Men's Basketball Takes on Lafayette in Two-Game Set this Weekend

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Week 2 of the 2020-21 season brings a two-game weekend series with in-state rival Lafayette. Not only are the Bison and Leopards longtime conference mates, but this year's games take on added importance because they are both part of the Patriot League Central Division in this year's revamped configuration. Bucknell, Lafayette and Lehigh, all part of the same "mini-conference" will play each other four times in the regular season.

The Bison are looking to bounce back from a tough opening weekend where they suffered a pair of narrow defeats to Navy. Meanwhile, Lafayette split two games with Lehigh last weekend, falling in overtime on a buzzer-beater in the opener before bouncing back for a 12-point win on Sunday.

• Complete Game Notes
• 2020-21 Media Guide
• Week 2 Digital Game Program

SERIES GAME ONE
What: Lafayette (1-1, 1-1 PL Central) at Bucknell (0-2, 0-0 PL Central)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. | VIRTUAL SEASON TICKETS
When: Saturday, January 9, 4 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: BucknellBison.com

SERIES GAME TWO
What: Bucknell at Lafayette
Where: Kirby Sports Center, Easton, Pa.
When: Sunday, January 10, 6 p.m.
TV: SNY
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: GoLeopards.com

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Xander Rice (8.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.0 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (12.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.5 apg)
G: Walter Ellis (8.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F: Jake van der Heijden (6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg)
C: Andre Screen (9.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg)

With a Win over Lafayette, Bucknell Would ...

... pick up its first victory of the season and avoid its first 0-3 start in Patriot League play since 2008-09.
... improve to 80-90 all-time against the Leopards.
... improve to 141-30 all-time against Patriot League opponents in Sojka Pavilion.
... give head coach Nathan Davis his 104th victory as Bucknell's head coach and bring him within six of Malcolm Musser for fourth on the program's all-time wins list.

Headlines

Bucknell is still seeking its first win of the campaign after suffering a couple of close losses to Navy last weekend.
These will be Bucknell's first games of the season within the new Patriot League Central Division. The Bison are grouped with Pennsylvania rivals Lafayette and Lehigh in one of the league's three "mini-conferences" in play for the abbreviated 2020-21 season.
These will be the first of four scheduled games between Bucknell and Lafayette. The Bison have never before played the same team four times in one season. They are also slated to play Lehigh four times.
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a rare losing season. After winning five straight and eight of the previous nine Patriot League regular-season titles, the Bison slipped to a tie for sixth place (with Navy) in the standings with an 8-10 record a year ago. Bucknell did play well down the stretch, however. On the heels of a frustrating five-game losing streak, the Bison won five of their last eight. That included a win over first-place Colgate, two wins over second-place American, and two three-point road losses to champion Boston University, the latter coming in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Lafayette enters the weekend with a 1-1 record after splitting a pair of games with Lehigh. The Leopards nearly got them both, but they were stunned on a Marques Wilson buzzer-beater in Saturday's 90-89 overtime loss in Bethlehem. A day later, Lafayette bounced back for an 82-70 home victory. Senior guard Justin Jaworski was the story for the Leopards. He poured in 37 points in the season opener before being "held" to 28 a day later. Jaworski is averaging a national-best 32.5 ppg on 56.4% shooting from the field (8-16 3FG). Lafayette actually had two 30-point scorers in Saturday's loss, as senior guard E.J. Stephens backed up Jaworski's 37 with 30 of his own.
Both of this week's Patriot League honorees will be on the floor together this weekend. Jaworski was a clear choice for Patriot League Player of the Week, and Bucknell freshman center Andre Screen was selected as the PL Rookie of the Week.

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-Lafayette games will be available on the network. Joe Vasile handles the call of Saturday's game from Sojka Pavilion, and then Gary Laubach and John Leone will describe the action on Sunday in Easton.
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 BucknellBison.com on Saturday and GoLeopards.com on Sunday.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

What's Different This year

Due to adjustments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-21 season will look different than any other in Bucknell's 126-year history. For starters, non-conference play was prohibited, pushing the start of the season back to Jan. 2 with a modified 16-game conference schedule.
In an effort to minimize travel, teams will generally play the same opponent on back-to-back days at opposite sites. There will be a few exceptions where two teams play at the same site on consecutive days, such as when Bucknell travels to Colgate on Jan. 23-24.
The Patriot League has been reconfigured into three divisions for this season: North (Army, Boston U., Colgate, Holy Cross), Central (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh) and South (American, Loyola, Navy). As a result, Bucknell will play Lehigh and Lafayette four times each, and the Bison will not play Army, Boston U. or Holy Cross at all in the regular season.
The Patriot League Tournament will consist of just eight teams this year instead of the normal full field of 10. The three division winners will be seeded 1-3, the division runners-up will be seeded 4-6, and the next best remaining records will be seeded 7 and 8.

Recapping Last Week

Bucknell dropped a couple of tough games to a good Navy team last weekend. The Midshipmen overcame a 17-point second-half deficit to take the opener 78-69 at Alumni Hall on Saturday, and a day later they swiped a 63-60 victory after Paul Newman and Cam Davis traded heroics in the final seconds.
The Bison seemed to be in control with a 60-43 lead with 12:40 to play in Saturday's game in Annapolis, but then they went ice cold as Navy rallied to win. Bucknell missed their final 13 field-goal attempts, and the Midshipmen finished the game on a 35-9 run. Andrew Funk led Bucknell with 16 points, while Cam Davis had 26 for Navy.
Bucknell's shooting woes carried over into Sunday's game. The Bison missed their first six attempts and shot 32.1% from the field, including 2-for-19 from the 3-point arc. Still, the Bison hung in the game with solid defense and excellent free-throw shooting (24-26). Down 59-57, Newman's 3-point play with 11.5 seconds left gave Bucknell its second lead of the day, but Davis answered with a jumper just inside the foul line with five seconds left to give Navy a 61-60 lead. A desperation shot came up short, and Davis added two free throws with 0.8 left to give the Mids the three-point win.

Freshman Contributions

Two Bucknell first-year players made major contributions on opening weekend.
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 on Wednesday. Screen had eight points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 21 minutes on Saturday, and then he added 11 points, seven rebounds and a block in 20 minutes of action on Sunday.
Screen is Bucknell's first PL Rookie of the Week since Andrew Funk on Dec. 31, 2018.
Guard Deuce Turner came off the bench in both games against Navy, playing 23 minutes on Saturday and 30 on Sunday. He had seven points, five rebounds and two assists in the opener, followed by a team-high 15 points with three rebounds and three steals on Sunday. Turner is 11-for-11 from the foul line on the season.
Freshman guard John Adoh was not available last week due to injury.

First-Time Starters

Bucknell's opening-day starting five had a combined 33 starts entering the game, 32 of them coming from Andrew Funk. Seniors John Meeks (21 starts) and Paul Newman (22) were projected starters entering the season, but Meeks missed the weekend and Newman's minutes were limited due to injuries.

Career Starts Entering Season:
Xander Rice   0
Andrew Funk 32
Walter Ellis   1
Jake van der Heijden 0
Andre Screen   0

Getting to the Line

While the Bison struggled to get shots to drop in the first two games, they did a good job getting to the free-throw line and knocking them down.
Bucknell went 15-for-20 on Saturday and 24-for-26 on Sunday. That's a 39-for-46 total, and the .848 percentage is fifth-best nationally. Bucknell outscored Navy 39-27 from the line in the two games.

Bucknell vs. Lafayette Series Notes

Bucknell and Lafayette have met 169 times previously, making the Leopards Bucknell's second most-played opponent (the Bison have played Lehigh 176 times). Since the series began in 1915, Lafayette leads 90-79.
Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, however, Bucknell has won 50 of 68 meetings.
Lafayette won 33 of the first 37 meetings and led the series 60-14 at one point.
Bucknell had been 15-0 all-time against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion until the Leopards posted their first win there in 2013-14. The Bison are now 20-3 against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion and 28-6 against the Leopards in Lewisburg going back to the Patriot League's first season.
The Bison and Leopards have met in a conference championship game four times, with Bucknell winning three of those. The Bison defeated Lafayette 71-65 in the 1989 East Coast Conference final in Towson, Md., and they also won Patriot League championship games in Sojka Pavilion in 2011 (72-57) and 2013 (64-56). Lafayette claimed the 1999 Patriot League title with a 67-63 win over the Bison in Easton.
Bucknell had won nine straight against Lafayette until the Leopards prevailed 65-62 at Sojka Pavilion last Feb. 3.
The visiting team won both matchups last season. Bucknell won 78-66 at Kirby Sports Center on Jan. 5. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Andrew Funk and Avi Toomer with 15 each. Paul Newman had a big day with 12 points and 10 rebounds. E.J. Stephens led Lafayette with 15 points.
In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion, the Bison charged back from 15 points down to take the lead in the second half but then went ice cold down the stretch as Lafayette prevailed 65-62. John Meeks paced the Bison with 13 points and seven rebounds. Justin Jaworski led the Leopards with 20 points.

Patriot League Success

Bucknell is 302-134 (.693) 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 takes on the other Patriot League Central Division team next weekend with a series against Lehigh. The Bison host the Mountain Hawks on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 2 p.m., followed by a game at Stabler Arena at 4 p.m. the following day.
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+, and Saturday's game can also be seen locally on WQMY-TV.

Men's Basketball Takes on Lafayette in Two-Game Set this Weekend

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Walter Ellis

Andrew Funk

John Meeks

Paul Newman

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Avi Toomer

Deuce Turner

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Basketball Takes on Lafayette in Two-Game Set this Weekend

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Walter Ellis

Andrew Funk

John Meeks

Paul Newman

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Avi Toomer

Deuce Turner

Jake van der Heijden

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