 22-5 against the Mids at home but is only 10-18 against Navy in Alumni Hall.
• Bucknell is 4-3 all-time against Navy in the Patriot League Tournament, including the Midshipmen's 76-75 win in the 1997 championship game.
• In last year's meeting at Sojka Pavilion, John Azzinaro hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the final 2:11, including the tiebreaking shot with 11 seconds remaining, to lift the Bison to a dramatic 65-63 victory over then-first-place Navy. Azzinaro finished with a career-high 19 points, making 6 of 7 from the field, including all five of his 3-point attempts, along with a 2-for-2 showing at the foul line. Worth Smith scored 14 points and Edward Alade had 12 for Navy. In the rematch at Alumni Hall, it was Ryan Frazier's turn to score a career-high 19 points, leading Bucknell to a 52-51 win. Frazier hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:53 to play, then added a critical rebound and three clinching free-throws in the final seconds.

Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 236-108 (.686) 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 21 of the 25 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 68 of its last 87 league games.
• Bucknell won Patriot League Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013. The Bison have made it to the semifinals 19 times and to the championship game 10 times in the 25-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
• Fairfield knocked down 17 of 32 shots from 3-point range and outlasted Bucknell 101-91 in a fast-paced game on Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. Both teams had five players score in double figures, led by Fairfield's Tyler Nelson with 25 and Bucknell's Ryan Frazier with 20.
• Bucknell trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before pulling within 45-43 at the break. The Bison took the lead on a 3-pointer by Nate Sestina on the first possession of the second half, but then the Stags hit four straight 3-pointers in a 14-0 run. Fairfield went up by as many as 19 in the second half. Again Bucknell rallied within five in the final minute before running out of time.
• The Bison shot 46.2% for the game, made 26 of 38 at the foul line, and piled up a whopping 51-24 rebounding advantage, including a Sojka Pavilion-record 21 offensive boards. But they were also slowed by 23 turnovers, which led to 30 Fairfield points.
• Fairfield shot 48.4% overall, hitting 17 of 32 from 3-point distance and 14 of 32 from inside the arc. Of Fairfield's 31 field goals, 30 were either a layup or a 3-pointer. The Stags became the first team to score over 100 points against Bucknell since Notre Dame on Dec. 22, 2009.
• Frazier also had a career-high eight rebounds in addition to his 20 points. It was his second career 20-point game, with the other coming at Temple in the 2015 NIT.
• Chris Hass was held without a 3-pointer, but he still managed 19 points and a season-high eight rebounds.
• Nana Foulland also pulled down eight boards to go with 15 points. Classmate Stephen Brown had a solid all-around game at the point guard position with 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
• Sestina had a breakout game in his third career appearance. Playing a season-high 16 minutes with Zach Thomas out with an injury and Dom Hoffman in foul trouble, Sestina hit 4 of 5 shots and finished with 10 points and two steals. He became the 10th different Bison to have a double-digit scoring game this season.
• Fairfield tied the Sojka Pavilion record for made 3-pointers in a game with 17, and it was the most ever by a Bucknell opponent. The Bison hit 17 treys against West Alabama in 2011. Fairfield's 56-point second half was also a Sojka Pavilion record, and Jerome Segura's nine assists was a facility record for a Bucknell opponent.

Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 115-83 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 10 of the 11 outings.
• Whether it is a result of a more up-tempo offense or the reduction to the 30-second shot clock, Bucknell is playing at a much faster pace early this season. Bucknell's first 10 games have seen an average of 75.0 possessions per game, compared to 65.1 for the full season in 2014-15. The Bison are averaging an efficient 1.06 points per possession so far.
• The Bison have recorded assists on 60.4% of their field goals so far.
• Bucknell last season averaged 4.1 steals per game to rank last (10th) in the Patriot League in that category. This season the Bison rank third in the league lead in steals at 6.7 per game.
• After conceding only 35 opponent 3-pointers in the first six games of the season, the Bison have allowed 56 in the last five contests.
• Bucknell shoot 71.4% from the foul line on the season, but over the last four games the Bison have made just 64.2% (52-81).
• Bucknell has made better than 40% of its 3-point attempts in each of the last four games after do so just once in the first seven.

Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: Nate Jones +35, D.J. MacLeay +17, Kimball Mackenzie +11, Chris Hass +8.
• Bucknell's top three scorers of Hass, Zach Thomas and Nana Foulland have accounted for 55.2% of the team's points this season. That group scored 72 of the 86 points at N.C. State.
• Hoffman entered the season with one career made 3-pointer in five attempts. He has already tried 17 shots from beyond the arc this season, making six.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in seven of the 11 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 30.2% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. He has 15 assists and just two turnovers in the last two games.
• Brown has improved his free-throw shooting considerably thus far. Last year he shot just 47.5% from the line, but this year he ranks third in the Patriot League at 82.8%.
• Foulland is 27-for-44 (.614) from the field in his last five games.
• Dom Hoffman is 21-for-37 (.568) from the field in his last nine games.
• Jones started the season 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the first four games, but he is 0-for-8 from the arc in his last five appearances.

Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell hits the road on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game at Army West Point. The Black Knights are an impressive 9-3 on the season after beating Monmouth on Monday. Army opens Patriot League play at Lehigh on Wednesday night.