Orange Out Declared for Saturday's Men's Basketball Game vs. Monmouth

What: Monmouth (0-8) vs. Bucknell (2-3)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. | BUY TICKETS
When: Saturday, Dec. 1, 2 p.m.
TV: Stadium (How to Watch | Stadium OTA Affiliates | Stadium Cable Affiliates)
Internet: Patriot League Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Happenings

Pregame Chalk-Talks with Head Coach Nathan Davis: Head coach Nathan Davis will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the opponent scout during his pregame chalk talks for select games again this season. The pregame chalk talks are OPEN TO BACKCOURT CLUB MEMBERS who donate at the $500 level or higher (must be in current fiscal year, July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019) and take place in the Graham Building just inside the lobby. They begin one hour prior to tip-off, and doors to the Graham Building open 75 minutes prior to tip-off. The games and chalk-talk times remaining this year are: Saturday, Dec. 1 (Monmouth - 1pm), Monday, Jan. 14 (Holy Cross - 6pm) and Monday, Feb. 11 (Lehigh - 6pm).
Snowboard Giveaway: Gilson will give away a Bucknell-themed snowboard via random drawing for Bucknell students in attendance and checked in via the Bison Nation app.
Mascot Game: Red Robin sponsors the always-fun mascot game at halftime.
Toy Drive: The Bucknell Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is holding a holiday toy drive, to benefit the Eastern Union County Supplemental Food Program.
ORANGE OUT: An "Orange Out" has been declared, sponsored by Weis Markets and Frito Lay. You can get your official "Orange Out" t-shirt through Saturday, free with $40 purchase and a Frito Lay product at the Lewisburg Weis Markets.

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (11.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 5.0 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (17.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 4.0 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (7.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (9.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (15.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 0.7 apg)

With a Win over Monmouth, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 3-3 overall and 1-3 at home this season.
... defeat the Hawks for the first time in three all-time meetings.
... avoid its first 0-4 home start since 1969-70.
... improve to 71-36 under head coach Nathan Davis.
... improve to 171-56 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines

Bucknell welcomes Monmouth on Saturday afternoon, looking to bounce back from a loss to hot-shooting Northeastern on Wednesday. The Hawks will also be hungry for a win. They are off to an 0-8 start against a tough schedule, with the most recent setback coming at Kentucky on Wednesday.
Bucknell's home struggles are a rarity. The Bison went 30-3 at home over the previous two seasons, but they are 0-3 this year with losses to Fairfield, Canisius and Northeastern. The Bison last lost three straight home games in 2015-16, and their last 0-3 home start came in 1994-95.
The Bison have spent most of their first five games trying to come from behind, and they have overcome 13-point second-half deficits in both of their victories. Bucknell has held the lead for a total of only 23:35 in the first five games. In addition to the two big rallies in wins over St. Bonaventure and Vermont, the Bison came from 15 down to tie the game in the final seconds against Fairfield, only to see the Stags win it on a shot with 0:03 left. Against Canisius, Bucknell cut a 20-point second-half deficit down to six before the rally stalled.
Bucknell is looking to continue its run of success following the graduation of one of its all-time great senior classes. The trio of point guard Stephen Brown, forward Zach Thomas and center Nana Foulland were all First Team All-Patriot League selections last year, and they accounted for 4,801 career points. Despite the heavy graduation hit, four of Bucknell's five opening-night starters managed to start at least 10 games last season. And the only one that didn't — senior center Nate Sestina — was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection.
Bucknell was picked a close second to Lehigh in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. The Bison did pick up one more first-place vote (8) than the Mountain Hawks (7).
Bucknell has another difficult non-conference schedule this season. Not including the field at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in December, Bucknell's nine non-league foes combined for a 193-108 (.641) overall record and a 112-48 (.700) mark within their respective leagues last year. Six of the nine teams won at least 21 games, and seven of the nine had winning records. And then Bucknell's first-round opponent in Hawaii will be Rhode Island, which went 26-8 overall and 15-3 in the A-10 last season.
Last season, Bucknell finished 25-10 overall and 16-2 in the Patriot League. The Bison swept Loyola, Boston University and Colgate — with the latter two wins coming by a combined 60 points — to win the Patriot League Tournament crown. Bucknell's eighth NCAA Tournament appearance resulted in a narrow 82-78 first-round loss to third-seeded Michigan State in Detroit.
Monmouth makes its very first trip to Sojka Pavilion still seeking its first win of 2018-19, albeit against a very difficult schedule. The Hawks opened the season with losses to Patriot League foes Lehigh and Colgate, and since then they have fallen to Saint Joseph's, West Virginia, Valparaiso, Cal State Fullerton, Princeton and Kentucky. Deion Hammond leads the team in scoring at 11.3 ppg, followed by Ray Salnave at 8.9 ppg. The Hawks shoot 36.4% as a team and have struggled from 3-point range at 23.8%.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Monmouth game will be televised on Stadium and its over-the-air affiliates, with Joe Vasile handling the play-by-play duties alongside former Bucknell assistant coach Terry Conrad. The game will also be streamed 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.
Live statistics can be accessed via BucknellBison.com.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

It was a rough night for the Bison on Wednesday, as Northeastern put on an impressive offensive display in a 96-78 victory at Sojka Pavilion. The Huskies shot 70.0% in the first half en route to a 56-37 halftime lead, and they led by double digits for the final 36 minutes of the game.
Bucknell was fairly efficient offensively, despite the lopsided margin. Bucknell had four players score in double figures, with two others tallying nine points, and the Bison shot 49.1% overall while hitting 11 of 25 from 3-point range.
Bruce Moore paced the Bison with 16 points, matching his season high set one game earlier at Vermont. Kimbal Mackenzie added 13 points, Paul Newman had 11 off the bench, and Nate Sestina tallied 10 points.
Jimmy Sotos handed out a career-high eight assists.
Thomas Murphy (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Donnell Gresham (16 points, 11 assists) both had double-doubles for Northeastern. Gresham's 11 assists set a Sojka Pavilion record.

Bucknell vs. Monmouth

The Bison and Hawks will be meeting for the third time, with the previous two clashes coming on Monmouth's home floor. The Hawks won 90-80 in the first round of the 2016 NIT, and then on opening night last season, Monmouth prevailed 79-78.
In last season's game, Micah Seaborn hit a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining to lift Monmouth to the one-point win. Seaborn scored 21 points to lead the Hawks, who scored their final 10 points at the foul line in a game that featured five lead changes in the final 1:09. The loss spoiled a sensational game for Bucknell's Zach Thomas, who tallied 31 points and 16 rebounds.

Bucknell vs. the MAAC

Bucknell is 50-57 (.467) in 107 all-time games against the teams that currently comprise the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, including an 0-2 record this season (Fairfield, Canisius).
The Bison are 30-24 against Rider, 6-4 against Marist, 4-2 vs. Manhattan, 4-5 vs. Niagara, 2-5 vs. Fairfield, 2-4 vs. Iona, 1-0 vs. St. Peter's, 1-4 vs. Siena, 0-7 vs. Canisius, and 0-2 vs. Monmouth.

Orange Out Declared for Saturday's Men's Basketball Game vs. Monmouth

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

Orange Out Declared for Saturday's Men's Basketball Game vs. Monmouth

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

Related Videos