Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Host Holy Cross Monday on CBS SN, Looking to Extend Lead in PL
2/5/2017 11:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball
What: Holy Cross (12-12, 6-5 PL) at Bucknell (18-6, 10-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, 7 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Satellite Radio: Sirius 119/XM 203
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Tickets: 570-577-1000 or Buy Online
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Stephen Brown (10.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.9 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (11.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (3.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.8 apg)
F: Zach Thomas (15.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.2 apg)
C: Nana Foulland (14.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.9 bpg)
With a Win over Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...
• ... earn its seventh straight victory and 11th in the last 12 tries. A seven-game winning streak would be the longest since 2012-13, when the Mike Muscala-led Bison beat Lafayette in the Patriot League championship game for its seventh straight win at the time.
• ... move to 19-6 overall, 11-1 in the Patriot League, and 9-2 at home this season.
• ... reach the 19-win mark for the 15th time in school history and fifth time in the last seven years.
• ... increase its lead in the Patriot League standings to three full games with six to play.
• ... sweep the season series from the Crusaders and improve to 40-29 all-time against them.
• ... improve to 261-113 all-time in Patriot League regular-season games.
Headlines
• Bucknell hosts Holy Cross on Monday night with a chance to take a commanding three-game lead in the Patriot League with six games to play. Second-place Navy fell at Colgate on Saturday, ending the Midshipmen's eight-game winning streak.
• Bucknell has won six straight games, all by double figures and by an average margin of 17.0 points per game. The last time Bucknell won six straight games, all by 10 points or more, was in 1992-93, when Charlie Woollum's Bison tied the school record with seven double-digit wins in a row. Bucknell has had three other such seven-game streaks, all coming between 1899 and 1907.
• In addition, this is the first time Bucknell has three straight wins by 20 or more points since the Calvin Coolidge administration. In January of 1928, Bucknell defeated Haverford (45-25), Schuylkill (66-16) and Susquehanna (46-20) in succession.
• Wednesday's 80-60 win over American came in Bucknell's 200th men's basketball game in Sojka Pavilion. The Bison are now 148-52 (.740) at home since the facility opened on Jan. 15, 2003.
• Through Saturday's games, Bucknell was one of 19 teams in Division I with 10 or more conference wins.
• During this six-game winning streak ... :
• Bucknell is shooting 51.4% as a team, including 41.2% from 3-point range.
• Limited opponents to 41.6% shooting, including 29.0% from 3-point range.
• Bucknell has a +40 rebounding margin.
• Bucknell has outscored opponents 102-53 from the free throw line (opponents have attempted only 95).
• Bucknell ranks No. 25 in this week's CollegeInsider Mid-Major Poll.
• Nana Foulland is 15-for-20 (.750) from the field in his last two games, 64-for-91 (.703) in his last nine games and 67-for-98 (.684) in the 11 league games. For the season, his 64.7 FG% ranks fifth nationally. As a team, Bucknell ranks 35th out of 347 Division I teams with a field-goal percentage of 48.0%.
• 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.
• Kimbal Mackenzie is averaging 14.1 points per game in Patriot League play, the 10th-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 15.3 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 10 in points, rebounds (7th) and assists (10th).
• 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 51.4% 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 Jan. 28 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.
• Like Bucknell, Holy Cross has been idle since last Wednesday, when it defeated Colgate 56-50 at home. The Crusaders are one of the team's stoutest defensive teams. They lead the league in scoring defense at 62.7 points per game, and they average a league-best 9.2 steals per game. Malachi Alexander, one of three seniors in Holy Cross' starting lineup, leads the squad in both scoring (14.3) and rebounding (5.2).
• Bucknell sophomore Matt O'Reilly's father, Robert, played basketball at Princeton from 1981-85, when Bill Carmody was an assistant coach with the Tigers under the legendary Pete Carril. The elder O'Reilly was part of two NCAA Tournament teams at Princeton.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, with Jason Knapp and Mo Cassera on the call.
• 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 game will also be carried by the Heritage Sports Radio Network, with Mike Corey and Terry Conrad descibing the action. The HSRN broadcast will air on satellite radio on Sirius 119/XM 203.
• The Bucknell 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. 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 nine of the last 16 Patriot League titles.
• These two teams have met 15 times in the 26 Patriot League Tournaments, with Holy Cross winning eight and Bucknell 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 69th meeting in 27 years.
• Bucknell leads the series 39-29. The road team has won just nine of the last 23, including Bucknell's win at the Hart Center earlier this season.
• Bucknell is 20-11 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 13-5 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 15-15 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
• The Bison swept the regular-season series from Holy Cross in convincing fashion last season. Bucknell won 98-71 at Sojka Pavilion, led by seven 3-pointers and a career-high 21 points from John Azzinaro. The Bison went 16-for-25 from the arc in that game. At the Hart Center Bucknell turned to its inside game, getting 22 points from Nana Foulland in a 77-52 victory.
• Those two blowouts were distant memories by the time Holy Cross returned to Lewisburg for the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals in March. The ninth-seeded Crusaders defeated the top-seeded Bison 77-72 in double overtime, made possible by a miraculous turnaround 3-pointer by Robert Champion at the final buzzer of the first overtime period. Bucknell attempted a school-record 39 3-pointers, hitting 10, and also committed 17 turnovers. Malachi Alexander led Holy Cross with 20 points, while Zach Thomas had 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Bison.
• In this season's first meeting on Jan. 8 in Worcester, Bucknell never trailed and won 68-49 behind 17 points and eight boards from Foulland. The Bison piled up a 41-21 rebounding edge and shot 52.9% for the game. Patrick Benzan led Holy Cross with 15 points.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 260-113 (.697) 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 92 of its last 116 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 26-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
• Zach Thomas punctuated Bucknell's dominant opening seven minutes with a two-hand jam in traffic, and he finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a wire-to-wire 80-60 victory over American on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion.
• Nana Foulland added 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting for the first-place Bison.
• Bucknell's 200th men's basketball game in Sojka Pavilion looked like it might be a rout right from the opening tap. The Bison made six straight attempts in a 14-0 run to start the game. The Eagles went 0-for-6 with three turnovers in that span, before finally getting on the board with a Lonnie Rivera layup 4:50 into the contest.
• American outscored Bucknell 14-5 over an eight-minute juncture early in the second half, closing within eight at 50-42 on a pair of Matt Cimino free throws. The teams traded baskets for a few trips, then the Bison ran the lead back out again with a 9-0 run. Senior John Azzinaro was the catalyst in that surge. First he drove baseline and picked out Thomas in the opposite corner for a 3-pointer. Then a beautiful sequence of ball-movement resulted in an open 3-ball for Azzinaro near the top of the key that made it a 63-46 game with 6:30 to play. Azzinaro went 4-for-4 from 3-point range for a season-high 12 points, his second double-digit scoring effort in his last three games.
• The Bison shot a season-high 61.2% from the field, their eighth game in the last 10 at 50% or better. Bucknell was 30-for-49 from the field, 8-for-18 from the 3-point arc and 12-for-20 from the foul line. It was Bucknell's first time over 60% from the field since the 2015-16 season-opener against Shenandoah.
Numbers Worth Noting
• Bucknell has allowed 81.3 points per game in its six losses and 63.1 ppg in its 18 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 89 fastbreak points through 24 games. They went three straight contests (Vanderbilt, Norfolk State, Northern Colorado) without giving up any fastbreak points. Meanwhile, Bucknell has scored 153 fastbreak points on the season.
• Matt O'Reilly has attempted 130 shots during his career at Bucknell. Of those, 125 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 +229 on the season. Nana Foulland is next at +167.
• Bison opponents have shot 50% or better from the field only 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 eight of their last 10 games.
• Bucknell has a +65 rebound margin in its last nine games. The Bison are 11-0 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 11 of his last 13.
• Mackenzie is 11-for-17 from 3-point range in his last five games and 33-for-35 from the foul line in his last 10 games.
• D.J. MacLeay has 15 points and 18 rebounds in 35 minutes over his last three games. MacLeay averages 14.6 points and a team-high 15.4 rebounds per 40 minutes.
• Brown has 53 assists and 19 turnovers in his last 10 games.
• Foulland started the year 10-for-28 (.357) from the free-throw line in his first seven games. He is 62-for-108 (.574) since then.
• Bucknell has attempted more free throws than its opponent in 17 of 24 games this season. The Bison are 15-2 in those games.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell has a quick turnaround before facing preseason favorite Lehigh on Wednesday at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks are responsible for Bucknell's only conference loss so far, an 82-71 verdict on Jan. 11 at Sojka Pavilion.
• The Bison will be looking to end the “Monday night jinx.” Over the last three weeks, teams playing in the Monday CBS Sports Network game are 0-6 in their following games.
