Men's Basketball Visits Former ECC Rival Hofstra in Hempstead for First Time Since 1990

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell looks to bounce back from a tough night at Saint Francis when it visits red-hot Hofstra on Saturday afternoon. The Bison could not build on last weekend's home victory over Siena, as the Red Flash were effective both inside (46 points in the paint) and outside (12-30 3FG) on the way to a 93-67 verdict at DeGol Arena on Wednesday.

The Bison will have to regroup quickly against a Hofstra team that has won three straight games, including Wednesday's 81-77 home win over Princeton. First-year head coach Speedy Claxton's team ran out to a 50-34 halftime lead and went up by as many as 19 in the second half before holding on down the stretch. The Pride have hit 86 3-pointers in eight games and shoot 47.9 percent from the field, and they have five players averaging in double figures on the season.

Andrew Funk paced the Bison with 17 points against Saint Francis, about one under his Patriot League-leading season average of 18.1 ppg. Alex Timmerman continued his strong recent play with 12 points, and the Bison welcomed back fellow center Andre Screen after a three-game injury absence. Screen had 10 points and four rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.

Bucknell played very well in an 86-71 home win over Hofstra two seasons ago, and now the Bison return the trip to Hempstead for the first time since the 1989-90 season, which was the final year that the two teams were cohorts in the East Coast Conference.

Here are some links to get you up to speed on the game.

• Complete Game Notes
• Digital Game Program
• 2021-22 Media Guide

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (2-6, 0-0 PL) at Hofstra (4-4, 0-0 CAA)
Where: David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex, Hempstead, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Dec. 4, 2 p.m.
TV: SNY
Internet Stream: FloHoops
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM WVLY
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: GoHofstra.com

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Xander Rice (13.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 4.1 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (18.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.5 apg)
F: Ian Motta (2.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.8 apg)
F: Jake van der Heijden (6.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C: Alex Timmerman (11.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 0.8 apg)

With a Win over Hofstra, Bucknell Would ...

... win its first game away from home in six tries this season.
... improve to 21-10 all-time against the Pride.
... give head coach Nathan Davis his 111th victory as Bucknell's head coach, moving him into sole possession of fourth place on the program's all-time wins list.

Headlines

Bucknell plays the middle game of a three-game road swing when it travels to Hofstra on Saturday afternoon. The Bison will then head to Princeton on Tuesday before taking an 11-day break for final exams.
This will be Bucknell's first game on Hofstra's home floor in nearly 32 years. The last time the Bison played in Hempstead was Feb. 10, 1990, when the teams were cohorts in the East Coast Conference. That was an 80-67 Pride victory, which snapped Bucknell's eight-game series winning streak. Bucknell and Hofstra have met four times since then, three at neutral sites along with the most recent clash in Lewisburg in 2019-20.
The Bison are looking to shake off a 93-67 loss at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Wednesday. Bucknell was coming off its best defensive performance of the season in a 65-56 overtime win over Siena last Sunday, but the Red Flash shot 51.4% from the field and hit nine of their 12 3-pointers in the second half to turn Wednesday's game into a rout. Saint Francis became the first team this season to shot 50% or better against Bucknell.
A major development for the Bison in recent games has been the emergence of junior center Alex Timmerman. Timmerman averaged 17.7 ppg and 10.7 rpg while shooting 70.0 FG% in his first three career starts, and that led to his first Patriot League Player of the Week honor on Monday. Timmerman is riding a streak of five straight double-digit scoring games, and his production over the last five games has exceeded his career numbers coming into that stretch.

Alex Timmerman Last Four Games
Opponent   FG-A   Pts.   Reb.   Min.
Illinois State 5-9    10     9    28
Mercer 10-12 22       8     32
Rider 4-6    11     12     33
Siena 7-12    20     12     34
Saint Francis 5-11 12 6 23
Totals 31-50 75 47 150
Career Prior 18-36 47 38 180

Timmerman jumped into the starting lineup against Mercer with Andre Screen sidelined by an ankle injury. Screen missed three games, then returned on Wednesday at Saint Francis, scoring 10 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Timmerman and screen are shooting a combined 62.2% from the field this season.
Senior guard Andrew Funk exploded for a career-high 38 points at Illinois State on Nov. 20, and he later earned a spot on the Cancun Classic All-Tournament Team. It was a remarkable performance for Funk, who scored 28 of his 38 points after halftime and shot the Bison back into the game after they fell behind by seven points in the second half. Funk has topped the 30-point mark twice this season, and he leads the Patriot League in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
Hofstra defeated Princeton 81-77 on Wednesday and comes in riding a three-game winning streak that has leveled its record at 4-4 on the season. All four losses came on the road against quality teams, including an overtime setback at No. 15 Houston, and a two-point loss at No. 20 Maryland. The Pride have also been beaten by Iona and Richmond, with the wins coming against Duquesne, Molloy, Detroit and Princeton. Hofstra is averaging 88.7 points in its current three-game win streak.
Hofstra has five players scoring in double figures on the season, led by NJIT transfer Zach Cooks at 18.0 ppg. Aaron Estrada, who started at Saint Peter's before playing last season at Oregon, is coming off a 20-point game against Princeton. Iowa State transfer Darlinstone Dubar went 7-for-8 from the field against Princeton and is shooting 59.7% on the season.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Hofstra game will be televised on SNY in the New York metro area, and it will also stream on FloHoops. Kevin Dexter and Vin Parise will call the action.
Doug Birdsong has the radio call on The Valley, WVLY 100.9 FM.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live in-game statistics can be accessed at GoHofstra.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Ramiir Dixon-Conover scored 23 points to lead hot-shooting Saint Francis to a 93-67 victory over Bucknell on Wednesday night at DeGol Arena.
Andrew Funk paced the Bison with 17 points, while centers Alex Timmerman (12) and Andre Screen (10) combined for 22.
The Bison got out to a great start, hitting 10 of their first 15 shots on the way to a 23-16 lead. Screen, seeing his first action after a three-game injury absence, put back his own miss and then fed Josh Adoh for a corner three. Rice finished in the lane for a 7-0 run and a seven-point lead. But the Bison managed only three more field goals over the final 11:30 of the half, and Saint Francis outscored them 26-9 the rest of the way.
The Bison turned it over on the first possession of the second half, which led to a Thompson 3-pointer, and the Red Flash were off and running. Funk got going with nine points in a four-minute stretch, but Bucknell just could not manufacture enough defensive stops. Saint Francis hit five 3-ponters in a 27-5 run that made it 83-48 with 7:22 to play. The Red Flash hit eight of their first 12 attempts from the arc in the second half.
Bucknell shot 39.3% from the field and was 5-for-19 from long range. Saint Francis finished at 51.4% overall, hitting 12 of 30 from deep, and committed only six turnovers.

Bucknell vs. Hofstra Series Notes

Former East Coast Conference rivals Bucknell and Hofstra rekindled their series in 2019-20 after a long hiatus, and now the Bison return to Hempstead for the first time since 1990.
When Bucknell and Hofstra met two seasons ago, it was the first matchup since Dec. 29, 2001, when most of the current players were infants. That was a 68-60 Bison win at the South Florida Shootout.
The Bison won the most recent meeting 86-71 at Sojka Pavilion, backed by some terrific 3-point shooting. The Bison went 15-for-28 from the arc, including 11-for-16 in the second half.
When the teams met on Nov. 21, 1997, Hofstra was coached by Bucknell alum Jay Wright '83, who has gone on to win two national championships at Villanova. Wright got the upper hand on his alma mater that day, as Hofstra won 69-55 at the Fairfield Tournament.
Bucknell and Hofstra kicked off their series with three straight meetings from 1955-57, and then throughout the 1970s and 80s they were rivals in the East Coast Conference. They met five times in the ECC Tournament, with Bucknell winning three of those. One of Bucknell's most memorable wins was an 89-84 overtime verdict in the 1989 ECC semifinals. The Bison followed with a win over Lafayette to get to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. The two teams also met in the final ECC Tournament in 1990, with the Bison winning 72-67 in the quarterfinal round.
Bucknell leads the all-time series 20-10, including an 11-2 mark at home. The Bison have beaten the Pride nine straight times in Lewisburg, although the first eight of those came in Davis Gym.

Notable Numbers

Bucknell has been excellent at the free-throw line thus far, hitting at an 79.7% clip. That is the best mark in the Patriot League and 12th-best in all of Division I basketball.
As good as that free-throw figure is, Bucknell's opponents have been equally on the mark. Bison foes are also shooting 79.6% on the season.
Andrew Funk has been one of the nation's most prolific 3-point shooters in the first month of the season. He has 28 treys in 74 attempts, and his 3.5 makes per game is the 21st-best figure in the country. Funk has made seven treys in a game twice, including in his 38-point game against Illinois State
Bucknell has outshot five of its eight opponents this season. On the season, the Bison are shooting 43.0% compared to their opponents' 42.1%
That shooting advantage has been undermined by a wide disparity in turnovers, however. The Bison have a -5.9 turnover margin on the season, and their opponents have 76 steals to only 24 for Bucknell.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell finishes out the first semester at Princeton on Tuesday night. The Tigers are 5-3 on the season, including wins over South Carolina and Oregon State. They will host Drexel on Saturday before the Bison come to town.

Men's Basketball Visits Former ECC Rival Hofstra in Hempstead for First Time Since 1990

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Basketball Visits Former ECC Rival Hofstra in Hempstead for First Time Since 1990

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

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