Bucknell University Athletics
League's Top Two Offenses Collide when Bucknell Visits Army West Point Saturday
12/31/2015 3:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Where: Christl Arena, West Point, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, 3 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: GoArmyWestPoint.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (7.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.2 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (7.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G: Chris Hass (18.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
F: Zach Thomas (13.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (12.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
With a Win over Army West point, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 5-8 overall and 2-0 in Patriot League play.
• ... beat the Black Knights for the third straight time and improve to 50-21 all-time against them. It would become the seventh team against which the Bison have posted 50 or more wins, joining Lehigh (100), Lafayette (70), Gettysburg (66), Colgate (62), Delaware (52) and Susquehanna (51).
• ... improve to 3-4 on the road this season.
• ... start 2-0 in Patriot League play for the 11th time in the 26-year history of the league.
Headlines
• Bucknell unleashed the frustrations of a seven-game losing streak on Navy on Wednesday night, routing the Midshipmen 88-58 in the Patriot League opener at Sojka Pavilion. Just three days after surrendering 101 points in a home loss to Fairfield, the Bison turned in their best defensive performance of the season while also piling up 88 points on a Navy squad that came in ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense (59.5).
• Now Bucknell takes on an Army West Point team that has a league best 10 wins with only three losses. This has the potential to be a high-scoring game, with the Bison and Black Knights ranking at the top of the Patriot League in most offensive categories.
| Army West Point | Bucknell | |
| Points per Game | 86.3 (1st PL) | 80.4 (2nd PL) |
| Scoring Margin | +9.0 (1st) | +2.2 (2nd) |
| Field Goal Percentage | .469 (2nd) | .476 (1st) |
| 3-Point Percentage | .389 (1st) | .374 (2nd) |
| Assists | 19.2 (1st) | 17.3 (2nd) |
| Assist/TO Ratio | 1.3 (1st) | 1.2 (2nd) |
• 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 eight of their first 12 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 80.4 points per game. But at the other end of the floor, the Bison are conceding 78.2 points per game.
• Preseason All-Patriot League selection Chris Hass is Bucknell's leading scorer at 18.4 points per game. Hass canned 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.
• 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.
• Army West Point has had a very impressive season so far, running out to a 10-3 overall record and a 1-0 mark in the Patriot League following Wednesday's 88-82 win at Lehigh. The Black Knights closed out non-league play with a 91-84 victory over a Monmouth team that boasts wins over UCLA, Notre Dame, USC and Georgetown. Tanner Plomb leads the Patriot League in scoring at 21.8 points per game, while Kyle Wilson ranks third at 18.1. Center Kevin Ferguson also scores in double figures at 11.9 ppg while leading the league in field-goal percentage (.610). Army has made 68 more 3-pointers than its opponents on the season, and the Black Knights rank fifth nationally at 11.0 made threes per game.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Army West Point 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.
• Live statistics can be viewed at GoArmyWestPoint.com.
Bucknell vs. Army West Point
• The Bison hold a 49-21 lead in a series that dates back to 1929. Bucknell swept the two-game season series from the Black Knights last season.
• The Bison are 28-5 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 48 of 59 meetings.
• In Patriot League Tournament action, Bucknell is 7-2 against Army. Seven of those nine postseason meetings have come in the quarterfinals, including Army's 72-71 win at Sojka Pavilion in 2014.
• Last year, Bucknell won 81-75 at home and 78-75 at Christl Arena. In the game in Lewisburg, Chris Hass scored 23 points, including a four-point play that stretched a one-point lead to five with 53 seconds remaining. Nana Foulland added 17 points for the Bison, while Tanner Plomb led Army with 18. In the rematch at West Point, Bucknell went 13-for-17 from the 3-point arc, with Hass (26 points) and Zach Thomas (17) both going 5-for-7. Plomb again led the Black Knights with 19.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 237-108 (.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 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 69 of its last 88 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
• Bucknell snapped a seven-game losing streak in a big way, thumping Navy 88-58 on Wednesday on the opening night of Patriot League play. The Bison never trailed in the game and posted their most lopsided win against a Patriot League opponent since an 81-47 verdict over Navy at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 28, 2006.
• Navy came into the game ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense (59.5), but the Bison shot 53.6%, had 24 assists on 30 field goals and went 19-for-21 at the foul line. The Midshipmen had not given up more than 72 points in a game this season, and the 88 marked the most scored on Navy in a non-overtime game since 2010.
• Bucknell was one game removed from giving up 101 points against Fairfield, but in this one the Bison held Navy to 36.5% shooting and forced 19 turnovers. They recorded 11 steals, including a career-high five from Chris Hass, and scored 30 points off turnovers.
• In addition to his five steals, Hass also set a career high with five assists while scoring 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting.
• Point guard Stephen Brown had a magnificent game. He went 5-for-8 from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line en route to a career-high 18 points. He also equalled his personal best with eight assists against only two turnovers in 25 minutes.
• The Bison were thin in the frontcourt due to injury and foul trouble. With starting power forward Zach Thomas sidelined with an injury, Dom Hoffman made his first start of the season. Freshman Nate Sestina, who was coming off a 10-point game against Fairfield on Sunday, left after just six minutes of action with an injury of his own, and Hoffman, Nana Foulland and D.J. MacLeay were all dealing with foul difficulty. Senior Matt Banas came on and played a career-high 13 minutes, contributing four points, a rebound and a steal.
• Hoffman picked up three more drawn charges, giving him a team-high 12 on the season.
Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 123-86 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 11 of the 12 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 12 games have seen an average of 74.8 possessions per game, compared to 65.1 for the full season in 2014-15. The Bison are averaging an efficient 1.09 points per possession so far.
• The Bison have recorded assists on 62.2% of their field goals so far, the 35th-best figure in the nation.
• The Bison rank 53rd nationally in scoring offense and 31st in assists per game (17.3) this season.
• 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 second in the league lead in steals at 7.1 per game.
• After conceding only 35 opponent 3-pointers in the first six games of the season, the Bison have allowed 59 in the last six contests.
• Bucknell has made better than 40% of its 3-point attempts in each of the last five games after do so just once in the first seven.
Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: Nate Jones +35, Chris Hass +31, D.J. MacLeay +27, Kimbal Mackenzie +24, Nana Foulland +21.
• Bucknell's top three scorers of Hass, Zach Thomas and Foulland have accounted for 53.3% 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 tried 18 shots from beyond the arc this season, making six.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in eight of the 12 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 32.2% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. He has 23 assists and just four turnovers in the last three 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 second in the Patriot League at 86.5%.
• Foulland is 31-for-51 (.608) from the field in his last six 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 plays its next two games at home, starting with American on Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. The Bison swept a pair of games from the Eagles last season and have beaten them three straight times overall.
