Men's Basketball Hosts Colgate Wednesday Night

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LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell is champing at the bit to put an end to an extended losing streak, and if that elusive victory comes on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion, it would be at the expense of the defending Patriot League champions. Colgate, which recently righted the ship after its own struggles, visits Sojka for the first time in two years in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Bison have dropped seven straight, including the first six in conference play, after Sunday's 63-55 setback at American. Four of Bucknell's six Patriot League games have come on the road, but the Bison will be looking for improved defensive play on their home court. Bucknell was solid defensively in winning three of four non-league games at Sojka, but in two PL home contests, the Bison have conceded 96 points to Army and 97 to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks hit 18 3-pointers here last Thursday, and now here comes a Colgate team that has hit 18 treys in a game twice this season.

On Nov. 20, Colgate posted a historic 100-85 win over Syracuse -- its first win over the Orange in 59 years -- but then the Raiders proceeded to lose eight of their next nine games. Colgate has bounced back, however, with back-to-back blowout wins over Army and Navy. Including a loss at Lehigh in their opener, the Raiders have only played three league games thus far. Their date with Holy Cross on Sunday was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Holy Cross program.

Bucknell has won its last five home games against Colgate, including a 71-70 thriller in the last matchup at Sojka Pavilion in 2020. The teams met just once last season, a one-sided Colgate verdict in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.

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

GAME DIGEST
What: Colgate (6-10, 2-1 PL) at Bucknell (3-15, 0-6 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 19, 7 p.m.
Internet Stream: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley WVLY 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
BUY TICKETS

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Xander Rice (11.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.8 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (18.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (5.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.3 apg)
F: Jake van der Heijden (7.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C: Andre Screen (10.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.9 bpg)

With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a seven-game losing streak and improve to 1-6 in Patriot League play.
... avoid the first eight-game losing streak since 2008-09.
... improve to 70-48 all-time against the Raiders,
... win its sixth straight home game against the Raiders and improve to 29-5 at home against Colgate in the Patriot League era.

Headlines

Bucknell's quest for a Patriot League victory continues on Wednesday at home against defending-champion Colgate. It's been a frustrating stretch for the Bison, who have dropped seven straight since beating La Salle on Dec. 18, and now they get a veteran Raiders squad that is heating up after a rough spell of its own.
Colgate routed Syracuse 100-85 at the Carrier Dome on Nov. 20, but then dropped eight of its next nine games. After falling at Lehigh to start Patriot League play, the Raiders have since bounced back with back-to-back routs of the two service academies, including a 69-50 win over first-place Navy in Annapolis last Thursday. Colgate then had its Sunday home game against Holy Cross postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Holy Cross program.
Wednesday's game could be the rare occasion when a member of each team scores his 1,000th career point. Bucknell's Andrew Funk is 10 points shy of 1,000, while Colgate's Tucker Richardson needs only seven points to reach the milestone.
When Funk hits the 1,000-point milestone, he and older brother Tommy Funk would become just the second Patriot League brother combination to both score 1,000 career points. Tommy tallied 1,544 points for Army from 2016-20. The other brother combo to accomplish the feat also involved a Bucknell standout, as Kevin Bettencourt (1,577 from 2002-06) and Holy Cross' Ted Bettencourt (1,035 from 1992-96) also surpassed 1,000 points.
Despite this tough stretch, Funk continues to score at a high rate for the Bison. He has recorded eight 20-point games this season, four of them coming in Patriot League contests. Funk's 18.0 ppg average ranks second in the Patriot League behind only Loyola's Cam Spencer (19.1). Funk is averaging 19.5 ppg in conference play, which ranks third behind Spencer (21.7) and Holy Cross' Gerrale Gates (19.8).
Colgate has an experienced starting lineup, featuring three senior guards and two junior frontcourt men. Guard Nelly Cummings, a preseason All-Patriot League selection, leads the team in scoring at 16.8 ppg. Guard Jack Ferguson is a 3-point sharpshooter averaging 12.6 ppg. Center Keegan Records tallies 7.8 ppg, but he is coming off a career-high 25 on 11-for-13 shooting in the Raiders' most recent win over Navy.
The last time the Bison played at home, they saw Lehigh connect on 18 3-pointers, a Sojka Pavilion record for a visiting team. Colgate has hit 18 treys in a game twice this season — against Syracuse and Columbia — and ranks 14th nationally with 10.2 made threes per game.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Colgate game can be seen on ESPN+, with Doug Birdsong and former Bison assistant coach Terry Conrad calling the action. Birdsong is in his 22nd year as "The Voice of the Bison".
Sam Kuperman will handle the local radio broadcast 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 BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Colin Smalls scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half to help American hold off Bucknell 63-55 on Sunday afternoon at Bender Arena. Andrew Funk scored 20 for the Bison, his eighth 20-point game of the season.
The Bison trailed by just three at 26-23 after a low-scoring first half, but American hit its first four shots of the second half to stretch its lead. A 3-pointer by Smalls made the Eagles 9-for-13 in the half and upped their lead to 48-34, but Bucknell quickly fought back with eight straight points.
Funk and Xander Rice connected on threes around two free throws by Andre Screen. Rice's trey, off a nice kick-out pass from Screen, made it a 48-42 game with 9:02 to play, but Bucknell's momentum was stymied on its next defensive possession. Screen was called for his fourth foul while defending in the low post, and then American missed two point-blank layups but grabbed the offensive rebound both times. That led to a five-point play, as Smalls hit a 3-pointer while Josh Alexander drew a foul away from the ball. Alexander hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to push American's lead right back to 11 at 53-42.
American outscored Bucknell 16-7 at the foul line and outrebounded the Bison 34-22. The Eagles had 11 offensive rebounds and a 13-2 edge in second-chance points.

Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes

This will be the 118th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back 102 years to 1920. The Bison have a 69-48 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (181), Lafayette (172), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (104).
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell is 48-22, including 28-5 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.
Bucknell and Colgate were scheduled to meet twice during last year's COVID-modified regular-season schedule. Both games were canceled, however, due to a positive COVID test in the Bucknell program that was later found to be erroneous. The two teams did eventually get together in Hamilton in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, and the Raiders cruised to a 105-75 victory.
Bucknell has won the last five meetings at Sojka Pavilion, including a 71-70 nailbiter on Senior Day in 2020. 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. Jordan Burns scored 24 points for Colgate, which trailed by as many as 17 points before mounting a comeback.

Notable Numbers

Senior guard Andrew Funk is enjoying his best season to date, with a scoring average (18.0) and FG% (.445) all well above his previous career bests. Funk scored a career-high 38 points at Illinois State on Nov. 20, and his four games this season with 28 or more points are tied for third-most in the nation. Funk is one of only 19 Division I players to hit six or more 3-pointers in a game at least three times this season, and his 38 points are tied for 13th-most in the nation.
Funk's 38 points against Illinois State tied the Cancun Challenge tournament scoring record. Norris Cole, who later played in the NBA, scored 38 against Florida A&M in 2009.
Xander Rice's eight assists at Loyola are the most by any active Bison. Rice has 18 assists and only four turnovers in his last three games.
Bucknell averaged 14.8 turnovers per game in non-conference play, but since the start of the Patriot League schedule the Bison have reduced that figure to 11.0 per game.
The Bison have 73 assists against 56 turnovers in their last five games, and that has bumped their season assist-turnover ratio back over 1.0 with 258 assists and 244 turnovers.
Bucknell has struggled to create turnovers, however, as opponents are committing only 9.1 miscues per game on the season. That coupled with some rebounding troubles means that opponents have attempted 148 more field goals this season. The Bison have taken more shots than their opponent only three times this season — against Penn, Illinois State and Loyola — and in all three of those games the margin was just one additional attempt.
Bucknell has been excellent at the free-throw line thus far, hitting at a 79.2% clip. That is the best mark in the Patriot League and ninth-best in all of Division I basketball.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell makes its first trip to Worcester, Mass., in two years, as the Bison face Holy Cross on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on NBC Sports Boston as well as ESPN+.

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Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Paul Newman

Xander Rice

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Jake van der Heijden