Men's Basketball Visits Colgate Wednesday

COLGATE SPECTATOR POLICY

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- On the heels of a hard-fought overtime victory over Loyola on Sunday, Bucknell faces another tough test when it travels to defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Wednesday night. The veteran Raiders are 5-1 at home this season, and on Monday night they moved back into first place after beating Lafayette on the road.

Speaking of road wins, the Bison picked up their first away victory of the season last week at Holy Cross, and now they will try to make it two straight road wins. Bucknell has lost its last four in Hamilton, including two in the Patriot League Tournament.

Bucknell will be looking to avenge a 75-56 loss to Colgate just two weeks ago at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison dug out of an early 18-2 hole, climbing within 51-50 on an Ian Motta 3-pointer midway through the second half. But not only did the Raiders not give up the lead, they went on a 20-1 run to blow it open.

Bucknell has work to do to move out of the bottom four in the standings and avoid playing a Patriot League Tournament first-round game. The Bison currently sit 3.5 games behind sixth-place Boston University. At the very least, they would certainly like to move up into the seventh or eighth position, which would mean a home game for that opening round.

Following Wednesday's game, the Bison head back on the road to play Lafayette for the first time this season. After that, the Bison will play their next two games, and four of their next six, at home. Note that the start time for the Feb. 19 Lafayette game at Sojka Pavilion has been set at 4 p.m.

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

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (5-17, 2-8 PL) at Colgate (9-11, 5-2 PL)
Where: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m.
Internet Stream: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley WVLY 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: ColgateAthletics.com

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (5.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.1 apg)
G: Xander Rice (12.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.1 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (17.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)
F: Jake van der Heijden (6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C: Andre Screen (10.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.0 bpg)

With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...

... win its second straight game and third in the last four outings.
... avenge a Jan. 19 home loss to the Raiders.
... snap a four-game losing streak at Cotterell Court.
... improve to 70-49 all-time against the Raiders.

Headlines

Bucknell heads up to Colgate coming off a heartstopping overtime win over Loyola on Sunday night. The Bison snapped a four-game home losing streak by holding off a Greyhounds squad that could have moved into a tie for first place with a victory. It was one of those "instant classics", as the game was played within a one-possession margin for all but 17 seconds of the final 19 minutes of regulation and overtime.
Andrew Funk turned in one of the best performances of his career in that win, which came in his 100th career game. He tallied 34 points, 27 of them coming after halftime, including a clutch go-ahead 3-pointers with 14 seconds left in regulation and again in the early stages of overtime. Defensively, Funk marked Patriot League scoring leader Cam Spencer for most of the game and limited the Loyola star to a season-low 11 points.
Funk on Monday was named the Patriot League Player of the Week for the second time this season. He upped his season average to 17.9 ppg, which is second in the league behind Spencer (19.0). Funk is now one of only seven players in the nation with at least five games with 28 or more points this season, and he is one of only 15 with at least three 30-point games.

Most Games with 28+ Points, 2021-22 Season
   Player   G
1.  Max Abmas, Oral Roberts 7
2.  Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State   6
3.  Andrew Funk, Bucknell 5
   Tavian Dunn-Martin, Florida Gulf Coast 5
   John-Michael Wright, High Point 5
   Evan Gilyard, Kansas City 5
   Peter Kiss, Bryant 5

Bucknell snapped an 11-game road losing streak last Saturday at Holy Cross and will now try to make it two in a row away from home. Since then, the Crusaders have proceeded to win two straight over Lehigh and Boston University.
Freshman Ian Motta has emerged as a key weapon off the bench in recent games, more than doubling his season-to-date production in terms of points and field goals. Motta went 3-for-3 from 3-point range on the way to a career-high 10 points against Colgate on Jan. 19. He then eclipsed that personal best with 12 points in the win at Holy Cross before adding nine more points against Navy. Over the last four games, Motta has upped his season field-goal percentage 140 percentage points, from .206 to .346.

Ian Motta   Pts.   FG-A   3FG-A
First 18 Games   22    7-34    3-22
Last 4 Games 33   11-18 7-10

Colgate moved into sole possession of first place in the Patriot League after a 72-61 win at Lafayette on Monday. The defending champs are 5-2 in league play, but they will have a busy February ahead with three postponed games still to make up.
Nelly Cummings leads the Raiders in scoring at 15.9 ppg, followed by Jack Ferguson (12.0) and Tucker Richardson (11.3). Colgate is the Patriot League's highest-scoring team at 74.1 ppg and leads the league in 3-point percentage (.388) and 3-pointers made per game (10.1). The Raiders have three of the five most accurate long-range shooters in the league, led by Oliver Lynch-Daniels at 48.1%.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Colgate game will stream live on ESPN+. Eric Malinoski and Jeff Bishop will call the action from Cotterell Court.
Doug Birdsong, who is in his 22nd season as the "Voice of the Bison", 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 ColgateAthletics.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Andrew Funk scored 27 of his game-high 34 points after halftime, and Xander Rice made all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 13 seconds of overtime to lead the Bison to an 82-80 overtime victory over Loyola on Sunday evening at Sojka Pavilion.
The Bison and Greyhounds played a thriller for the second time in three weeks, with Bucknell avenging a 71-67 loss in Baltimore that was not decided until the final 10 seconds. Most of the 12 ties and 12 lead changes came in crunch time. Bucknell led for the first 23 minutes of the game, but never by more than eight. Loyola jumped ahead by five early in the second half, but then the score was within one possession for all but 17 seconds of the final 19 minutes of regulation and overtime..
The lead changed hands four times early in the overtime period, the last coming when Alex Timmerman made a nice feed to a cutting Elvin Edmonds IV for a layup. Timmerman followed with two free throws — the Bison were 23-for-25 at the line on the night — to make it a 77-74 game. After Veljko Ilic's layup brought Loyola within 78-77 with 1:42 to go, the Bison had two empty possessions but forced Cam Spencer, the Patriot League's leading scorer, into three contested misses at the other end. Xander Rice rebounded the second of those and converted both free throws for an 80-77 lead with 13 seconds left. After a Loyola timeout, Spencer's 3-point attempt was off the mark, and Rice again tracked down the loose ball in the paint, drew a foul, and made both at the line for an 82-77 lead with 2.5 seconds left. Jaylin Andrews banked in a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer to make the final 82-80.
Funk's 34 points came on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor, 6-for-10 from 3-point distance, and 4-for-5 from the foul line. Not only did he record his third 30-point game and ninth 20-point game of the season, but Funk also chased Spencer all night on the defensive end and helped hold the Loyola guard to a season-low-tying 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting, although he did have six assists and five steals. Spencer was averaging 19.4 points per game coming in.
Bucknell shot 53.2% for the game, including a 9-for-21 (.429) showing from the 3-point arc. The Bison were almost done in by turnovers, however, as 20 giveaways led to a remarkable 27-0 edge for Loyola in points off turnovers.
Rice backed up Funk's 34 points with 14 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Andre Screen battled foul trouble all night and finished with eight points in 17 minutes, and the Bison got big lifts from backup posts Malachi Rhodes and Timmerman. Rhodes had a perfect shooting night, hitting 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line for nine points in 13 minutes. One of the biggest shots of the night was his tiebreaking 3-pointer with 6:48 to go in regulation. Timmerman was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line on the way to eight points.

Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes

This will be the 119th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back 102 years to 1920. The Bison have a 69-49 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 48-23, including 28-6 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 had beaten Colgate five straight times at Sojka Pavilion until the Raiders won 75-56 on Jan. 19. That was a game of wild momentum swings. Colgate jumped out to an 18-2 lead, then Bucknell outscored the Raiders 48-33 in the middle 22 minutes of the game to pull within 51-50, only to see the Raiders close the game with a 24-6 run to win by 19. Xander Rice led the Bison with 20 points and seven assists, while Ryan Moffatt paced Colgate with 17 points. The Raiders went 13-for-27 from 3-point range.

Notable Numbers

Senior guard Andrew Funk is enjoying his best season to date, with a scoring average (17.9) and field-goal percentage (.441) well above his previous career bests. Funk scored a career-high 38 points at Illinois State on Nov. 20, and his five games this season with 28 or more points are tied for third-most in the nation. Funk is one of only 12 Division I players to hit six or more 3-pointers in a game at least four times this season, and his 38 points are tied for 16th-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.
uFunk reached the 1,000-point plateau with a 3-pointer early in the first half at Holy Cross on Jan. 22. Funk became the 44th Bison to score 1,000 career points. He and older brother Tommy Funk also became 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 Hall-of-Famer Kevin Bettencourt (1,577 from 2002-06) and Holy Cross' Ted Bettencourt (1,035 from 1992-96) also surpassed 1,000 points.
Funk just became the eighth player in Bucknell history to attempt 500 career 3-point shots. Funk needs seven more made treys to catch Zach Thomas for 10th all-time. Thomas tallied 169 from 2014-18.
Xander Rice recorded eight assists in both games against Loyola this season. That total is the most by any active Bison. Rice has 39 assists and only 15 turnovers in his last seven games.
Rice has seen his assist numbers go up slightly since moving off the ball when Elvin Edmonds IV took over as the starting point guard. Rice averaged 4.0 apg in the first 10 games playing primarily at the point. In the 12 games since then, he has averaged 4.3 apg.
Bucknell recently went five straight games with a 1.0 or greater assist-to-turnover ratio, but in the last four games the team has 47 assists and 71 turnovers.
Last Saturday's win at Holy Cross was the first time the Bison won a game while committing 20 or more turnovers since Jan. 17, 2018, when they had 22 miscues in a 78-70 win over Loyola. They did it again on Sunday, beating Loyola despite 20 turnovers. Prior to this stretch, only three times in the last 10 years did the Bison win a game while committing 20+ turnovers. Now it has happened twice in eight days.
Bucknell has struggled to create turnovers this season, as opponents are committing only 9.2 miscues per game on the season. That coupled with some rebounding troubles means that opponents have attempted 185 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 tied a season-low with 47 field-goal attempts against Loyola, but still managed to score 82 points and win the game in overtime.
Bucknell has been excellent at the free-throw line thus far, hitting at a 79.4% clip after Sunday's 23-for-25 performance against Loyola. That is the best mark in the Patriot League and seventh-best in all of Division I basketball. The school record is 78.8%, set by the 2010-11 team.
Andre Screen has joined the free-throw party of late. He is 22-for-26 (.846) over his last six games, including two game-clinching charity tosses in the win at Holy Cross.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell takes on Lafayette for the first time this season on Saturday in Easton, Pa. In a scheduling quirk, the Bison will have played Navy, Loyola and Colgate twice before seeing Lafayette for the first time.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Ian Motta

Malachi Rhodes

Xander Rice

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden