Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Basketball Back on the Road Saturday at Holy Cross
2/5/2016 12:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Where: Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
When: Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, 1 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: GoHolyCross.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (9.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.2 apg)
G: Ryan Frazier (8.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G: Chris Hass (17.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
F: Dom Hoffman (6.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
C: Nana Foulland (12.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
With a Win over Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 13-10 overall and 10-2 in Patriot League play.
• ... start 10-2 or better in the Patriot League for the ninth time in 26 years in the league.
• ... maintain at least a two-game lead in the Patriot League.
• ... sweep the season series from the Crusaders and defeat Holy Cross for the fourth straight time.
• ... snap a two-game losing streak at the Hart Center.
• ... improve to 5-1 on the road in Patriot League play, 7-5 overall.
Headlines
• Bucknell's four-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday at American, as the red-hot Eagles won their fifth game in a row, 69-55. One game after making 40 field goals and scoring 94 points in a rout of Army West Point, the Bison went 0-for-15 from 3-point range and were held to a season scoring low in D.C. It was Bucknell's first game without a trey since 2004.
• Despite the loss, Bucknell maintained a two-game lead in the Patriot League as second-place Navy and third-place Loyola also lost. The Bison are 9-2, followed by Navy at 7-4, and then a logjam of five teams with either five or six losses.
• Bucknell's 9-2 start in Patriot League play comes on the heels of a seven-game losing streak to close out the non-league slate. The Bison have never had a winning season in which it endured a downturn of that length. Prior to this season, Bucknell had 14 losing streaks of seven or more games — 12 coming prior to 1971 — and finished below .500 in each of those seasons.
• The Bison have scored 80 or more points 12 times and 90 or more four times, and despite the rough shooting night at American they lead the Patriot League in scoring at 79.3 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. Bucknell made 40 field goals and tossed in 94 points last week against Army West Point. The Bison rank 49th nationally in points per game.
• Including his 40-point game at Army West Point on Jan. 2, senior Chris Hass is averaging a team-best 17.7 points per game. That is the second-best mark in the Patriot League behind Army's Tanner Plomb. 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 16th on Bucknell's career scoring list (1,256).
• Sophomore point guard Stephen Brown has been sensational in Patriot League play, averaging 12.3 points per game on 60.5% shooting with 60 assists, 19 steals and just 19 turnovers and 16 fouls. After scoring a career-high 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the win at Boston University on Jan. 23, Brown was named the Lids Team Sports Patriot League Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
• 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).
• Holy Cross has dropped six of its last eight contests to fall to 4-7 in Patriot League play. The Crusaders, who are hosting their Winter Homecoming this weekend, are tied for eighth place in the Patriot League, but they are still only two games out of third place. Holy Cross also fell victim to American in its most recent outing, 58-45 on Monday. Robert Champion leads the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will not be televised, however a free webcast will be available on 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 GoHolyCross.com.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross
The Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry has been one of the league's best through the years. Some of the highlights:
• The Bison and Crusaders have combined to win eight of the last 15 Patriot League titles.
• These two teams have met 14 times in the 25 Patriot League Tournaments, with each side winning seven. That includes four times in the championship game. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the 2005 and 2006 title tilts, while the Crusaders topped the Bison in the final in 1993 and 2007.
• The Bison and Crusaders had never met until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91, but this will be the 66th meeting in 26 years.
• Bucknell leads the series 37-28. The road team has won just six of the last 20, including Holy Cross' upset of the Bison in the 2010 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals at Sojka Pavilion. That was the Crusaders' last win in Lewisburg, as the Bison have won the last seven at Sojka since then.
• Bucknell is 20-10 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 13-4 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 13-15 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
• Bucknell and Holy Cross played three times last season, with two of the games decided in overtime. After splitting the regular-season meetings, the Bison won a 90-83 overtime thriller in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. Chris Hass scored 32 points in that game, but he was nearly outdone by Holy Cross then-senior Malcolm Miller, who scored 34 in an incredible performance. Holy Cross rallied from 16 down in the second half to force overtime, but the Bison pulled it out. In the meeting at the Hart Center, Bucknell battled back from a 15-point deficit to force overtime, but Holy Cross scored all 11 of its points in the extra session at the free-throw line and held off the Bison 65-62. In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell won a foul-filled affair 70-57.
• In this year's first meeting, Bucknell rolled to a 98-71 win at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 9. John Azzinaro hit 7 of 10 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 21 points. Bucknell simply couldn't miss in the first half. The Bison connected on their first seven 3-point attempts of the day and went on to hit 12 of 17 in the first half alone. By intermission the team had already set a school record with seven different players making a 3-pointer, and it went on to finish 16-for-25 (.640) from the arc. The Bison fell one shy of the team record of 17 made threes in a game. By the final horn the Bison had rolled up 98 points — their most in a Patriot League game since a 98-88 win over Lehigh on Feb. 19, 1994. It was Bucknell's most points against Holy Cross since a 99-98 overtime loss to the Crusaders earlier that season, and it was the team's highest total in a regulation-time game against Holy Cross since the memorable 112-99 regular season title-clinching win in Davis Gym in 1993.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 245-110 (.690) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. The Bison are guaranteed a .500 or better league record this season, and they have now 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 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 77 of its last 98 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
• Delante Jones scored a game-high 18 points, and James Washington hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:48 to play that sent red-hot American past first-place Bucknell 69-55 on Wednesday night at Bender Arena.
• Both teams came in riding four-game winning streaks, and American was able to extend its run by shooting 55.0% from the field, becoming only the third team to shoot over 50% against the Bison all year.
• Meanwhile, the Bison struggled offensively, shooting 37.3%, including an 0-for-15 mark from 3-point distance. That put an end to Bucknell's streak of 374 straight games with a 3-pointer. The last time the Bison did not register a trey was Feb. 29, 2004 against Colgate.
• Stephen Brown led the Bison with 13 points and three steals, while Nana Foulland posted a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Chris Hass also hit double figures with 10 points, and D.J. MacLeay had eight points off the bench.
• In addition to seeing their four-game winning streak end, the Bison also had a four-game road winning streak and a four-game series streak against American snapped.
Team Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell ranks 35th nationally (out of 346 teams) in field-goal percentage (.475) and 49th in scoring offense (79.2). The Bison just dropped from 31st to 64th in 3-point percentage (.371) after the 0-for-15 showing at American.
• Bucknell is attempting to average 80 points in a season for the seventh time in program history. The last time the Bison finished a season with a scoring average better than 80 was 1993-94 (83.1). The team record is 83.3 in 1987-88.
• Bucknell has done an excellent job getting to the foul line. The Bison rank 26th nationally in free throws made (404) and 28th in free-throw attempts (562).
• Bucknell has typically gotten out to good starts this season. They have outscored opponents 203-161 in the first five minutes of games, and they have been ahead or tied at the five-minute mark in 19 of the 22 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 22 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 1.08 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.
• Only three teams have shot 50% or better from the field against Bucknell this season: North Carolina State (.544), Princeton (.545) and American (.550).
• Bucknell has had 10 different players score 10 or more points and six different players score 20 or more in a game this season. Eight different players have led the team in scoring this year.
Individual Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell plus-minus leaders: D.J. MacLeay +92, Chris Hass +86, Stephen Brown +79, Nana Foulland +61, Ryan Frazier +59. All but two players on the roster have a positive +/- for the season.
• Dom Hoffman entered the season with one career made 3-pointer in five attempts. He has tried 35 shots from beyond the arc this season, making 13.
• Point guard Stephen Brown has five or more assists in 12 of the 22 contests this season. Brown has assisted on 33.9% of the field goals made while he is on the floor. In Patriot League games he is averaging 12.3 ppg on 46-for-76 (.605) shooting from the field, 6-for-12 from the 3-point arc, 37-for-47 (.787) from the foul line, and he has 60 assists and 19 steals while committing just 19 turnovers and 16 fouls.
• Brown now has enough field-goal attempts to qualify for the Patriot League full-season FG% leaders, and he is currently fifth at 52.7%. He is the only guard ranked in the top 13 in the league in FG%. In league-only games, his 60.5 FG% is far and away the best in the Patriot League. Navy's Will Kelly ranks second at 58.9%
• 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 80.3%.
• MacLeay leads the team in rebounds per 40 minutes (11.5), and he is now shooting 62.9% from the field this season. He is 26-for-36 (.722) from the field in his last eight games, and he produced his career scoring high with 15 against Lafayette on Jan. 25.
• Ryan Frazier is now shooting 37.3% from 3-point range this season. 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 home on Wednesday to face Lehigh in a game that will be televised via the American Sports Network and simulcast online on the Patriot League Network.
• Bucknell defeated Lehigh 82-76 in Bethlehem on Jan. 11.
