Men's Basketball Heads to Colgate for Weekend Series

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Coming off its first two victories of the young season, Bucknell faces a tough task this weekend with a pair of games against Patriot League North Division leader Colgate. This is Bucknell's only scheduled overnight trip of the regular season, and it will be a matchup of two teams looking to build on winning streaks.

After dropping its first four games of the year, Bucknell picked up two wins over Lehigh last weekend, 75-70 at Sojka Pavilion and 77-61 at Stabler Arena. Andrew Funk led the way in Saturday's win with 18 points and eight rebounds, and then on Sunday John Meeks had a career day with 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Meeks was named the Patriot League Player of the Week on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Colgate is riding a four-game winning streak and is 5-1 on the year, with all of its games to date against PL North opponents. Led by Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Burns, the Raiders have won three games by 40 or more points, and they are averaging 90.0 points per game on the season compared to 66.3 ppg for their opponents.

The Bison have played well on the road this season but will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak at Cotterell Court.

After this weekend's affairs, the regular season will have reached its halfway point. Bucknell has two-game sets remaining with Lehigh, Loyola, American and Lafayette. At 2-2, the Bison are currently in second place in the PL Central Division, one game behind Lafayette with four division games remaining.

• Complete Game Notes
• 2020-21 Media Guide
• Week 4 Digital Game Program

SERIES GAME ONE
What: Bucknell (2-4, 2-2 PL Central) at Colgate (5-1, 5-1 PL North)
Where: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
When: Saturday, January 23, 1 p.m.
Internet Stream (U.S.): ESPN+ | Internet Stream (International): SIDEARM Sports
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: GoColgateRaiders.com

SERIES GAME TWO
What: Bucknell at Colgate
Where: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
When: Saturday, January 23, 1 p.m.
Internet Stream (U.S.): ESPN+ | Internet Stream (International): SIDEARM Sports
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: GoColgateRaiders.com

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Xander Rice (10.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.5 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (13.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.7 apg)
G: Walter Ellis (5.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F: John Meeks (21.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.5 apg)
C: Paul Newman (5.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg)

With a Win over Colgate on Saturday, Bucknell Would ...

... win its third game in a row and improve to 3-4 on the season.
... record a three-game winning streak for the first time since late in the 2018-19 season.
... improve to 70-47 all-time against Colgate.
... snap a three-game losing streak at Cotterell Court.
... give head coach Nathan Davis his 106th victory as Bucknell's head coach and bring him within four of Malcolm Musser for fourth on the program's all-time wins list.

Headlines

Bucknell looks to build on last week's sweep of Lehigh when it heads to Hamilton, N.Y., for a pair of games against red-hot Colgate.
This will be Bucknell's only scheduled overnight trip of the regular season. Most weekend series are home-and-home, but since Colgate falls outside the mileage radius for same-day travel, the Bison will play both games at Cotterell Court. That means Bucknell will play seven home games and nine away games in the regular season, while the opposite is true for the Raiders.
Given the above note, it's worth noting that Bucknell has actually been better offensively on the road this season. The Bison are shooting 39.1% from the field while averaging 65.0 ppg at home; on the road those numbers jump to 45.5% and 74.0 ppg.
These are non-divisional games, as Bucknell is playing in the Central Division and Colgate in the North Division this year. While the games will not factor into the divisional standings, overall Patriot League records do factor in postseason tournament seeding.
Bucknell has added key players to the lineup in each of the last two weeks. First it was junior transfer Miles Latimer making his Bison debut during the Lafayette series after gaining his eligibility. Latimer has been an important player off the bench, averaging 9.5 ppg while shooting 56.5% from the field and 50.0% from 3-point range in his first four games with the team. Then last week it was senior John Meeks returning after missing the first four games with an injury. Meeks scored 12 points in his first game back, a 75-70 home win over Lehigh, and then in Sunday's 77-61 win at Stabler Arena he exploded for 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Meeks was named Patriot League Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
Colgate comes in with a 5-1 record and a four-game winning streak. The Raiders haven't just been winning, they have been winning by wide margins. Three of their five victories have come by 40 or more points, and the Raiders have a +23.7 scoring margin on the season. Colgate's only slip came in the second game of the year against Army. After the Raiders won 101-57 on Saturday, the Black Knights turned the tables with a 75-73 win the following day. Since then, Colgate has swept Boston University and Holy Cross.
Colgate has put up gaudy offensive numbers through six games. The Raiders are averaging 90.0 points per game while shooting 51.3% from the field. Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Burns leads the team in scoring at 17.0 ppg, while Jack Ferguson (13.5), Nelly Cummings (12.8) and Tucker Richardson (10.3) also score in double figures. The center combo of Keegan Records and Jeff Woodward are shooting 67.7%.

How to Get the Games

The streaming of Patriot League games moves to the ESPN+ platform in 2020-21, and both of this weekend's Bucknell-Colgate games will be available on the network. Eric Malanoski and Jeff Bishop have the call from Hamilton.
Both games can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong now in his 21st season as play-by-play announcer. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off both days.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com.
Live statistics can be accessed via GoColgateRaiders.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bison Improving Offensively

After struggling at the offensive end in the first three games of the season, the Bison have made strides in the last three games. Here are some comparisons:

Points per Game   Points per Poss.   FG%   3FG%   TOs per Game
First 3 Games   63.0     0.87   36.6   26.9    15.7
Last 3 Games 76.0 1.07     48.0   36.6    11.3

Recapping Last Week

Bucknell put a couple in the win column last weekend, sweeping Lehigh by counts of 75-70 (home) and 77-61 (away).
The Bison built a 15-point lead in the second half of Saturday's game at Sojka Pavilion, but they had to hang on at the end after some shaky free-throw shooting allowed Lehigh to get back in the game. The Mountain Hawks pulled within three with 13 seconds left, but Xander Rice iced it with two free throws with 0:08 remaining. Andrew Funk had a big day for the Bison with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Despite 20 first-half points from John Meeks, Bucknell trailed 37-36 at intermission at Stabler Arena on Sunday. In the second half the Bison held the Mountain Hawks to 10-for-33 shooting and outscored them 41-24 to flip the deficit into a 16-point win, the team's largest victory margin at Lehigh since 1998. Bucknell had 13 second-half field goals and Meeks had a hand in nine of them, scoring four and assisting on five. His 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists were all career highs. Funk and Deuce Turner added 10 points each. Defensively the Bison limited Marques Wilson to 11 points after he had 26 a day earlier.

Boiling Rice

Sophomore point guard Xander Rice had a tough shooting weekend in the two games against Navy, but he came alive against Lafayette. After starting the year 4-for-17 from the field and 2-for-7 from 3-point distance, Rice went 12-for-19 overall and 2-for-2 from the arc in the two games against the Leopards. That included a career-best 23-point performance in the Sunday game in Easton.
Rice played in every game last season as a backup point guard but never had a double-digit scoring game. He has now scored 10 or more points in three of the six games this season.
Perhaps most importantly, Rice has taken good care of the basketball. He has only seven turnovers in six games this season, and his 3.0 assist/turnover ratio is second-best in the Patriot League and 30th-best nationally.

Freshman Contributions

Two Bucknell first-year players have made major contributions thus far.
Center Andre Screen totaled 19 points and 11 rebounds while starting both games against Navy, and he was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week for his efforts. He is now averaging 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 19.1 minutes per game.
Screen became Bucknell's first PL Rookie of the Week since Andrew Funk on Dec. 31, 2018.
Screen became the first Bison freshman since Bryan Cohen in 2008-09 to score at least eight points in his first four collegiate games. Cohen started his career with nine points against Maryland, 10 against Boston University, 22 against Saint Francis (Pa.) and 12 against Old Dominion.
Guard Deuce Turner has come off the bench in all six games thus far. He is averaging 7.2 ppg, with a high of 15 against Navy at Sojka Pavilion.
Freshman guard Josh Adoh has not yet played due to injury.

Latimer Makes Bison Debut

Junior Miles Latimer, a transfer from Stony Brook, received his eligibility clearance on Friday, Jan. 8, and he made his Bucknell debut the following day against Lafayette.
Latimer, who played in 65 career games for a pair of 20-win Stony Brook teams prior to joining the Bison, played a total of 54 minutes off the bench in the two games against Lafayette and tallied 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting.
Latimer hit two critical second-half 3-pointers in the most recent game against Lehigh, and he is 6-for-12 from the arc on the year.

Numbers worth Noting

Andrew Funk is 17-for-19 (.895) from the foul line, fourth-best in the Patriot League.
Bucknell's guards are 64-for-76 (.842) from the charity stripe.
Freshman center Andre Screen has blocked at least one shot in every game this season.
Funk and John Meeks are both eight points shy of 600 for their careers.
Funk needs three 3-pointers for 100 in his career.
Bucknell is averaging 23.0 bench points per game.

Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes

This will be the 117th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back 101 years to 1920. The Bison have a 69-47 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (178), Lafayette (171), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (104).
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell is 48-20, including 26-5 in Lewisburg.
These two teams recently met in back-to-back Patriot League championship games. Bucknell won 83-54 in the 2018 title tilt at Sojka Pavilion, and Colgate returned the favor with a 94-80 win at Cotterell Court in 2019.
Last season the Bison and Raiders split two meetings, with the home team winning each time.
At Cotterell Court, the Raiders won 80-65 thanks to some lights-out 3-point shooting. Colgate went 11-for-15 from the arc in the second half and 14-for-23 in the game. Jordan Burns hit six of those second-half treys and scored all 23 of his points in the second half. Andrew Funk scored 16 points to lead the Bison, who trailed by three at the half and were right in the game until Colgate pulled away late.
Bucknell won a nailbiter on Senior Day later in the year, 71-70 at Sojka Pavilion. Paul Newman made a go-ahead free throw with 7.4 seconds remaining, and the Bison came up with a defensive stop at the other end to win the game. Burns led Colgate with 24 points. Jimmy Sotos had 17 and Walter Ellis 12 for the Bison. Bucknell led by as many as 17 points in the game.
That verdict snapped Bucknell's three-game losing streak in the series, with all three losses coming at Cotterell Court.
After this weekend, five of the last six Bucknell-Colgate clashes will have taken place in Hamilton.

Patriot League Success

Bucknell is 304-136 (.691) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. The Bison have finished at least .500 in PL play 25 times in 30 Patriot League seasons.
Bucknell won three straight Patriot League regular-season titles from 2011-13, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat. The Bison had won five in a row and eight of the previous nine before finishing T-6th last season.
Bucknell has made nine Patriot League Tournament appearances as the No. 1 seed and seven as the No. 2 seed.
Bucknell won Patriot League Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018. The Bison have made it to the semifinals 23 times and to the championship game 13 times in the league's first 30 years.
The Bison are the only team to go unbeaten in league play in a season (14-0 in 2006).

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell and Lehigh square off again next weekend. This time the Mountain Hawks host the Saturday game and then return the trip to Lewisburg on Sunday.
Both games can be seen on ESPN+, and Sunday's game will also be televised on WQMY-TV.

Men's Basketball Heads to Colgate for Weekend Series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Walter Ellis

Andrew Funk

Miles Latimer

John Meeks

Paul Newman

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Jimmy Sotos

Deuce Turner

Men's Basketball Heads to Colgate for Weekend Series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Walter Ellis

Andrew Funk

Miles Latimer

John Meeks

Paul Newman

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Jimmy Sotos

Deuce Turner

Related Videos