Bucknell University
Syracuse
Women's Basketball Challenges Syracuse on the Road Friday
11/24/2022 2:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team visits Syracuse on Friday for another difficult matchup with an ACC team. The Bison are coming off back-to-back victories and will be vying for their first-ever win against a Power 5 opponent.
Bucknell, which has seen plenty of success around the Thanksgiving holiday in recent years, will take on a 4-1 Syracuse team that is looking to bounce back from a loss at Penn State on Monday.
The Bison play their next three games at home after visiting the Orange.
Game Notes
What: Bucknell (2-3, 0-0 PL) at Syracuse (4-1, 0-0 ACC)
When: Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.
Where: JMA Wireless Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Streaming: ACCNX
Radio: 90.5 WVBU
Live Statistics: Cuse.com
With a win over Syracuse, Bucknell would...
• ... improve to 3-3 on the season, winning a third straight game.• ... improve to 1-1 all-time against Syracuse.
• ... win its first game over a Power 5 opponent.
• ... move to 60-20 overall under head coach Trevor Woodruff.
• ... improve to 636-635 all-time.
Headlines
• On the heels of back-to-back victories, Bucknell pays a visit to Syracuse the day after Thanksgiving for its second matchup with an ACC opponent this season.
• Now 2-3, Bucknell has come out victorious tight games over the last week. Bucknell defeated Cornell in overtime for its first win of the season on Saturday, and it topped Iona 55-52 at home on Tuesday after trailing at the end of the first three quarter.
• The Bison have relied mostly on youth through its first five games. It its most recent outing, the Bison started one freshman, three sophomores and just one senior.
• Bucknell finished 24-10 overall and 12-6 in Patriot League play last season. The Bison reached the 2022 Patriot League Championship game playing as the No. 4 seed in the tournament, but they fell 65-54 to No. 2 seed American.
• Bucknell received an at-large bid to the 2022 WNIT and defeated Fordham in the first round before falling to Drexel in the second. Bucknell is the only Patriot League team with two all-time WNIT victories under its belt.
• Bucknell graduated two seniors in the spring, including two-time First Team All-Patriot League guard Taylor O'Brien and 2022 PL All-Defensive Team member Marly Walls. O'Brien led the Bison in scoring over the past two seasons, scored the fifth-most single-season point in program history as a senior (567) and graduated ranking 21st on Bucknell's all-time scoring list (1,125).
• Bucknell sophomore Cecelia Collins was voted to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team. She was a Second Team All-League selection last year. This is the first time since 2011 Bucknell has not returned a junior or senior All-League player.
• Bucknell was picked fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. It's the first time since 2015-16 Bucknell was not picked in the top three. The Bison have gone 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Senior Emma Shaffer, junior Caroline Dingler and sophomore Cecelia Collins were named captains ahead of the 2022-23 season.
• Head coach Trevor Woodruff is in his fourth season at Bucknell. He's 57-18 over that time, including a 36-8 mark in Patriot League play. He was named PL Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons.
• Following the retirement of assistant coach Jim Reed during the offseason, Kelly Mazzante was elevated to associate head coach, and former manager of basketball operations LaSashia Connelly was named an assistant coach. Molly Gillis joined the staff during the offseason as the program's new manager of ops.
Scouting Syracuse
• Syracuse enters Friday's game 4-1 and coming off its first loss of the season, an 82-69 defeat on the road at Penn State. It was Syracuse's lowest scoring output of the season.
• Syracuse was picked 10th out of 15 in the 2022 ACC preseason poll following an 11-18 (4-14 ACC) 2021-22 season.
• One of Syracuse's wins this season came over fellow Patriot League team Colgate. The Raiders fell 72-48 at Syracuse on Nov. 10.
• Senior guard Dyaisha Fair leads the Orange with 17.8 points per game. She's also posting five assists per game. Fair, a transfer from Buffalo, scored 20 points for the Bulls in last year's meeting with the Bison.
• Syracuse is led by head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. Legette-Jack is in her first season with the program after spending the previous 10 at Buffalo. She's also spent time at Indiana and Hofstra, compiling a 247-280 career record overall.
Series History with the Orange/ACC
• Bucknell lost 70-56 in its only meeting with Syracuse on Nov. 18, 2018. The Orange were ranked No. 18 at the time.
• Bucknell held a 42-41 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter, but the Orange pulled away by outscoring the Bison 16-8 in the fourth quarter. The game saw a combined 55 turnovers, with Bucknell committing 31 of them.
• Bucknell has already faced one ACC team this season, falling 67-41 on the road to No. 13 Virginia Tech.
• This will be the third time the Bison have faced an ACC team under head coach Trevor Woodruff. Bucknell visited Virginia for its season opener in 2019-20.
• Bucknell is 1-14 all-time against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The lone win is over Pitt when it was still a member of the Big East. The Bison also took Florida State down to the wire in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, leading 60-58 with under five minutes to play before eventually falling 70-67.
The Bison During Thanksgiving
• Bucknell has seen considerable success during the week of Thanksgiving in recent years, including a win over Iona this past Tuesday. The Bison played in Thanksgiving tournaments in three of the last four years, going 7-0. This is the first time since 2017-18 that Bucknell is not participating in a holiday tournament (excluding 2020-21 COVID season).
• Bucknell went 3-0 at the 2018 Brown Turkey Tip-Off (W vs. UMass, W vs. Fairfield, W at Brown), 2-0 at the 2019 Puerto Rico Classico (W vs. Howard, W vs. Cincinnati), and 2-0 at the 2021 TD Bank Classic (W vs. North Dakota, W at Vermont).
Last Time Out
• A crowd of more than 1,000 -- including approximately 750 students from local schools -- were treated to a 55-52 Bucknell women's basketball victory over Iona Tuesday at Sojka Pavilion. It was a close game that featured 13 lead changes and seven ties with the largest lead for either team being just five points.
• The Bison outscored the Gaels 16-11 in the final period after trailing at the conclusion of each of the first three quarters.
• Remi Sisselman led Bucknell (2-3) with a career-high 16 points and six rebounds, including a key board in traffic with just under 20 seconds to play and the Bison leading 53-52.
• Emma Shaffer and Cecelia Collins made free throws in the final seconds to extend Bucknell's final margin to three. Collins made 1 of 2 free throws with five seconds left, and Iona had a last-second chance at a 3-pointer, but came up short.
• Shaffer totaled 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Collins finished with 10 points, four rebounds and a team-high six assists.
New Career Highs
Remi Sisselman — points (16), rebounds (6)
Blake Matthews — points (5), assists (3), minutes (22)
Patriot League Preseason Awards
• Cecelia Collins was one of five players named to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• Collins is Bucknell's lone returning All-Patriot League player, earning spots on the Second Team and the All-Rookie Team as a freshman in 2021-22. She became the first Bison freshman to earn a spot on the First, Second or Third Team since 2001.
• Collins was one of two sophomores to make the Preseason All-League Team.
• Boston University senior Sydney Johnson was named the Patriot League Player of the Year.
• While not earning a spot on the five-player Preseason All-League Team, Boston senior Maren Durant was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, an award that was just added prior to this season.
Bison Picked Fourth in Patriot League Preseason Poll
• Bucknell was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll based on a vote by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
• Bucknell was last picked fourth in the preseason poll prior to the 2015-2016. It has been picked third or higher every year since.
• Boston University was picked first, followed by Lehigh and Holy Cross. Reigning Patriot League Champion American was picked eighth.
• Bucknell is 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.
Dominant Defense
• Since head coach Trevor Woodruff's arrival in 2019-20, the Bison have had one of the best scoring defenses in the country and has led the Patriot League in two of the last three seasons. Over Woodruff's first three seasons, Bucknell allowed just 54.5 points per game.
• Bucknell allowed just 53.6 points per game during Woodruff's first season, which ranked eighth in NCAA Division I and was a program record. In 2020-21, the Bison allowed 55.5 per game and finished 17th in the country.
• Bucknell allowed 54.9 points per game last season, good enough for 15th in the nation
• The Bison held opponents to 60 or fewer points in 24 of their 34 games in 2021-22, and 11 were held to under 50.
• Bucknell held teams to 20 or fewer first-half points 11 times last season and 12 or fewer first-half points three times since the start of the 2019-20 season. Additionally, the Bison have held teams to single digits in 70 quarters over the Woodruff era (excludes overtime periods).
Bucknell Scoring Defense (Last Three Seasons)
Season PPG Allowed Nat. Rank PL Rank
2019-20 53.6 8th 1st
2020-21 55.5 17th 2nd
2021-22 54.9 15th 1st
Up Next
Bucknell has a quick turnaround for Sunday's game against Temple at Sojka Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
