Men's Basketball Continues Road Trip Monday Night at Vanderbilt on SEC Network

11/20/2016 1:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: TBD

What: Bucknell (2-2) at Vanderbilt (2-1) as part of Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational
Where: Memorial Gym, Nashville, Tenn.
When: Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, 9 p.m. (Eastern)
TV: SEC Network
Webcast: WatchESPN
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: VUCommodores.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (5.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.8 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (6.8 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G: Nate Jones (6.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.8 apg)
F: Zach Thomas (18.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 4.0 apg)
C: Nana Foulland (14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.3 bpg)

With a Win over Vanderbilt, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 3-2 on the season and 1-2 on the road.
• ... defeat an SEC opponent for the first time since the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament (59-55 over Arkansas).
• ... win a game in the state of Tennessee for the first time since Dec. 29, 1994 (80-73 over Harvard in the Music City Invitational in Nashville).

Headlines
• Bucknell continues its four-game, three-city road trip on Monday night at Vanderbilt, with all of the games on the trip part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. After falling 86-60 at Butler on Saturday, the Bison bussed to Nashville. Then it's off to Las Vegas for games on Thanksgiving Day (Norfolk State) and Black Friday (Northern Colorado or Sacred Heart) at the Orleans Arena.
• Bucknell has alternated wins and losses thus far. The Bison have home wins over Manhattan and Robert Morris along with road losses to Wake Forest and Butler.
• Junior forward Zach Thomas had one of the best games of his career against Manhattan ... and then he surpassed it with an even better performance against Robert Morris just five days later. In the Manhattan game, Thomas 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. Against Robert Morris, he nearly recorded the first triple-double in program history with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Thomas also had 16 points against Wake Forest and 12 against Butler, and he comes into the Vandy game with a team-best 18.0 ppg scoring average.
• 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. After two modest performances to start the season, Foulland broke out against Robert Morris on Wednesday with a career-high 23 points along with 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals. He backed it up with a 16-point effort at Butler and is shooting 71.4% from the field this season.
• 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 have joined the starting lineup. Shooting guard Kimbal Mackenzie made his first career start against Manhattan after an outstanding preseason, and he had a 15-point game against Wake Forest. 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 in the season-opener. He replaced an injured Hass for one game last year at Boston University.
• Vanderbilt dropped its season opener at Marquette, but has responded with wins over Belmont and Norfolk State. Matthew Fisher-Davis is the Commodores' top scorer at 15.3 ppg, followed by Luke Kornet at 14.7 ppg. Jeff Roberson nearly averages a double-double with 10.0 ppg and 9.7 rpg.

How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Vanderbilt game will be televised on the SEC Network, with Dave Baker and Barry Booker on the call. The game will also stream live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WQKX), 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 VUCommodores.com.
• Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. Vanderbilt Series Notes
• Bucknell and Vanderbilt have only met one other time, an 80-68 Commodores win on Nov. 15, 2011 at Memorial Gym.
• In that 2011 meeting, a second-half 3-point shooting flurry helped 18th-ranked Vanderbilt break open a one-point game at the half. Vanderbilt started the game just 1-for-13 from 3-point range and went 2-for-15 in the first half, but then the Commodores went 8-for-15 from the arc in a 53-point second half. Joe Willman led the Bison with 17 points, while Mike Muscala had 10. Jeffrey Taylor led the Commodores with 14.

Bucknell vs. The SEC
• The Bison are 3-9 (.250) against current members of the SEC (1-0 vs. Arkansas, 1-1 vs. Alabama, 1-1 vs. South Carolina, 0-1 vs. Tennessee, 0-1 vs. Florida, 0-1 vs. Vanderbilt, 0-1 vs. Texas A&M, 0-1 vs. Missouri, and 0-2 vs. Georgia).
• Bucknell had a two-game winning streak against SEC opponents snapped in the 2011 loss to Vanderbilt.
• On Dec. 29, 1995, the Bison defeated Alabama 72-64 at the Cessna Classic in Wichita, Kansas. Their next appearance against an SEC foe came in Dallas at the 2006 NCAA Tournament, and the ninth-seeded Bison edged eighth-seeded Arkansas 59-55.

Last Time Out
• Avery Woodson and Tyler Wideman scored 14 points apiece to lead a balanced and efficient Butler attack, and the Bulldogs turned back Bucknell 86-60 on Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
• Nana Foulland hit 7 of 8 shots from the field and scored a team-high 16 points to go with five rebounds for the Bison, who fell to 2-2 on the season. Zach Thomas added 12 points and five boards, but the Bison just could not get enough defensive stops against a Butler (3-0) team that shot 62.1% for the game.
• The first five minutes of both halves proved to be decisive. Butler outscored the Bison 16-4 to start the game, and then after the Bison pulled within 11 by halftime, the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 13-4 run.
• Bucknell shot 45.7% for the game (7-19 from 3-point distance) and hit 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.
• Bucknell received some good minutes from freshmen off the bench. Ben Robertson hit 4 of 5 shots and scored the first nine points of his career, and Bruce Moore added seven points on 3 of 5 shooting.
• This was just the second all-time meeting between the two teams, with Butler winning 68-56 in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Numbers Worth Noting
• Through four games, Bucknell's frontcourt (“4” and “5” positions) is shooting 54.45% from the field, while the guards are shooting 35.9%. The Bison have struggled from long distance in the early going, hitting on 32.1% of their 3-point tries.
• Bucknell's starting frontcourt of Zach Thomas (18.0 ppg) and Nana Foulland (14.3 ppg) have scored 45.2% of the team's points on the season.
• Bucknell opponents have 58 assists and 60 turnovers thus far. The Bison are averaging 8.0 steals per game.
• From the Department of Conflicting Statistics: the Bison have outscored opponents by an average of 36-30 in the paint this season, but they have been outrebounded by an average of 37-30 through the first four games.
• Nate Sestina was held scoreless at Butler after recording double-digit points in each of the first three games of the season. Sestina still has an efficient 32 points in 52 minutes this season.

Who's Got Next?
• Competition in the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational moves on to Las Vegas, where the Bison will play games on Thursday and Friday. Bucknell faces Norfolk State on Thursday, and either Northern Colorado or Sacred Heart on Friday.
• Norfolk State is 2-2, with the losses coming to Mississippi State (78-74) and Vanderbilt (75-52), and the wins over a pair of Division III teams. The Spartans play at Butler on Monday before heading out to Vegas.