Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Hoops Looks to Extend Win Streak Wednesday at Home vs. American
1/31/2017 6:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
What: American (5-16, 2-8 PL) at Bucknell (17-6, 9-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, 7 p.m.
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Tickets: 570-577-1000 or Buy Online
Promotions: Coca-Cola cell phone wallet giveaway
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (10.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 4.8 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (11.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (3.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.7 apg)
F: Zach Thomas (15.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.1 apg)
C: Nana Foulland (14.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.9 bpg)
With a Win over American, Bucknell Would ...
• ... earn its sixth straight victory and 10th in the last 11 tries. A six-game winning streak would be the longest since February of 2014, when the Bison closed the regular season with six wins in a row.
• ... move to 18-6 overall, 10-1 in the Patriot League, and 8-2 at home this season.
• ... maintain a two-game lead atop the Patriot League standings.
• ... sweep the season series from the Eagles and improve to 39-22 all-time against them.
• ... improve to 260-113 all-time in Patriot League regular-season games.
Headlines
• The red-hot Bison return to action Wednesday night against American. Bucknell has won five straight games, all by double figures and by an average margin of 16.4 points per game. Last time out, the Bison posted a season-high 96 points in a road rout of Army West Point, which preserved their two-game lead in the Patriot League.
• The last time Bucknell won five straight games, all by 10 points or more, was in 2005-06. That year, the Bison won their final two games of the regular season and all three Patriot League Tournament games by double digits. The streak ended with a four-point win over Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The school record for double-digit win streak is seven, done four times, most recently in 1992-93 (the other three came between 1899 and 1907).
• This will be Bucknell's 200th men's basketball game in Sojka Pavilion. The Bison come in with a 147-52 (.739) home record since the facility opened on Jan. 15, 2003.
• Bucknell is one of nine teams in Division I with nine or more conference wins. At 9-1 in Patriot League play, the Bison have a two-game lead over Boston University and Navy. Lehigh is now three back at 6-4, followed by a three-way tie for fifth place.
• During this five-game winning streak ... :
• Bucknell is shooting 49.6% as a team, including 40.6% from 3-point range.
• Limited opponents to 41.4% shooting, including 29.5% from 3-point range.
• Bucknell has a +30 rebounding margin.
• Bucknell has outscored opponents 90-38 from the free throw line (opponents have attempted only 73).
• Bucknell has gotten good scoring balance from its top four scorers: Kimbal Mackenzie (74), Nana Foulland (74), Zach Thomas (69) and Stephen Brown (69).
• Bucknell ranks No. 25 in this week's CollegeInsider Mid-Major Poll.
• After his 8-for-10 performance at Army West Point on Saturday, Foulland is 57-for-81 (.704) from the field in his last eight games and 60-for-88 (.682) in the 10 league games. For the season, his 64.5 FG% ranks sixth nationally. As a team, Bucknell ranks 51st out of 347 Division I teams with a field-goal percentage of 47.5%.
• Foulland on Jan. 18 became the 40th member of the 1,000-point club at Bucknell. Foulland also became the 19th Bison with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds, and he is the 21st Bucknell player to score 1,000 points in his third varsity season.
• Mackenzie is averaging 14.7 points per game in Patriot League play, the eighth-best mark in the league. He has four 20-point games this season, three of them coming against PL foes Navy (22), American (24) and Army West Point (23). In two of those games, Mackenzie was the catalyst in big comebacks on the road. He had 19 second-half points to help the Bison rally from 11 points down to beat Navy, and he scored 18 after halftime as Bucknell came from seven points down to defeat American.
• Thomas leads the team and ranks No. 4 in the Patriot League in scoring at 15.0 points per game. Thomas, who has been on triple-double watch on a couple of occasions this season, is the only player in the league who ranks in the top 12 in points, rebounds (7th) and assists (12th).
• Bucknell had used the same starting lineup in each of the first 13 games this season, but a left foot injury to sophomore guard Nate Jones necessitated a lineup change in the Navy game. Freshman Avi Toomer has started every game since then. Toomer is shooting 50.0% from the field and 38.9% from 3-point range in league play. In the recent win over Boston University, he scored eight points and held First Team All-Patriot Leaguer Eric Fanning without a field goal. Jones returned to the lineup Saturday at West Point after a nine-game absence, playing four minutes off the bench while hitting a 3-pointer on his lone shot attempt.
• Bucknell went 8-5 against a tough non-conference schedule, including a 4-1 mark at home. This was Bucknell's most successful pre-conference slate since 2012-13, when the Bison went 13-3 before the start of Patriot League action.
• Bucknell closed the month of November with a four-game winning streak that consisted of victories over Vanderbilt, Norfolk State, Northern Colorado and Richmond. The middle two came in Las Vegas, where the Bison claimed the “Upper Division” title at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The 75-72 victory over Vanderbilt was the team's first win over a Southeastern Conference team since 2006, when it took down Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the first victory over a “major conference” team since 2013-14, when Bucknell won at Penn State.
• 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. Foulland was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• American comes to Lewisburg looking to shake a three-game losing streak. The young Eagles are 5-16 overall and 2-8 in Patriot League play, tied for eighth place alongside Army West Point and Lafayette. Talented freshman point guard Sa'eed Nelson leads the team in scoring at 15.0 ppg, followed by sophomore Delante Jones (11.9) and freshman Mark Gasperini (11.7).
• Bucknell has seen plenty of the Princeton-style offense this season. This will be Bucknell's fifth game of the year against a team coached by a Princeton graduate. American head coach Mike Brennan was a four-year starter under the legendary Pete Carril before graduating in 1994. The Bison have already gone up against Carril disciples Chris Mooney (Richmond), Sydney Johnson (Fairfield) and Mitch Henderson (Princeton). Next up for Bucknell will be its second game of the year against Holy Cross, which is coached by Bill Carmody, a longtime Princeton assistant who succeeded Carril upon his retirement in 1996.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-American 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 (107.3 WEGH), with Doug Birdsong calling the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is also available online via BucknellBison.com (personal computers) and the official Bucknell Athletics app (iPhone and Android devices).
• Live stats can be found at BucknellBison.com.
• Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.
Bucknell vs. American
• Bucknell has an overall 38-22 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).
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 23-10, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals.
• Bucknell has won 21 of 28 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 13 out of 15 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 9-7 at Bender Arena since American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02.
• The two teams split last year's season series, with the home team winning each game. Bucknell won the first meeting 72-54 at Sojka Pavilion. Nana Foulland scored 18 points, and Stephen Brown had 15 on perfect shooting (5-5 FG, 5-5 FT) to lift the Bison, who outscored the Eagles 37-24 in the second half to break open a close game. Jesse Reed led American with 13 points. In the rematch in D.C., the Eagles won 69-55 for their fifth straight win, while ending Bucknell's four-game win streak. Delante Jones had 18 points for AU, while Brown had 13 points and Foulland 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Bison.
• Bucknell went 1-for-26 from 3-point range in the two games against American last season. The Bison were 1-for-11 in the home victory and 0-for-15 in the loss at Bender Arena. That snapped a streak of 374 straight games with a 3-pointer, dating back to Feb. 29, 2004 against Colgate. In this season's first meeting on Jan. 5, Bucknell missed its first five long-range attempts before Kimbal Mackenzie finally connected at the 12:25 mark of the second half.
• In that game in D.C. earlier this season, Mackenzie scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and keyed a terrific finish for Bucknell at the free-throw line, helping the Bison rally past American 69-60. Zach Thomas scored 16 points and Nana Foulland overcame foul trouble to finish with 11 points. Bucknell outscored American 25-10 over an eight-minute stretch in the latter part of the second half to flip a five-point deficit into a 10-point lead. The Bison conceded only three field goals in that span and held the Eagles to 40% shooting on the night. Sa'eed Nelson paced American with 18 points, while Lonnie Rivera came off the bench to score 15.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 259-113 (.696) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. The Bison have already clinched at least a .500 record in PL play for the 23rd time in 27 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 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 91 of its last 115 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).
• Bucknell's consistency in league play even predates the Patriot League. Going all the way back to 1975-76, when the Bison played in the East Coast Conference, the team has had only eight seasons with losing conference records out of 42, and never more than two in a row.
Last Time Out
• In its best offensive performance of the season, Bucknell shot 58.3% and cruised past Army West Point 96-75 on Saturday afternoon in front of a large bi-partisan crowd at Christl Arena. Kimbal Mackenzie scored 23 points, and frontcourt mates Nana Foulland (19) and Zach Thomas (17) combined for 36 on 16-for-22 shooting
• Bucknell had its most productive opening half of the campaign, hitting 19 of 29 shots, including 6 of 9 from long distance, and took a 52-36 lead to the locker room. It was the team's highest first-half point total since scoring 53 at home against Army last season. The Bison would lead by as many as 25 in the second half and cruise to their top scoring ledger since a 98-71 win over Holy Cross in early January of last season.
• This was Bucknell's highest point total against Army since a 98-72 win in Davis Gym in 1994, Charlie Woollum's final season as head coach, and it was the team's top output ever in a game at West Point.
• Stephen Brown was Bucknell's fourth double-digit scorer with 14 points, a dozen of them coming from a career-high four 3-pointers.
• Freshman Avi Toomer had a superb game, finishing with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals with no turnovers. He also led a terrific defensive effort on Army's top scorer, Jordan Fox, who was held to five points on 2-for-8 shooting. Fox torched the Bison for 26 in this season's earlier meeting, an 84-76 Bucknell win at Sojka Pavilion.
• Bucknell's starting five finished 32-for-51 (.627) from the field. Foulland (8-10) and Thomas (8-12) were effective in the low post, and Mackenzie hit 9 of 13 shots, including 3 of 5 from the arc, en route to his fourth 20-point game of the season. Thomas also had a team-high six assists.
• The Bison went 9-for-20 from 3-point range, including a first-half trey by Nate Jones on his first shot of the game. Jones returned to the lineup after missing the last nine games with an injury.
Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell has allowed 81.3 points per game in its six losses and 63.3 ppg in its 17 victories.
• Bucknell has posted three of its four biggest comeback victories on the road this season. They overcame deficits of 13 (Navy), 11 (Vanderbilt) and seven (American) to pull out good wins away from home. Bucknell also rallied from eight down to beat Boston University at home.
• Bucknell's transition defense has been strong thus far. The Bison have given up only 83 fastbreak points through 23 games. They went three straight contests (Vanderbilt, Norfolk State, Northern Colorado) without giving up any fastbreak points. Meanwhile, Bucknell has scored 146 fastbreak points on the season.
• Matt O'Reilly has attempted 128 shots during his career at Bucknell. Of those, 123 have come from beyond the 3-point arc. He is 2-for-5 in his career on 2-point shots, with his first make coming against Richmond earlier this season. O'Reilly ranks 12th nationally in 3-point attempts per minute at 0.32.
• Stephen Brown leads the Bison in +/- with a +209 on the season. Foulland is next at +157.
• Bison opponents have shot 50% or better from the field four times this season, and Bucknell is 0-4 in those games (Wake Forest, Butler, La Salle, Lehigh). The Bison are 17-2 when holding opponents under 50%.
• Bucknell is averaging a solid 1.07 points per possession this season, while opponents are averaging 0.97.
• The Bison have shot 50% or better from the field in seven of their last nine games.
• Bucknell has a +55 rebound margin in its last eight games. The Bison are 10-0 this season when outrebounding their opponent.
• Kimbal Mackenzie scored in double figures in two of his first 11 games of the season, but now he has 10 or more in the scoring column in 10 of his last 12.
• Mackenzie is 9-for-15 from 3-point range in his last four games and 33-for-35 from the foul line in his last nine games.
• D.J. MacLeay has 11 points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes over his last two games. MacLeay averages 14.5 points and a team-high 15.0 rebounds per 40 minutes.
• Brown has 46 assists and 16 turnovers in his last nine games.
• Thirty-five of Bruce Moore's 69 points on the season have come in the last six games. He is 11-for-18 from the field in that span. Ten of Moore's last 16 rebounds have been offensive.
• Foulland started the year 10-for-28 (.357) from the free-throw line in his first seven games. He is 60-for-101 (.594) since then.
• Bucknell has attempted more free throws than its opponent in 17 of 23 games this season. The Bison are 15-2 in those games.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell makes its first appearance on CBS Sports Network on Monday, Feb. 6 against Holy Cross at Sojka Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
• The Bison topped the Crusaders 68-49 in Worcester on Jan. 8.
