Men's Basketball Host Saint Francis Wednesday in Nightcap of Hoops Twin Bill at Sojka Pavilion

NOTE: The first Bucknell Basketball Luncheon of the 2022-2023 season will be held on Thursday, Dec. 1 at the Bull Run Tap House in Lewisburg. The event begins at noon, and will feature comments from men's head coach Nathan Davis and women's head coach Trevor Woodruff. Junior guard Josh Adoh and sophomore guard Elvin Edmonds will be in attendance from the men's team, as well as sophomore guard Cecelia Collins and freshman guard Blake Matthews from the women's program.

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's basketball squad will look to rebound from Saturday's frustrating home loss to Marist when Saint Francis (Pa.) visits Sojka Pavilion for Youth Basketball Night on Wednesday. The men's game will be the back half of a hoops doubleheader at Sojka, as the Bison women host St. Bonaventure at 4:30. Fans holding a men's or women's ticket are permitted entry for both games.

The Bison men are now 4-3 on the season after their two-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday. Bucknell will be looking to avenge a one-sided loss to the Red Flash in Loretto last season.

Saint Francis comes in with a 2-5 record following a 66-55 setback at home against American on Saturday. The Red Flash faced another Patriot League team on Nov. 21, falling to Lehigh 82-76 despite a 40-point night from junior forward Josh Cohen.

GAME DIGEST
What: Saint Francis (Pa.) (2-5) at Bucknell (4-3)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 7 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley (WVLY 100.9)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
TICKETS
COMPLETE GAME NOTES
DIGITAL GAME PROGRAM

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (8.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.9 apg)
G: Xander Rice (17.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg)
F: Ian Motta (6.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F: Alex Timmerman (11.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)
C: Andre Screen (11.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.4 bpg)

With a Win over Saint Francis, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 5-3 overall and 3-1 at home this season.
... improve to 18-13 all-time against the Red Flash.
... improve to 11-3 against the Red Flash in Lewisburg.

Headlines

After a strong showing at the Greenlight Sunshine Slam prior to Thanksgiving, the Bison took a step back on Saturday with a 60-54 overtime loss to Marist at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell came into the game ranked sixth nationally in field-goal percentage (.535) but shot a season-low 33.9%, with a number of the misses in close to the basket. Marist shot 32.8% from the field and made only 6 of 19 free throws, but the Bison could not take advantage.
Wednesday's game will be the nightcap of a hoops doubleheader at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison women host St. Bonaventure at 4:30 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 7 p.m.
Xander Rice was named Tournament MVP of the Ocean Bracket at the Sunshine Slam, and the senior guard now ranks second in the Patriot League in scoring at 17.0 ppg. Rice has averaged 18.2 ppg over the last five games, and he currently ranks in the top 10 in the league in seven different statistical categories. His 2.9 made 3-pointers per game leads the league.
Alex Timmerman set a couple of new career highs last week. He tallied a career-high 23 points against Austin Peay on the way to All-Tournament Team honors at the Sunshine Slam. On Saturday against Marist, he grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with 12 points for his second double-double of the season. Timmerman is averaging 11.6 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game.
Ian Motta (.625) and Elvin Edmonds IV (.500) rank 1-2 in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage.
Despite the rough shooting day on Saturday against Marist, the Bison are still shooting 50.5% as a team on the season, which ranks 19th nationally. Bucknell also ranks 14th in Division I in effective field-goal percentage (.583), which is an adjusted rate that accounts for the added worth of a 3-pointer, and 26th in 3-point percentage (.392).
Bucknell also ranks 22nd nationally in opponent field-goal percentage (.368), and the Bison are one of only six teams in the nation shooting over 50% while holding opponents under 37%.

NCAA Teams Shooting > 50% and Holding Teams <>
Team   FG%   Opponent FG%
1. Indiana .559   .368
2. UMass-Lowell   .518   .358
3. Bucknell .505   .368
4. Yale .505   .346
5. Texas .503   .351
6. Jacksonville   .502   .357

The Bison were picked eighth in the Patriot League preseason coaches' poll, ahead of Holy Cross and Lafayette. Defending-champion Colgate was the preseason No. 1 pick.
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a 9-23 season a year ago. The Bison were playing well at the end of the season, however, with an overtime win at Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament first round capping a 3-1 stretch. Bucknell was eliminated by Colgate in the quarterfinal round.
Bucknell won eight Patriot League regular-season titles in a nine-year span from 2011-19, and the Bison went to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018 during that stretch. Now Bucknell is trying to rebound from a rare run of three straight sub-.500 seasons, something that has not happened since 2007-08 to 2009-10 although the Bison did win conference tournament games in each of the last three years.
Saint Francis comes in with a 2-5 record, with the wins coming against Hartford (77-53) and Franciscan (120-53). The Red Flash are 0-2 against the Patriot League with home losses to Lehigh (82-76) and American (66-55) over the last nine days.
Josh Cohen, a 6'10" forward exploded for 40 points against Lehigh, hitting 15 of 19 from the field and 10 of 13 from the foul line. Cohen is averaging 20.7 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 67.1% from the field this season. Maxwell Land (14.4) and Landon Moore (12.9) are also scoring in double figures.

How to Get the Game

Wednesday's game will stream live on ESPN+. Veteran play-by-play man Doug Birdsong will call the play-by-play.
Kevin Foedinger will have the radio call on The Valley (WVLY 100.9 FM) in the Susquehanna Valley.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live statistics can be accessed via BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. Saint Francis Series Notes

This will be the 31st all-time meeting between Bucknell and Saint Francis (Pa.), with the Bison leading the series 17-13.
Bucknell is 10-3 against Saint Francis in Lewisburg and 3-2 at Sojka Pavilion.
The two teams first met on Jan. 17, 1927 in Loretto, with Bucknell winning that one 40-14. The Bison returned the following year and won a much closer affair, 30-29 on a shot just before the final horn from Hall-of-Famer Ed Halicki, who later went on to play in the NFL for the Frankford Yellow Jackets.
Bucknell had won the last three games in the series until the Red Flash rolled to a 93-67 win in Loretto last season.
The most recent meeting at Sojka Pavilion came on Nov. 16, 2013, when Cameron Ayers scored 16 points and Dom Hoffman added 14 off the bench in a 72-50 Bison victory.
One of Bucknell's top individual performances came in Loretto 19 years ago. Kevin Bettencourt hit a school-record 11 3-pointers and scored 42 points, the most ever by a Bucknell player in a road game. The Red Flash won the game, however, 84-79.

Notable Numbers

Through seven games in 2022-23, Bucknell has been much-improved defensively over last season, when the Bison struggled to get stops. Bucknell ranks No. 1 in the league in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense, and No. 2 in 3-point defense.

   Scoring Defense   Opp. FG%   Opp 3FG%
2021-22   79.4 .466     .373
2022-23   62.7 .368 .313

Bucknell shot 50% or better from the field nine times last season and has already done so five times this year. The Bison are currently one of only nine teams in the nation shooting better than 50% from the field and 39% from 3-point distance.
The Bison have a +2.4 rebounding margin on the season, but they would like to improve on the defensive glass. Opponents have 94 offensive rebounds to Bucknell's 59, and that area was particularly costly in the three losses to Saint Peter's, Georgia, and Marist, which combined for a 48-14 edge in second-chance points.
Bucknell's 21 made 3-pointers against Lebanon Valley are the third-most by any Division I team so far this season.

Last Time Out

A rough offensive afternoon proved costly for Bucknell in a 60-54 overtime loss to Marist on Saturday.
On a day when Marist shot 32.8% from the field and made just 6 of 19 free throws, Bucknell just could not get enough going offensively to take advantage. The Bison came into the game ranked sixth nationally in team field-goal percentage at 53.5%, but they hit on only 33.9% in this one and finished 8 of 17 from the free throw line.
The difference for the Red Foxes was timely 3-pointers — 12 of their 21 field goals came from long distance — and a 15-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Xander Rice led Bucknell with 16 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, while Alex Timmerman had 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Rice was the first Bison to record at least 16-7-6 in a game since Zach Thomas had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists at Navy in 2017-18.
Patrick Gardner paced Marist with 16 points. Javon Cooley had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Foxes, which finished with a 48-42 rebounding advantage.

A Look Back at the Sunshine Slam

Bucknell played some good basketball during last week's trip to the Greenlight Sunshine Slam, dropping a 65-61 decision in a campus-site game at Georgia before defeating Presbyterian (66-65) and Austin Peay (79-65) to win the Ocean Bracket championship.
It was Bucknell's first in-season tournament title since winning the Mid-Major flight of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational in 2016-17.
Bucknell took Georgia right down to the final seconds on Friday at Stegeman Coliseum. The game was tied at 30-30 at the half, and the Bulldogs later used a 17-2 run to go up by 14 in the second half. Bucknell fought back and pulled within two on an alley-oop lob from Xander Rice to Andre Screen with eight seconds left. But Justin Hill hit two free throws to clinch it for Georgia.
Rice led the Bison with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting, and Screen and Alex Timmerman scored 10 apiece. Terry Roberts led Georgia with 20 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
Screen played a starring role in the one-point nailbiter against Presbyterian. He finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds and made two winning plays in the closing seconds. With the score even at 65-65, Screen grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled going up. He split a pair at the line to give the Bison the lead with 5.9 seconds left, and then at the other end he stepped in from the help side to cut off a drive and force a wild shot at the buzzer that was well off the mark. Bucknell never trailed in the game and led by as many as 15 in the first half, but the Bison had to hold off a rally from the Blue Hose.
It was Bucknell's turn to come from behind in the Ocean Bracket final against Austin Peay. Down nine late in the second half, the Bison closed within five by the break and then charged ahead in the second half to go up by as many as 17. All told, it was a 41-18 run, with Rice and Timmerman the catalysts. Timmerman finished with a career-high 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting, and Rice tallied 18 of his season-high 20 points in the second half.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell heads into the final exam break with a pair of road games Saturday at NJIT and Tuesday at La Salle.

Men's Basketball Host Saint Francis Wednesday in Nightcap of Hoops Twin Bill at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Elvin Edmonds IV

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Men's Basketball Host Saint Francis Wednesday in Nightcap of Hoops Twin Bill at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Elvin Edmonds IV

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

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