Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Basketball Back Home Wednesday to Face American
1/5/2016 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 6, 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 (7.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 5.1 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (8.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G: Chris Hass (20.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
F: Zach Thomas (13.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (11.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.1 bpg)
With a Win over American, Bucknell Would ...
• ... claim its third straight game and improve to 6-8 overall and 3-0 in Patriot League play.
• ... start 3-0 in the Patriot League for the first time since 2012-13, and for the ninth time in the 26-year history of the Patriot League.
• ... defeat the Eagles for the fourth straight time.
• ... Improve to 135-47 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 95-21 against Patriot League opponents in Sojka.
Headlines
• Bucknell has two straight wins to start of Patriot League play, after finishing the non-league slate on a seven-game losing streak. The two victories came against Navy (88-58) and Army (84-76), the two teams with the most overall wins (10 each).
• Last time out the Bison picked up an impressive road win over Army, which came in with a 10-3 record. Chris Hass stole the show, posting a career-high 40 points, including a school-record 32 in the first half on 11-for-11 shooting. Hass scored 32 of the team's 37 points in the first half, as the rest of the squad went 1-for-17. Hass finally missed a few shots in the second half, but the rest of the team went 14-for-22 to help close out the win.
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points in nine of their first 13 games and rank second in the Patriot League in scoring at 80.7 points per game. Bucknell ranks 49th nationally out of 346 teams in scoring offense. At the other end of the floor, the Bison are conceding 78.1 points per game, although they held Army 12 points below its season average on Saturday.
• After his 40-point performance, Hass has upped his season average to 20.1 points per game. That is the second-best mark in the Patriot League behind Army's Tanner Plomb, and the 29th-best in the nation. There are currently 32 Division I players averaging 20 points or more. 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.
• American comes to Lewisburg looking to shake a six-game losing streak. The Eagles have fallen to Loyola (75-67) and Colgate (56-37) in Patriot League play and are looking for their first win since a 60-56 verdict over Youngstown State on Dec. 4. Jesse Reed leads American in scoring at 11.8 ppg, followed by Paris Maragkos at 10.0.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-American 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 BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. American Series Notes
• Bucknell has an overall 36-21 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates. The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win).
• Bucknell has won 20 of 27 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 12 out of 14 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 8-6 at Bender Arena since American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02.
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 21-9, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals.
• Last season Bucknell swept the Eagles, including a memorable 71-69 win in Bender Arena on the final day of the regular season that clinched the outright title. Led by 20 points from J.C. Show, the freshman class scored 49 points, including 15 of the final 17, to help the Bison win a thriller that featured a whopping 26 lead changes and 12 ties. In last year's game at Sojka Pavilion, Chris Hass registered 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and no turnovers to lead Bucknell to a 57-47 victory over the Eagles. The Bison shot 52.4% from the field in the second half to break open a tie game, and they used stellar defense and rebounding to win a low-scoring affair that featured long possessions from both sides.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 238-108 (.688) 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 70 of its last 89 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
• Paced by a record-setting 40-point performance from senior Chris Hass, Bucknell picked up a big 84-76 road win over Army West Point on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena. Hass set a school record with 32 points in the first half — on 11-for-11 shooting — and then he scored his final six points in the last 1:15 to help put away a close contest.
• Bucknell led 37-36 at the half, with Hass' incredible performance keeping the team in it. While he was making all 11 of his shots, including four 3-pointers, the rest of the team was just 1-for-17 from the field. That reversed in the second half. Hass finally missed a few shots as he was blanketed all over the floor, but his teammates went 14-for-22 and scored 39 of the team's 47 after the break, when the Bison shot 53% as a team.
• Ryan Frazier chipped in 13 points, Nana Foulland had seven points and a career-high 12 rebounds, and Dom Hoffman added nine points, including a huge 3-pointer in the second half. The Bison won despite playing without the services of second-leading scorer Zach Thomas, who sat out a second straight game with an ankle injury.
• Hass turned in the seventh 40-point game in Bucknell history, and the first since Kevin Bettencourt racked up 42 at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 6, 2003. Hass had the first 40-point effort in a Patriot League game since Navy's Chris Harris scored 40 against Lehigh on Feb. 10, 2010. It was also the first 40-point game for a Patriot League player since Lehigh's C.J. McCollum scored 42 vs. Kent State on Nov. 26, 2010.
• The previous Bucknell record for points in a half was 27, set by Joe Steiner against La Salle in 1962 and Chris Simpson against Holy Cross in 1994. He also broke the Christ Arena record for points scored by an Army opponent. Rob Feaster of Holy Cross held the previous mark with 37, which he did twice in the early 1990s.
• In the aftermath of the victory, Hass was named Lids Team Sports Patriot League Player of the Week, 5th Quarter Fresh Bison Athlete of the Week, CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Player of the Week, Mid-Major Madness Player of the Week, College Sports Madness Player of the Week and Corvias ECAC Player of the Week.
Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 128-88 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 12 of the 13 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 1.08 points per possession so far.
• The Bison have recorded assists on 60.1% of their field goals so far, the 55th-best figure in the nation.
• The Bison rank 49th nationally in scoring offense and 43rdin assists per game (16.7) 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 67 in the last seven contests.
• Bucknell has made better than 40% of its 3-point attempts in each of the last six games after doing so just once in the first seven.
Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: Chris Hass +43, D.J. MacLeay +30, Nana Foulland +30, Nate Jones +26.
• Bucknell's top three scorers of Hass, Zach Thomas and Foulland have accounted for 53.5% 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 20 shots from beyond the arc this season, making seven.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in eight of the 13 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 31.5% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. He has 27 assists and just five turnovers in the last four 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 82.9%.
• 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 six appearances.
• Nana Foulland has 29 rebounds in his last three games.
• Ryan Frazier has scored in double figures in three straight games for the first time in his career. He has 43 points on 16-for-28 shooting in that span.
• In his last two games, Chris Hass has 62 points while making 21-for-31 from the field, 7-for-11 from 3-point range and 13-for-15 from the foul line.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell is home again on Saturday to face Holy Cross at 2 p.m. That contest will be the backdrop for the 12th Annual “Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball”, benefitting Suncom Industries.
