Bison Continue Extended Road Stretch Saturday at No. 15/14 Ohio State

What: Bucknell (4-3) at No. 15/14 Ohio State (8-1)
Where: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
When: Saturday, Dec. 11, 2018, 12 p.m. (ET)
TV: Big Ten Network
Satellite Radio: XM 196
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com

• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (9.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 5.1 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (16.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (9.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.7 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (8.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (17.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 0.6 apg)

With a Win over Ohio State, Bucknell Would ...

... win its third straight game and improve to 5-3 overall and 4-0 on the road.
... win its first four road games in a season for the first time since 2005-06 (Rider, Syracuse, Niagara, DePaul).
... defeat a nationally ranked team for the first time since Nov. 22, 2005 (74-69 at No. 17/19 Syracuse) and snap a 15-game losing streak to ranked opponents.
... snap a five-game losing streak against the Big Ten and defeat a team from that conference for the first time since 2013-14 (90-80 at Penn State).
... improve to 1-1 all-time against Ohio State.
... improve to 73-36 under head coach Nathan Davis.

Headlines

Bucknell resumes play on Saturday after an 11-day break for final exams. The Bison went into the break with consecutive wins over Monmouth and La Salle to improve to 4-3 on the season, and now they will play their second game in a stretch of eight straight games away from home in three different time zones.
Bucknell is 3-0 on the road this season. It is the first time the Bison have started 3-0 on the road since 2005-06. Bucknell is one of just six teams in the country still unbeaten on the road with at least three true road games played thus far (through Monday's games).

Team	Road Record	Next Road Game
#23/RV Furman	5-0	Dec. 21 at LSU
UC Irvine	4-0	Dec. 18 at Eastern Michigan
Bucknell	3-0	Dec. 15 at Ohio State
#14/15 Buffalo	3-0	Dec. 18 at Syracuse
Kent State	3-0	Dec. 15 at Louisville
Penn	3-0	Dec. 22 at New Mexico

The Bison have had balanced scoring thus far, with six players averaging at least 8.0 ppg. Bucknell had a different leading scorer in five straight games during one recent stretch, and seven players have produced at least one double-digit scoring game this season.
Senior center Nate Sestina has lived up to his Preseason All-Patriot League billing thus far. The Bison are 4-1 this season with Sestina in the lineup — he missed the Fairfield and Canisius games with an injury — and he leads the team in scoring (17.0) and rebounding (9.0). Sestina, who served as the backup center behind former Patriot League Player of the Year Nana Foulland for the last three seasons, is shooting 56.9% from the field, 40.0% from the 3-point arc, and 80.8% from the foul line in his first year as a starter. He is coming off a career-best 24-point game at La Salle.
Junior wing Avi Toomer has begun to heat up as well. Toomer scored a career-high 17 points in the win over Monmouth, and then he repeated that total last time out at La Salle. In the last two games, Toomer is 11-for-20 from the field and 7-for-13 from the arc, along with seven assists and seven steals.
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 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.
Ohio State is ranked 15th in this week's AP Poll and 14th in the Coaches' Poll. The 8-1 Buckeyes are also coming off an extended layoff (10 days) since their most recent game, a 77-67 conference win over Illinois. Like Bucknell, Ohio State benefits from balanced scoring, with seven players averaging at least 7.7 points per game. Kaleb Wesson leads the way at 14.3 ppg, and he also grabs a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game. The Bison have faced one current member of the Buckeyes before. Wake Forest transfer Keyshawn Woods came off the bench to score 22 points (8-9 FG, 5-6 3FG) in the Demon Deacons 94-74 win over the Bison on Nov. 13, 2016 in Winston-Salem.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Ohio State game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Chris Vosters will be the play-by-play announcer, while former Purdue star Robbie Hummel handles the color commentary.
The Ohio State radio broadcast can be heard on XM Radio channel 196.
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 OhioStateBuckeyes.com and StatBroadcast.com.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Numbers Worth Noting

On Nov. 28, Bucknell allowed a season-high 96 points to Northeastern in an 18-point home loss. In the two games since then, the Bison have ramped up the defense. Just three days after the Northeastern loss, Bucknell conceded only 43 points in a rout of Monmouth, and then they held La Salle to 33.8% shooting last time out. The 53-point defensive improvement was two shy of the school record. Bucknell has improved defensively by 55 points on three different occasions in its 124-year history, most recently in 2000-01. That season, the Bison followed a 105-61 loss to Iona with a 64-50 win over Rider. It also happened in 1973-74 (110-53 loss to Syracuse followed by a 56-55 win over Lehigh) and 1947-48 (99-71 loss to Rhode Island backed up by a 55-44 win over Lehigh).

Bucknell Defense Last 2 Games
Opponent PPG    61.0
Opponent FG%   .333
Opponent 3FG%   .243
Opponent TO/g   18.0
Bucknell STL/g   9.0

Senior Kimbal Mackenzie has a knack for taking charges. He drew four offensive fouls in the La Salle game on Dec. 4, and he has a team-high nine drawn charges in seven games this season.
Sophomore Paul Newman has played well in the first extended action of his career, and he has emerged as one of the Patriot League's top shot-blockers. Newman ranks second in the league with 2.3 blocks per game, even though he plays just 19.4 minutes per game. Newman averages 4.7 blocks per 40 minutes.
Junior Ben Robertson has given the Bison quality minutes off the bench. Robertson is averaging a career-high 15.4 minutes per game and is shooting 68.8% (11-16) from the field.
Bucknell's shot chart from the La Salle game was a statistical analyst's dream. In a game in which the Bison scored 92 points, all 29 made field goals were either dunks (6), layups (12), or 3-pointers (11). In fact, Bucknell did not attempt a 2-point shot outside the paint all night.

Last Time Out

Nate Sestina scored a career-high 24 points, Kimbal Mackenzie added 19 points, and Avi Toomer posted a career-high 17 points for the second straight game to help Bucknell run past La Salle 92-79 in a frenetic affair on Dec. 4 at Tom Gola Arena.
It was a tightly called game, and the Bison had to manage foul trouble all night. All 11 players who saw action for Bucknell scored points, and nine of the 11 had assists as the Bison shot 55.8% overall and went 11-for-24 from the 3-point arc, despite an 0-for-6 start.
Toomer had another terrific performance, adding six assists, six rebounds and three steals to his 17 points. He hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range, including two in a row around the five-minute mark of the second half to help the Bison thwart a La Salle comeback attempt and keep the Explorers winless on the season.
Bucknell broke open a 33-33 tie with a 7-0 run to close the first half, capped by a Kahliel Spear alley-oop jam off an inbounds play to beat the buzzer. The Bison then outscored the Explorers 24-10 in the first 8:27 of the second half to run out to a 20-point lead.
Even though La Salle finished with 79 points, Bucknell was stout defensively for the second straight game. The Bison held the Explorers to 33.8% shooting on the night, including 6-for-22 from 3-point distance. Bucknell forced 18 turnovers, four of them coming on drawn charges from Mackenzie.

Bucknell vs. Ohio State

The Bison and Buckeyes are meeting for just the second time ever, and for the first time at the Schottenstein Center.
The first clash came in the 1986-87 season opener, with Ohio State winning 90-62 at St. John Arena. Bucknell went on to finish 22-9, win the East Coast Conference championship, and play in the program's very first NCAA Tournament.
Mark Allsteadt led Bucknell with 13 points in that 1986 meeting with Ohio State. Dennis Hopson led the Gary Williams-coached Buckeyes with 21, followed by Jay Burson with 16. Keith Wesson, the father of current OSU players Kaleb and Andre Wesson, started at center in that game and had six points and six rebounds for the Buckeyes.
Bucknell has faced a Chris Holtmann-coached team before. Holtmann's Butler squad defeated the Bison 86-60 on Nov. 19, 2016. Holtmann was also an assistant at Ohio when the Bobcats topped the Bison in 2008-09.

Bucknell vs. the Big 10

The Bison are 34-116 (.227) against current members of the Big Ten (25-78 vs. Penn State, 8-22 vs. Rutgers, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-8 vs. Maryland, 0-2 vs. Michigan St., 0-1 vs. Michigan, 0-1 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Iowa, 0-1 vs. Northwestern, 0-1 vs. Wisconsin, 0-1 vs. Minnesota), however most of the games vs. Penn State and Maryland, and all of the games against Rutgers, came before those teams joined the Big Ten.
The Bison are 2-23 against teams who were Big Ten members at the time of the game (1-14 vs. Penn State, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-2 vs. Michigan State, 0-1 vs. Michigan, 0-1 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Iowa, 0-1 vs. Northwestern, 0-1 vs. Wisconsin, 0-1 vs. Minnesota, 0-1 vs. Maryland), with the victories coming back-to-back seasons at Purdue (70-65 in 2012-13) and Penn State (90-80 in 2013-14).
Bucknell has faced two Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Bison suffered a 71-62 loss to Wisconsin in the second round in 2005, and Bucknell fell to Michigan State 82-78 in the first round last season.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell will return to Lewisburg following the Ohio State game, and then the team will embark on the longest in-season road trip in school history. The Bison will play at St. Mary's in Moraga, Calif., on Dec. 19, and then they will continue even farther west to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22, 23 and 25. It will be Bucknell's very first trip to Hawai'i.

Bison Continue Extended Road Stretch Saturday at No. 15/14 Ohio State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Ben Robertson

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Kahliel Spear

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

Bison Continue Extended Road Stretch Saturday at No. 15/14 Ohio State

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Ben Robertson

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Kahliel Spear

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

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