Bucknell University Athletics
ORANGE OUT Declared as First-Place Bison Host Lafayette Monday on CBS SN
1/24/2016 2:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (9.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 5.4 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (8.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G: Chris Hass (18.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
F: Dom Hoffman (6.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (11.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
With a Win over Lafayette, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 11-9 overall and 8-1 in Patriot League play.
• ... start 8-1 or better in the Patriot League for the ninth time in the 25-year history of the league.
• ... remain in first place in the Patriot League.
• ... snap a two-game losing streak to the Leopards.
• ... improve to 137-48 all-time in Sojka Pavilion and 97-22 against Patriot League foes in Sojka.
Headlines
• First-place Bucknell returns home on Monday night to host Lafayette on CBS Sports Network. The Bison will be playing the Leopards for the first time since Lafayette knocked them out in last year's Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
• An "Orange Out" has been declared, and Bucknell will be wearing 1970s-era "throw-back" uniforms on Monday. The Bison kits are complete with “Bisons” across the chest, as the teams were known then. Bucknell adopted the nickname “Bisons” at the suggestion of faculty member William C. Bartol in 1910. The nickname commemorates Bucknell's location in the Buffalo Valley, which was one of the last widespread roaming areas for the American bison in the United States. Around 1981, the nickname was altered to “Bison”, which is the more widely accepted plural form of Bison.
• Bucknell continued its outstanding road play with a come-from-behind 74-71 win at Boston University on Saturday. Since losing at home to Colgate on Jan. 16, the Bison have responded with tough road wins at Loyola and Boston U. With Navy's game against Army postponed due to weather, Bucknell has a half-game lead over the Midshipmen atop the Patriot League standings.
• Bucknell is 4-0 on the road in Patriot League play and 6-4 away from home this season.
• The Bison trailed 26-9 at Boston University before storming back to beat the Terriers for the fourth straight time. Bucknell won despite playing without the services of leading scorer Chris Hass, who saw his consecutive games streak end at 64 due to a foot injury. Hass is probable for the Lafayette game.
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points in 11 of their first 19 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 79.7 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 12-for-47 (.255) from deep in its three 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 50th-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).
• Sophomore point guard Stephen Brown has been sensational in Patriot League play, averaging 12.9 points per game on 67.3% shooting (35-52) with 48 assists and just 13 turnovers and 11 fouls. Brown is 28-for-39 (.718) from the field in the last six games. For the season, Brown ranks 39th 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).
• Lafayette gained a little extra rest when its game with Lehigh on Saturday was postponed due to the winter storm. The Patriot League defending champs are rebuilding after graduating three 1,000-point scorers, and they come to Lewisburg at 5-13 overall and 2-5 in the Patriot League. The Leopards have beaten Army and Holy Cross in PL play, but they are coming off back-to-back losses to Navy and American. Lafayette features one of the league's premier point guards in Nick Lindner, who leads the squad in scoring (16.3) and assists (4.4). Matt Klinewski (13.2), Bryce Scott (13.1) and Monty Boykins (10.3) also score in double figures for the Leopards, who score 71.7 points per game but allow 81.9.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Lafayette game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Jason Knapp will handle the play-by-play duties, and he will be joined by former Hofstra head coach Mo Cassara.
• 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. Lafayette
• Bucknell and Lafayette have met 159 times previously, making the Leopards Bucknell's second most-played opponent (the Bison have played Lehigh 165 times). Since the series began in 1915, Lafayette leads 89-70.
• Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, however, Bucknell has won 41 of 58 meetings.
• Lafayette won 33 of the first 37 meetings and led the series 60-14 at one point.
• Last year was the 100th anniversary of the first game played between Bucknell and Lafayette. On Jan. 26, 1915, Bucknell won what must have been a thriller, 33-32 in overtime in Lewisburg.
• Bucknell had been 15-0 all-time against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion until the Leopards posted their first win there in 2013-14. The Bison are now 16-2 against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion and 25-5 against the Leopards in Lewisburg going back to the Patriot League's first season.
• The Bison and Leopards have met in a conference championship game four times, with Bucknell winning three of those. The Bison defeated Lafayette 71-65 in the 1989 East Coast Conference final in Towson, Md., and they also won Patriot League championship games in Sojka Pavilion in 2011 (72-57) and 2013 (64-56). Lafayette claimed the 1999 Patriot League title with a 67-63 win over the Bison in Easton.
• Lafayette won two of the three head-to-head clashes last season, including a 80-74 win in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals at Sojka Pavilion. Nick Lindner scored 23 points to lead the Leopards, who received all 80 points from its starting five. The fourth-seeded Leopards went on to win the league title, while the top-seeded Bison were relegated to the NIT. In the regular-season meetings, Bucknell won 79-69 at home behind then-freshman Zach Thomas' 21-point, eight-rebound breakout performance, and then Lafayette came from 17 points down to win 84-74 in overtime in Easton.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 243-109 (.690) 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 75 of its last 95 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
• Stephen Brown scored a career-high 21 points to lead a Bucknell rally from 17 points down in a 74-71 win at Boston University on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym. Playing without leading scorer Chris Hass, the Bison started the game 3-for-16 and trailed 26-9 after 12:22 of play. But they trimmed the deficit to five by halftime, and then outscored the Terriers 47-39 in a foul-filled second half. The game was not decided until John Papale's potential tying 3-pointer fell off the front iron as time expired.
• The Bison shot 66.7% (14-21) in the second half and an even 50% for the game. After the 3-for-16 start, they shot 64.7% (22-34) the rest of the way.
• Brown continued his magnificent play, hitting 8 of 10 shots from the field and 5 of 6 from the line, en route to his first career 20-point game. He also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals, all of which were clean picks in the backcourt that led to breakaway layups.
• Zach Thomas tallied 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench for Bucknell, his second straight productive outing as he returns to form following an ankle injury. Ryan Frazier scored 11 points, including five big free throws in the final minute, and Nana Foulland tossed in 10 for the Bison.
• Defensively, the Bison forced 19 turnovers and limited the Terriers to 41.5% shooting. Boston University shot 54.2% in the second half and just 31.0% in the second.
• It was Bucknell's fourth straight win over the Terriers and also its fourth consecutive victory in Boston.
Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell ranks 31st nationally (out of 346 teams) in field-goal percentage (.479) and 47th in scoring offense (79.7). The Bison are also 45th in 3-point percentage (.380).
• Bucknell has done an excellent job getting to the foul line. The Bison rank 26th nationally in free throws made (355) and 28th in free-throw attempts (28).
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 176-136 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 16 of the 19 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 73.4 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 7.1 per game.
• Bucknell has had 10 different players score 10 or more points and six different players score 20 or more in a game this season.
• Bucknell has connected on at least 40% of its 3-point attempts in eight of the last 12 games after doing so just once in the first seven. The Bison are shooting 39.9% from the arc in Patriot League play, although they are just 12-for-47 (.255) from deep in the last three games.
Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: D.J. MacLeay +68, Chris Hass +63, Nate Jones +57, Nana Foulland +53. All but one 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 29 shots from beyond the arc this season, making nine.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in 11 of the 19 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 35.0% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. In Patriot League games he is averaging 12.9 ppg on 35-for-52 (.673) shooting from the field, 4-for-6 from the 3-point arc, 29-for-38 (.763) from the foul line, and he has 48 assists and 14 steals while committing just 13 turnovers and 11 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 seventh in the Patriot League at 79.1%.
• Hass leads the Patriot League in free-throw percentage at 83.3%.
• MacLeay leads the team in rebounds per 40 minutes (11.5), and he is now shooting 59.6% from the field this season. He is 13-for-18 from the field his is last five games, and against Holy Cross and Lehigh recently he recorded back-to-back double-figure scoring games for the first time in his career.
• Ryan Frazier is now shooting 39.0% from 3-point range this season (8-17 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 returns to action on Saturday, hosting Army West Point at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
• The Bison will be going for a season sweep of the Black Knights. Bucknell won 84-76 at West Point on Jan. 2 behind a career-high 40 points from Chris Hass.
