Bison Visit Penn State Tuesday on BTN

Tuesday, November 19

University Park, Pa.

6:30 p.m.

Bucknell University

Penn State

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Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

11/18/2019 4:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

What: Bucknell (2-2) at Penn State (3-0)
Where: Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pa.
When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: GoPSUSports.com

COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.3 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (10.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.0 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (20.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (10.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C: Paul Newman (4.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 0.5 bpg)

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

... improve to 3-2 overall and 2-1 on the road this season.
... hand the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season.
... defeat the Nittany Lions for the first time since November 2013. That was also Bucknell's last win over a Big Ten team.
... post its second win at the Bryce Jordan Center.
... give head coach Nathan Davis his 92nd win as Bucknell's head coach.

Headlines

Two teams located about 50 miles apart renew a longtime series on Tuesday evening. This is the 104th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Penn State, with the first coming all the way back in 1897.
This is a campus-site game in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Bucknell will have another one coming up on Saturday at Syracuse, and then the Bison will head to Orlando for the mid-major portion of the event along with Seattle, Yale and Western Michigan. Penn State, Syracuse, Oklahoma State and Ole Miss will get together in Brooklyn on the Wednesday and Friday surrounding Thanksgiving.
Bucknell is coming off a tough 83-81 loss at Canisius on Saturday night. It was a wild game with 12 ties and 16 lead changes, capped off by a tiebreaking layup from Jacco Fritz with 0.8 seconds remaining.
Despite the loss, two positive trends continued on Saturday: rebounding and 3-point shooting. Bucknell outrebounded Canisius 38-21, one game after piling up a 48-33 advantage against Hofstra. The Bison are +32 on the glass in the last two games and have 32 second-chance points from 32 offensive rebounds.
After enduring a 3-for-22 performance from the 3-point arc against Vermont on Nov. 10, the Bison have shot back with two stellar long-range shooting efforts, setting up quite a battle at Penn State on Tuesday. The Bison went 15-for-28 from the arc (11-for-16 in the second half) against Hofstra and 15-for-30 at Canisius. That's 30-for-58 (.517) over the last two games, and Bucknell now ranks first in the Patriot League and 20th nationally with 10.8 made threes per game. Meanwhile, Penn State has also been strong from 3-point distance. The Nittany Lions are averaging 12.0 made threes per game, which ranks seventh nationally, while shooting an even 40% (36-90).
Meanwhile, Bucknell's 3-point defense has been terrific thus far. Opponents are just 18-for-70 (.257) from downtown, and Bucknell ranks 40th nationally in 3FG defense. The Bison have outscored opponents 129-54 from the arc this season.
Bucknell's bench has been a big story in the early going. The Bison reserve unit has combined for 123 of the team's 298 points (41.3%) so far. Junior forward John Meeks has been the catalyst. Meeks is averaging 15.3 ppg coming off the bench, highlighted by a career-high 19 points against Fairfield. Meeks is the Patriot League's seventh-leading scorer, and he is averaging 24.4 points per 40 minutes. Another key player off the bench has been sophomore Walter Ellis, who ranks 14th nationally with a .625 3-point percentage (10-16).
The Bison received a boost from the return of senior wing Avi Toomer, who scored a career-high 20 points at Canisius after missing the first three games due to injury. Wearing a mask to protect a broken nose, Toomer went 6-for-10 from the floor, 3-for-5 from the arc, and 5-for-6 from the foul line in his season debut.
Bucknell was picked second to Colgate in the Patriot League preseason poll. Those two teams played in the 2019 Patriot League Tournament final, with the Raiders prevailing 94-80 to thwart Bucknell's hopes of a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Bucknell and Colgate shared the 2019 Patriot League regular-season title with 13-5 conference records. It was Bucknell's fifth straight PL regular-season crown and eighth in the last nine years. The run of five regular-season titles in a row is the second-longest current streak in the nation, behind only Gonzaga (7).
Penn State is off to a 3-0 start, with home routs of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Wagner, followed by an impressive 81-66 road win over Georgetown last Thursday. The Nittany Lions average 85.3 points per game, with Myreon Jones leading four players with double-figure scoring averages at 15.0 ppg. Defensively, Penn State is averaging 11.3 steals per game while holding opponents to 37.4% shooting from the field and 26.0% from 3-point distance.
Both teams have shot the ball well from 3-point range, but both have also defended the arc well.

3-POINT OFFENSE BUCKNELL (NCAA rank) PENN STATE (NCAA rank)
Made 3FGs per game 10.8 (20th) 12.0 (7th)
3FG Percentage .417 (26th) .400 (39th)

3-POINT DEFENSE BUCKNELL (NCAA rank) PENN STATE (NCAA rank)
Opp. made 3FGs per game 4.5 (42nd) 4.3 (13th)
Opp. 3FG Percentage .257 (43rd) .260 (48th)

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Penn State game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Jason Horowitz and Christy Winters-Scott will call the action.
The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM). Doug Birdsong handles the play-by-play duties, with Bucknell Athetics Hall-of-Famer Pat Flannery '80 providing color analysis. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
Live statistics can be accessed via GoPSUSports.com.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Malik Johnson scored 27 points, but it was his backdoor feed to Jacco Fritz for a layup with eight-tenths of a second left that sent Canisius to an 83-81 victory over Bucknell on Saturday night at Koessler Athletic Center.
Avi Toomer scored a career-high 20 points in his first action of the season for the Bison, who hit 15 3-pointers for a second straight game but could not overcome 24 turnovers.
It was a wild, fast-paced game that featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties.
Bucknell built up advantages on the glass and from outside the 3-point arc. The Bison outrebounded Canisius 38-21, parlaying 17 offensive boards into 18 second-chance points. After hitting 11 3-pointers in the second half and 15 overall in Wednesday's win over Hofstra, the Bison went 15-for-30 from downtown in this one. They were 7-for-12 in the second half and outscored the Golden Griffins 45-18 from the arc.
Bucknell shot 49.1% for the game but just could not get enough stops at the other end. Canisius, which was playing at home for the first time this season, made 18 of 28 shots in the second half (.643) and shot 59.6% for the game. Coming into the game, opponents were shooting just 37.6% against the Bison.
In addition to Toomer's 20, also in double figures in the scoring column were Andrew Funk with 15 points and John Meeks with 12 to go with a career-high nine rebounds. Walter Ellis went 3-for-5 from 3-point distance, making him 10-for-16 on the season, and scored nine points.
The lead changed hands six times in the final 1:45. Trailing 79-78, Funk hit a big go-ahead 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining to give Bucknell a two-point lead. But Johnson tied it with a jumper with 31 seconds left, and after the Bison turned the ball over with five seconds left, Johnson fed Fritz on a back-door cut for the winning bucket.

Bucknell vs. Penn State Series Notes

This is the 104th meeting between Bucknell and Penn State in a series that dates all the way back to 1897. The Nittany Lions have a 78-25 lead in the series.
Bucknell has played only four other opponents as many as 100 times: Lehigh (174), Lafayette (167), Gettysburg (126) and Colgate (114).
The most recent meeting was a 62-58 Penn State win at the Bryce Jordan Center on Nov. 28, 2015. Bucknell led 57-49 with just over five minutes to play, but the Nittany Lions ended the game on a 13-1 run. Chris Hass led the Bison with 18 points, while Brandon Taylor had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Penn State.
Exactly one year earlier, Penn State made its first trip to Lewisburg since the 1975-76 season, and the Nittany Lions won 88-80 at Sojka Pavilion behind 28 points from D.J. Newbill. John Azzinaro scored a career-high 18 points to pace the Bison, who tied the game with 6:19 to play after trailing by as many as 12. But Penn State responded with a 10-1 run to take control. The fifth-largest crowd in Sojka Pavilion history (4,257) watched as both teams wore throwback uniforms.
Bucknell's most recent series win came in November 2013. The Bison snapped a 12-game series losing streak with a 90-80 victory behind a career-high 25 points from Steven Kaspar. Its previous series win had been on Jan. 14, 1976 in Davis Gym (69-64). It was also Bucknell's first win at the Bryce Jordan Center after 10 losses there. The Bison's previous win in State College was a 74-73 overtime decision on Feb. 21, 1968 at Rec Hall.

Bucknell vs. the Big Ten

The Bison are 34-117 (.225) 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., 0-2 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Michigan, 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 2-24 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, 0-2 vs. Ohio State, 0-1 vs. Michigan, 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 in 2018.
Bucknell's last game against a Big Ten team nearly resulted in an upset. The Bison fell to No. 15/14 Ohio State 73-71 in Columbus last season.

Notable Numbers

Center Paul Newman's minutes have been limited due to some foul trouble this season, but his rebounding numbers have been off the charts. He is averaging 8.5 rebounds per game, 0.5 rebounds per minute, and 20.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. Newman has grabbed 28.4% of all available rebounds during his time on the floor thus far.
Kahliel Spear is developing into quite a shot-blocker for the Bison. He had four against Hofstra last Wednesday and ranks No. 6 in the Patriot League with six blocks on the season in just 14.8 minutes per game off the bench. In 59 total minutes this season, Spear has 26 points, 14 rebounds and the six blocks.
Turnovers have been an issue for the Bison in the early going. Their 24 turnovers at Canisius on Saturday were their most since committing 24 at Army in February 2008. Bucknell has logged 67 turnovers thus far compared to just 47 for their opponents.
Another trend the Bison will look to correct is a free-throw disparity. Opponents have attempted 97 free throws to just 65 for Bucknell through four games. In the Nathan Davis era the Bison are 57-15 when attempting more free throws than their opponent, but just 28-30 when attempting fewer.

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