Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Look to Continue Strong Road Play Saturday at Boston University
1/22/2016 1:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: Bucknell (9-9, 6-1 PL) at Boston University (10-10, 3-4 PL)
Where: Case Gym, Boston, Mass.
When: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, 1 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: GoTerriers.com
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (8.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.4 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (8.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G: Chris Hass (18.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
F: Dom Hoffman (6.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (12.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg)
With a Win over Boston University, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve 10-9 overall and 7-1 in Patriot League play.
• ... maintain at least a share of first place in the Patriot League.
• ... win its fourth straight game against the Terriers and improve to 7-3 in the series.
• ... beat the Terriers in Boston for the fourth straight time.
• ... win its fourth straight road game and improve to 6-4 on the road this season.
Headlines
• After suffering its first Patriot League loss at the hands of Colgate last Saturday, Bucknell bounced back by grinding out a 67-58 road win over Loyola on Wednesday night. The victory sent the Bison to 6-1 in the Patriot League, and kept them in a first-place tie with Navy. Colgate lurks one game off the pace at 5-2, followed by a five-way logjam at 3-4. Boston University is one of those teams sitting at 3-4 looking to break out of that pack and into a top-four position.
• Bucknell broke some trends with its victory at Loyola. The Bison won for the first time this season when scoring fewer than 70 points (they had been 0-2) and they won for the first time when trailing at halftime (they had been 0-6).
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points in 11 of their first 18 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 80.1 points per game. Back on Jan. 9 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. After going 27-for-47 (.574) from 3-point range in back-to-back wins over Holy Cross and Lehigh, Bucknell is just 9-for-33 from deep in its two most recent games.
• Including his 40-point game at Army West Point on Jan. 2, senior Chris Hass is averaging a team-best 18.7 points per game (19.7 in PL play). That is the second-best mark in the Patriot League behind Army's Tanner Plomb, and the 51st-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 six games so far. Hass became Bucknell's 39th all-time 1,000-point scorer in the game against Columbia, and he now ranks 17th on Bucknell's career scoring list (1,222). He left Wednesday's game at Loyola with just over 6:00 remaining with a foot injury, and he is questionable for the game at Boston University, against which he is 15-for-22 from 3-point range in his career.
• Sophomore point guard Stephen Brown has been sensational in Patriot League play, averaging 11.7 points per game on 64.2% shooting (27-42) with 44 assists and just 11 turnovers and 10 fouls. Brown is 20-for-29 (.690) from the field in the last five games, and he has 29 assists in the last four. For the season, Brown ranks 37th nationally in assists per game.
• 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).
• Boston University has been saddled with significant injuries for most of the season, and the Terriers come in with a 10-10 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the Patriot League. Boston University started 0-3 in Patriot League play (Holy Cross, Lehigh, Navy), then won three straight (Lafayette, American, Loyola) before falling at Colgate 85-76 on Wednesday night. Eric Fanning, who scored 37 points in the win at Loyola on Monday, leads the team at 14.6 points per game. Cheddi Mosely (12.9), John Papale (11.9) also score in double figures, while Nathan Dieudonne (9.9) and Kyle Foreman (9.8) are just under that plateau.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Boston University game will not be televised, however the contest will streamed live and free of charge on the Patriot League Network at Patriot League.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 GoTerriers.com.
Bucknell vs. Boston University
• Bucknell and Boston University have met nine times previously on the hardwood, and the Bison have a 6-3 lead in the series. Bucknell has won three straight from the Terriers, including a season sweep last year.
• In games played in Boston, Bucknell is 2-1 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.
• Chris Hass had one of the best games of his career in Bucknell's 92-77 victory at Agganis Arena last season. He hit his first six 3-point attempts before finishing 6-for-7 and scored a game-high 28 points. Stephen Brown added a then-career-high 15 points for the Bison, who shot 56.1% for the game and also hit 15 of 16 from the foul line and 13 of 20 from 3-point distance. John Papale scored a career-high 22 to lead Boston University. In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion later in the year, Hass hit four more 3-pointers and paced Bucknell with 20 points in a 78-69 win. Nana Foulland added 17 for the Bison, while Eric Fanning led the Terriers with 20.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 242-109 (.689) 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 74 of its last 94 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
• Nana Foulland scored 15 points and led a stellar defensive effort with three blocked shots in Bucknell's 67-58 road win over Loyola Maryland on Wednesday evening at Reitz Arena. Stephen Brown, Ryan Frazier and Zach Thomas added 11 points apiece for the Bison, who moved to 6-1 in Patriot League play and remained in a first-place tie with Navy.
• Bucknell came into the game ranked in the top 35 in all three shooting percentages, but the Bison overcame a rare frosty shooting night by scoring 23 points off 16 Loyola turnovers and holding the Greyhounds to 37.9% shooting (1-15 from 3-point range).
• Thomas, playing in his home state, had his best game since returning from an ankle injury earlier this month. He hit two early 3-pointers, led the team with eight rebounds, and made 5 of 6 free throws on a night when the Bison struggled at the stripe (23-37).
• Frazier and Brown both hit critical shots in the late stages of the game to help the Bison open up a significant lead, and along with John Azzinaro they helped limit Loyola's three starting guards to 4-for-29 shooting. Azzinaro finished up after leading scorer Chris Hass left with a lower leg injury with 6:27 to play. Azzinaro grabbed two big defensive rebounds, including one in traffic on a missed free throw late in the game.
• Bucknell shot 34.6% in the opening 20 minutes, its lowest first-half percentage of the season, but the Bison trailed by just a point at the break at 28-27 thanks to some solid defense at the other end.
• The Bison posted their first win of the season when trailing at halftime (0-6).
• It was Bucknell's sixth straight win over Loyola.
Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell ranks in the top-50 nationally (out of 346 teams) in all three shooting percentage categories: 33rd in 3-point percentage (.386), 34th in field-goal percentage (.477) and 48th in free-throw percentage (.732).
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 171-127 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 16 of the 18 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 18 games have seen an average of 73.6 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.
• 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 7.2 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 11 games after doing so just once in the first seven. The Bison are shooting 41.9% from the arc in Patriot League play.
Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: Chris Hass +63, Nate Jones +59, D.J. MacLeay +58, Nana Foulland +50. Every player on the roster has a positive +/- for the season.
• Dom Hoffman entered the season with one career made 3-pointer in five attempts. He has tried 28 shots from beyond the arc this season, making nine.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in 11 of the 18 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 35.3% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. In Patriot League games he is averaging 11.7 ppg on 27-for-42 shooting from the field, 4-for-5 from the 3-point arc, 24-for-32 from the foul line, and he has 44 assists and just 11 turnovers and 10 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 eighth in the Patriot League at 78.7%.
• Hass leads the Patriot League in free-throw percentage at 83.3%.
• MacLeay leads the team in rebounds per 40 minutes (11.8), and he is now shooting 61.2% from the field this season. He is 12-for-15 from the field his is last four games, and against Holy Cross and Lehigh last week he recorded back-to-back double-figure scoring games for the first time in his career.
• Ryan Frazier is now shooting 40.0% from 3-point range this season (8-16 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.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell has a quick turnaround with Lafayette coming into Sojka Pavilion on Monday. The 7:30 p.m. game will air live on CBS Sports Network.
• The game will be a rematch of last year's Patriot League Tournament semifinal clash, won by the Leopards on their march to the league title.
• Bucknell will be wearing throwback uniforms during the game, the same jerseys worn during last season's home game against Penn State. The mid-1970s-era duds have “Bisons” across the chest, as that is how the nickname was used at that time.
