Men's Basketball Goes for Sixth Straight Win Saturday vs. Colgate at Sojka Pavilion

1/15/2016 3:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: TBD

What: Colgate (7-9, 3-2 PL) at Bucknell (8-8, 5-0 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, 7 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Tickets: 570-577-1000 or buy online
•COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (8.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 5.3 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (7.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.1 apg)
G: Chris Hass (19.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
F: Dom Hoffman (6.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (12.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.9 bpg)

25th Anniversary Teams Honored
• On Saturday evening Bucknell will be honoring its current and former student-athletes who were named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team back in August. From men's basketball, Patrick King '92, Mike Bright '93, Charles Lee '06, Chris McNaughton '07, Mike Muscala '13 and Cameron Ayers '14 represented Bucknell.

With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its sixth straight game and improve to 9-8 overall and 6-0 in Patriot League play.
• ... remain in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League.
• ... start 6-0 in the Patriot League for the first time since 2011-12, and for the fifth time in 26 years in the Patriot League.
• ... build its first six-game winning streak since 2013-14.
• ... snap a two-game losing streak to the Raiders and improve to 63-42 all-time against them (12-2 in Sojka Pavilion).
• ... improve to 137-47 all-time at Sojka Pavlion and 97-21 against Patriot League opponents in Sojka.

Headlines
• Bucknell continued its hot start to Patriot League play with an 82-76 win at preseason favorite Lehigh on Monday in Bethlehem. At 5-0 in conference, the Bison lead second-place Navy by one game and Colgate and Loyola by two. On Saturday night the Bison host a Colgate squad that swept both games from them a year ago.
• Among conferences that have played at least five rounds of league play so far, Bucknell joins Iona (6-0), Villanova (5-0), SMU (5-0), Montana (5-0), Wichita State (5-0) and Arkansas-Little Rock (5-0) as the only teams at 5-0 or better in their league. The five-game winning streak is tied for the 22nd-longest active streak in the country.
• This is the first time in team history that the Bison have followed up a losing streak of at least seven games with a winning streak of at least five. During the current winning streak, Bucknell is averaging 84.8 points per game while shooting 51.7 FG%, 47.3 3FG% and 79.8 FT%. Defensively, the Bison have yielded 67.0 points per game while opponents are shooting 39.4 FG%, 31.0 3FG% and 66.1 FT%.
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points in 11 of their first 16 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 81.3 points per game. Last week they had a 98-point showing against Holy Cross — their most points in a league game in 22 years — in which they knocked down 16 3-pointers. In the last two games against Holy Cross and Lehigh, the Bison are 27-for-47 (.574) from 3-point range.
• Including his 40-point game at Army West Point on Jan. 2, senior Chris Hass is averaging a team-best 19.4 points per game (22.2 in PL play). That is the second-best mark in the Patriot League behind Army's Tanner Plomb, and the 41st-best in the nation. 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 five games so far. Hass became Bucknell's 39th all-time 1,000-point scorer in the game against Columbia, and he now ranks 19th on Bucknell's career scoring list (1,195).
• Sophomore point guard Stephen Brown has been sensational in Patriot League play, averaging 12.2 points per game on 71.4% shooting (20-28) with 31 assists and just seven turnovers. Brown is 13-for-15 (.867) from the field in the last three games.
• 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).
• Colgate finished second to Bucknell in the regular-season standings in 2014-15, but the Raiders graduated four starters and the bulk of their scoring from last year. After going 4-7 in non-league play, Colgate has done well against Patriot League competition. The Raiders are 3-2 with wins over Lafayette, American and Army West Point, and two close losses to Holy Cross and Navy by a combined five points. Austin Tillotson, the lone returning starter, leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game and assists at 5.1 per game.

How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Colgate game will not be televised, however a free webcast is available on 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 BucknellBison.com.

Bucknell vs. Colgate
• This will be the 105th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 62-42 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (164), Lafayette (157), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (103).
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 41 of the 56 meetings, including 21 of 25 in Lewisburg.
• Bucknell is 11-2 against Colgate at Sojka Pavilion. The Raiders won there in the arena's inaugural season (2002-03), then Bucknell won 11 in a row before Colgate prevailed 71-69 last season.
• Bucknell is 13-5 in its last 18 games in Hamilton.
• Bucknell entered last season with a 10-game series winning streak over Colgate, but the Raiders swept the Bison for the first time since 1997-98.
• In last year's first meeting in Hamilton, Bucknell led 33-20 at the half, but Colgate seemingly could not miss in the second half and won 68-62. 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. In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion, Austin Tillotson capped off a 24-point night by scoring the final seven points of the game, including a jumper with one second remaining, to lift the Raiders to a 71-69 win. Chris Hass led the Bison with 18 points.

Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 241-108 (.691) 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 73 of its last 92 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 ten years ago in 2006).

Last Time Out
• Chris Hass scored 21 points and Stephen Brown had 14 points, six assists, three steals and no turnovers to lead Bucknell past Lehigh 82-76 on Monday night at Stabler Arena. Nana Foulland added 12 points and D.J. MacLeay had a season-high 11 off the bench to help the Bison keep a hold on sole possession of first place in the Patriot League at 5-0.
• For the second time in 48 hours, Bucknell built a big halftime lead and then withstood a furious rally by the opponent in the second half. The Bison held off Holy Cross on Saturday to take over first place by themselves, and on a short turnaround for CBS Sports Network's Patriot League Game of the Week, they never gave up the lead after Lehigh reduced a 14-point halftime deficit down to one.
• Bucknell shot 63.2% in the second half and 50.9% for the game. The Bison continued their torrid 3-point shooting, making 11 of 22 in the game after hitting 16 of 25 against Holy Cross on Saturday.
• In the Holy Cross game the Bison broke a school record with seven different players hitting a 3-pointer. They tied that record in this one, as the team's first seven treys of the night came from seven different players.
• Hass recorded his 18th career 20-point game, hitting 7 of 17 from the field and all five of his free throws. He also moved past Gerald Purnell, Joe Gallagher and Dan Bowen into 19th place on Bucknell's all-time list with 1,195 points.
• MacLeay had a terrific game off the bench for the Bison. He was 4-for-5 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and three of his four rebounds came on the offensive glass.

Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell ranks in the top-30 nationally in all three shooting percentage categories: 19th in 3-point percentage (.399), 27th in field-goal percentage (.484) and 30th in free-throw percentage (.741).
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 155-113 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 14 of the 16 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 this season. Bucknell's first 16 games have seen an average of 73.8 possessions per game, compared to 65.1 for the full season in 2014-15. The Bison are averaging an efficient 1.11 points per possession 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 lead the league in steals at 7.3 per game.
• Bucknell has had 10 different players score 10 or more points in a game this season.
• Bucknell has connected on at least 40% of its 3-point attempts in eight of the last nine games after doing so just once in the first seven. The Bison are shooting 47.3% from the arc in Patriot League play. That league figure includes a 1-for-11 performance against American. Excluding that game, the Bison are 42-for-80 (.525) against their other four PL foes.

Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: Chris Hass +73, Nate Jones +61, Nana Foulland +54, D.J. MacLeay +54. Every player on the roster has a positive +/- for the season.
• Hoffman entered the season with one career made 3-pointer in five attempts. He has tried 26 shots from beyond the arc this season, making nine.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in 10 of the 16 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 33.9% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. In three Patriot League games he is averaging 12.2 ppg on 20-for-28 shooting from the field, 19-for-24 from the foul line, and he has 31 assists and just seven turnovers and seven fouls.
• 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 fifth in the Patriot League at 81.1%.
• Hass now leads the Patriot League in free-throw percentage at 83.9%.
• MacLeay leads the team in rebounds per 40 minutes (11.0), and he is now shooting 60.5% from the field this season. He is 8-for-9 from the field his is last two games and is coming off back-to-back double-figure scoring games for the first time in his career.
• Ryan Frazier is now shooting 44.1% from 3-point range this season (7-10 in Patriot League play). He was a career 28.9% long-range shooter entering the year, although he has improved his percentage every season so far.
• Bucknell is 5-0 in Patriot League play despite the fact that Zach Thomas has yet to record a point in a league game. Thomas, who was Bucknell's No. 2 scorer behind Hass in non-league action, suffered a sprained ankle in the Fairfield game on Dec. 27. He missed the first two PL games against Navy and Army West Point, and he has seen limited action off the bench in the last three contests. Thomas is averaging 10.5 ppg for the season, with a high of 25 at North Carolina State.

Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell travels to Baltimore to face Loyola on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by the American Sports Network and will air in the local market on WQMY-53 out of Scranton-Wilkes Barre.