Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Basketball Back in Action Sunday at Wake Forest
11/12/2016 2:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: Bucknell (1-0) at Wake Forest
Where: LJVM Coliseum, Winston-Salem, N.C.
When: Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, 2 p.m.
Webcast: ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN
Radio: 94.1 FM WQKX
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: WakeForestSports.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (11.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 6.0 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (1.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
G: Nate Jones (5.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 4.0 apg)
F: Zach Thomas (23.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 5.0 apg)
C: Nana Foulland (8.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
With a Win over Wake Forest, Bucknell Would ...
• ... start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2012-13 (Purdue, George Mason).
• ... defeat Wake Forest for the first time in eight all-time meetings.
• ... defeat an ACC team for the first time since the 1960-61 season (Virginia 99-81), and for only the third time ever.
Headlines
• Bucknell opened its 122nd season of basketball on Friday night with a 76-64 victory at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison won their home opener for the eighth year in a row and beat the Jaspers for the second straight season.
• Junior forward Zach Thomas had one of the best games of his career on Friday. He scored 25 points on 7-12 shooting from the floor and 10-14 from the free-throw line, and he also added eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals. His point total was the highest by a Bucknell player on opening night since Bryan Bailey scored 31 against Central Connecticut State on Nov. 16, 2001.
• Legendary head coach Charlie Woollum was a featured guest at Friday's game. The re-modeled Sojka Pavilion lobby was dedicated his honor prior to the game, and he was recognized again at halftime along with many of his former players. Woollum won a school-record 318 games during his 19 years on the Bucknell sideline (1975-94), and he took the team to its first two NCAA Tournaments in 1987 and 1989.
• The Bison were picked to finish third (behind Lehigh and Boston University) in the Patriot League in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Junior center Nana Foulland was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• A year ago, the Bison captured the outright Patriot League regular-season title for the fifth time in the last six years before being upset by Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
• Bucknell must replace three starters and four lettermen from last year's squad, including leading scorer and First Team All-Patriot League selection Chris Hass (17.2 ppg), who is now playing professionally in Germany. Also graduated are starting off-guard Ryan Frazier (8.2 ppg), who was a member of the Patriot League All-Defensive Team; starting power forward Dom Hoffman (6.2 ppg), and reserve forward Matt Banas (1.1 ppg).
• The two returning starters are the team's two junior co-captains: Foulland and point guard Stephen Brown. Foulland was a Second Team All-Patriot League pick a year ago after posting 11.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Brown was a Third Team All-PL selection, recording 9.2 points and 5.3 assists per game.
• A pair of sophomores joined the starting lineup on Friday. Shooting guard Kimbal Mackenzie made his first career start after an outstanding preseason. Mackenzie played in every game off the bench at the “1” and “2” spots last season. Wing Nate Jones made just his second career start. He replaced an injured Hass for one game last year at Boston University.
• Wake Forest opened its season with an 80-59 home victory over Radford on Friday. The Demon Deacons received 18 points and 12 rebounds from John Collins as well as 14 points off the bench from Charlotte transfer Keyshawn Woods in his Wake Forest debut. The Demon Deacons were picked to finish 13th in the ACC this season.
• Wake Forest will face a member of the Jones family for the second straight game. Radford's head coach is Mike Jones, who is the father of Bison sophomore Nate Jones.
• Bucknell has one North Carolina native on the roster and another one on the way. Freshman Ben Robertson is from High Point and attended powerhouse High Point Christian H.S. This past week Bucknell announced the early signing of John Meeks, who is from Burlington, N.C. and attends The Burlington School.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Wake Forest game will stream on ACC Network Extra and ESPN3, and is available on the Watch ESPN app. Kevin Burke and Stan Lewter will have the call.
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on 94.1 WQKX-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.
• Live stats can be found at WakeForestSports.com.
• Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.
Bucknell vs. Wake Forest Series Notes
• This will be the eighth all-time meeting between Bucknell and Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have won each of the previous seven, including a 90-82 decision last season at Sojka Pavilion.
• The teams first met on Jan. 2, 1974 in Winston-Salem, an 83-56 Demon Deacons victory.
• On Nov. 14, 2006, Wake Forest played at Sojka Pavilion, making the Demon Deacons the first ACC team ever to play basketball on Bucknell's campus. Wake Forest pulled out an 86-83 victory in overtime in that one behind 26 points from Kyle Visser. Six Bucknell players scored in double figures. Bucknell led virtually the entire way, despite a rash of foul trouble throughout the night. The Bison were whistled for 33 of the 62 fouls in the game, which featured a combined 80 free throws. The Demon Deacons never led by more than two points all night until Ishmael Smith opened the overtime session with a high arcing 3-pointer, snapping a 75-all tie.
• Wake Forest returned to Sojka Pavilion last year in a game that was a tale of two halves. Bucknell led 48-37 at intermission, but the Demon Deacons outscored the Bison 53-34 in the second half to win 90-82. Bucknell shot 50% from the field in the first half but just 25% in the second. Chris Hass led all scorers with 26 points and Zach Thomas had 18 for the Bison, while Bryant Crawford led Wake Forest with 21 and seven assists.
• The last time these two teams met at Joel Coliseum two years ago, the Demon Deacons held off a Bucknell second-half rally and prevailed 60-53. Bucknell started the game 1-for-19 from the field and fell behind by as many as 17 points. Hass triggered a comeback attempt, and the Bison closed within one point in the second half, but they could never get the lead. Hass finished with 26 points, but Bucknell shot just 28.6% for the game. Wake Forest shot 36.2% and was led by Codi Miller-McIntyre's 19 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Bucknell vs. the ACC
• Bucknell has an 11-51 record against the 15 teams that now make up the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Bison are 9-18 against Pittsburgh, 1-2 vs. Virginia, 1-9 vs. Syracuse, 0-7 vs. Wake Forest, 0-3 vs. Notre Dame, 0-3 vs. Duke, 0-2 vs. Boston College, 0-2 vs. Clemson, 0-2 vs. Miami, 0-1 vs. North Carolina State, 0-1 vs. Virginia Tech and 0-1 vs. Florida State.
• Bucknell has two all-time victories against teams that were in the ACC at the time of the game. The Bison defeated Virginia 99-81 on Jan. 27, 1961 and South Carolina 67-65 on Dec. 30, 1958.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell started the new season on the right foot with a 76-64 win over Manhattan Friday at Sojka Pavilion.
• Zach Thomas filled up the stat sheet with a career-high-tying 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals. He matched his previous scoring high, set last season at North Carolina State.
• Point guard Stephen Brown added 11 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals. He took over the game in the closing minutes after Manhattan rallied. After the Jaspers had cut an 11-point deficit as close as one, his defensive rebound and mad dash down the floor for a coast-to-coast layup capped a 13-5 run and pushed the margin up to nine at 66-57. After three Manhattan free throws, Brown drained a 3-pointer to make it a nine-point game again, then he hit a long two late in the shot clock to make it 72-61.
• It was a good night for the bench, as Bucknell used 11 players in the game. Sophomore Nate Sestina, back on the floor after missing almost all of the 2015-16 season with a shoulder injury, chipped in 10 points, and reserve guard Matt O'Reilly hit 3 of 4 from 3-point range and added a career-high nine points.
• Bucknell was terrific defensively. The Bison forced 24 Manhattan turnovers, resulting in 14 steals, and held the Jaspers to 35.5% shooting on the night.
About Last Year
• It was another banner year for the Bison men's basketball team, which captured its fifth outright Patriot League regular-season championship in the last six years. Bucknell finished the season with a 17-14 overall record and a 14-4 mark in the Patriot League.
• The Bison have now captured 10 regular-season titles in the Patriot League's 26-year history. No other team has won more than five.
• In 2016 the Bison made their third appearance in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), where they fell 90-80 at top-seeded Monmouth.
• The members of the Class of 2016 — Matt Banas, Ryan Frazier, Chris Hass and Dom Hoffman — finished their careers with an 80-49 (.620) overall record and a Patriot League record of 50-18 (.735). These seniors won three regular-season PL titles and played in one NCAA Tournament and two NITs.
• Bucknell is now 250-112 (.691) in 26 years in the Patriot League. That is the best record of any league team.
• Bucknell had three All-Patriot League selections last year, with Chris Hass making the First Team, Nana Foulland on the Second Team, and Stephen Brown named to the Third Team. Brown and Ryan Frazier were both selected to the All-Defensive Team; Frazier and Foulland were named to the All-Academic Team; and Nathan Davis was named Patriot League Coach of the Year in his first season back at Bucknell.
• Davis' 17 wins were the most ever for a first-year coach at Bucknell. Following the season he was selected as a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, given to the top first-year coach in the country.
• Hass was also named to the NABC All-District 13 Team. Hass led the team and ranked third in the Patriot League in scoring at 17.2 points per game. He earned All-Patriot League honors for the third time and finished his career ranked 11th on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,402 career points.
• Brown dished out five or more assists 18 times last season, and he ranked second in the league in assists per game (5.3). Brown's 165 assists are tied for eighth-most in a season in Bucknell history.
• Bucknell was the highest-scoring team in the Patriot League last season, averaging 79.0 points per game. That is the team's highest scoring total since 1993-94 and the eighth-highest in program history.
Five Titles in Six Years Puts Bison in Elite Company
• Bucknell has captured the outright (no ties) Patriot League regular-season title in five of the last six years. Kansas and Belmont are the only other schools that can make a similar claim:
Teams Winning 5 Outright Regular-Season Titles in Last 6 Years
Bucknell
Belmont
Kansas
Teams Winning 4 Outright Regular-Season Titles in Last 6 Years
Davidson
Stephen F. Austin
Texas Southern
Valparaiso
Wichita State
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 250-112 (.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 22 of the 26 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 have now won five of the last six, after claiming titles in 2015 and 2016 as well.
• Bucknell has now won 10 Patriot League regular-season titles in 26 years. No other team has more than five.
• Last year Bucknell made its seventh Patriot League Tournament appearance as the No. 1 seed.
• 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 82 of its last 105 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).
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell will return home on Wednesday to face Robert Morris at Sojka Pavilion at 7 p.m.
• The Colonials dropped their season opener to Penn 67-50, and they will play at DePaul on Sunday before traveling to Lewisburg.
• Bucknell defeated Robert Morris 81-76 in Pittsburgh last season.
