Bison Men Take on NJIT for First Time Saturday in Newark

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison men's basketball team has two games remaining before the final exams break, both coming on the road. Bucknell heads to NJIT for its first-ever meeting with the Highlanders on Saturday afternoon, and then the Bison finish up the semester at La Salle on Tuesday. Bucknell has won three of its last four games after Wednesday's 89-65 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) and finished the month of November with a 5-3 record.

While the Bison have a pair of neutral-site wins at the Greenlight Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Fla., they are looking for their first true road win of the season. Bucknell is 0-2 on opponents' home floors, with the losses coming three days apart at Saint Peter's and Georgia.

Now 1-6 on the season after a loss at Cincinnati on Wednesday, NJIT is in its 17th season at the Division I level and third in the America East. The Highlanders finished 11-18 overall and 6-12 in league play last season, but they start a veteran lineup featuring three graduate students, a senior, and a junior. The senior -- 6'5" forward Miles Coleman -- scored 33 points in NJIT's lone win over Sacred Heart, and he leads the America East in scoring at 17.8 points per game.

Bucknell also has a conference scoring leader in senior Xander Rice, who tops the Patriot League at 17.4 ppg after pouring in 20 against Saint Francis on Wednesday. Rice is averaging 18.5 ppg over his last six games and is currently shooting 50.0 percent from the field, 43.4% from 3-point distance, and 88.0 percent from the free-throw line.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (5-3) at NJIT (1-6)
Where: Wellness & Events Center, Newark, N.J.
When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN3
Local Radio: The Valley (WVLY 100.9)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: NJITHighlanders.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (9.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G: Xander Rice (17.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.6 apg)
F: Ian Motta (6.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F: Alex Timmerman (11.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.0 apg)
C: Andre Screen (10.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg)

With a Win over NJIT, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 6-3 overall, which would match its best nine-game start since 2016-17.
... win its second straight game and fourth in five outings.
... improve to 1-2 in road games this season and snap a three-game road losing streak dating back to last year.
... improve to 2-0 this season against first-time opponents (Austin Peay).

Headlines

After a disappointing performance in a home overtime loss to Marist last Saturday, Bucknell bounced back with an 89-65 rout of Saint Francis (Pa.) at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday. The Bison broke open a one-point game at the half by outscoring the Red Flash 56-33 in the second stanza.
Boosted by 57.1% shooting from the field and 8-for-13 accuracy from the 3-point arc in the second half against Saint Francis, the Bison topped the 50% mark for the sixth time in eight games this season. The Bison are shooting 50.7% on the season, which ranks 13th nationally. Bucknell also ranks 11th 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 (.394).
Bucknell is tied for the national lead in most games this season shooting 50% or better from the field. Arizona, Colorado State, Denver, Indiana, James Madison, UMass-Lowell, St. Thomas, and Xavier also have done it six times.
Bucknell also ranks 26th nationally in opponent field-goal percentage (.371), and the Bison are one of only four teams in the nation shooting over 50% while holding opponents under 38%.

NCAA Teams Shooting > 50% and Holding Teams <>
Team   FG%   Opponent FG%
1. Indiana .550    .364
2. UMass-Lowell   .517 .354
3. Bucknell .507 .371
4. Yale .503   .346

Xander Rice has upped his scoring output in his senior season and comes into Saturday's game as the Patriot League's leading scorer at 17.4 ppg.

2022-23 Patriot League Scoring Leaders
1. Xander Rice, Bucknell 17.4
2. Gerrale Gates, Holy Cross 17.1
3. Tucker Richardson, Colgate 16.7
4. Chris Mann, Army 16.3
5. Tyler Nelson, Navy 15.1

Rice, a native of West Long Branch, N.J., was named Tournament MVP of the Ocean Bracket at the Sunshine Slam. Rice has averaged 18.5 ppg over the last six games, and he currently ranks in the top 10 in the league in six different statistical categories.
Alex Timmerman has set his career rebounding high in each of the last two games. Timmerman logged 13 boards against Marist last Saturday and then topped that total one game later with 14 against Saint Francis. Timmerman, who also set his career scoring high with a 23-point performance against Austin Peay in Daytona Beach, now ranks second in the Patriot League in rebounding at 7.8 rpg.
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.
uBucknell 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.
NJIT is the second of three first-time opponents on Bucknell's non-conference schedule. The Bison already defeated Austin Peay in a first-time matchup on Nov. 22, and coming up on Dec. 18 Bucknell will play Merrimack for the first time.
The Highlanders enter Saturday's game with a 1-6 record after falling 86-60 at Cincinnati on Wednesday. NJIT's victory came at Sacred Heart, 85-75, on Nov. 22. Like Bucknell, NJIT dropped a game at Saint Peter's earlier in the season, and the Highlanders also have a loss to another Patriot League squad in American (58-53).
NJIT is led by high-scoring forward Miles Coleman, who averages a team-high 17.8 ppg. Coleman, who did not play in the Cincinnati game, scored 33 points in the win over Sacred Heart and also had 28 against San Diego and 23 against American. Coleman averaged 15.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg last season, with both figures ranking in the top 10 in the America East.

How to Get the Game

Saturday's game will stream live on ESPN3, with Matt Provence calling the play-by-play.
Doug Birdsong 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 NJITHighlanders.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. NJIT Series Notes

This is the very first meeting between the Bison and Highlanders.
It will be Bucknell's first game against a team from the America East since Dec. 7, 2019, when the Bison defeated Albany 65-64.

Notable Numbers

Through eight 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. 3 in 3-point defense.

Scoring Defense Opp. FG% Opp 3FG%
2021-22 79.4 .466 .373
2022-23 63.0 .371 .322

Bucknell is riding a streak of five straight games holding opponents under 40% shooting from the field. In fact, Saint Peter's (.516) is the only team to hit better than 40% against the Bison this season.
Bucknell shot 50% or better from the field nine times last season and has already done so six 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 +4.0 rebounding margin on the season, but they would like to improve on the defensive glass. Opponents have 99 offensive rebounds to Bucknell's 71, 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 did see improvement in that area in Wednesday's win over Saint Francis, as the Red Flash gathered only five offensive rebounds leading to three 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

Coming out of the halftime break with a slim one-point lead, Bucknell outscored visiting Saint Francis (Pa.) 56-33 in the second half and rolled to an 89-65 victory on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion.
Xander Rice registered a game-high 20 points, and Alex Timmerman had 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to help the Bison improve to 5-3 on the season.
Bucknell went 8-for-13 from 3-point distance in the second half after a 1-for-9 showing in the opening 20 minutes. At the other end, Saint Francis kept close at the start with 7-for-14 shooting from downtown in the first half, but the Bison defended the arc much better in the second stanza, holding them to 4-for-15 accuracy.
Rice was an efficient 6-for-9 from the field, 3-for-5 from long range, and 5-for-5 from the foul line on the way to his second 20-point game of the season. Elvin Edmonds IV also went 3-for-5 from the arc and finished with 11 points.
Bucknell got excellent bench production, led by Josh Adoh with 12 points, seven rebounds, and two assists in 19 minutes. Jake van der Heijden logged nine points, and Josh Bascoe had four points and a game-high five assists, with much of that production coming early in the game when the Bison were struggling to find points.
Two sore points in recent games had been defensive rebounding and turnovers, but the Bison were strong in both areas in this one. They had 20 assists on 35 made field goals with a season-low eight turnovers. Bucknell controlled the glass 43-28, including a 12-5 edge on the offensive boards, which led to a 15-3 margin in second-chance points.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell has one more game before breaking for final exams. The Bison visit La Salle on Tuesday, and that will be the team's last game for 12 days. The Explorers are 3-4 on the season after falling to Temple at The Palestra on Wednesday. La Salle will have another Big 5 game against Penn on Saturday afternoon before the Bison visit Tom Gola Arena on Tuesday.
Bucknell resumes play with a home game against Merrimack on Dec. 18.

Bison Men Take on NJIT for First Time Saturday in Newark

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Elvin Edmonds IV

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

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