Men's Basketball Hosts Boston University on Senior Day

SPECTATOR POLICY: Bucknell's spectator policy was recently updated, effective Saturday, Feb. 19. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test is no longer required for entry. CLICK HERE for more details on the updated policy.

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The final day of the 2021-22 Patriot League regular season has arrived, and Bucknell hosts Boston University in one of the five 2 p.m. games slated for Saturday. The game will be televised on WQMY-TV in Northeast PA, and the broadcast will also stream on ESPN+. Prior to the game, the Bison will celebrate Senior Day, recognizing standout guard Andrew Funk and team manager Kenny Wu. It will also be Fan Appreciation Day, sponsored by Sheetz. Prizes will be given away throughout the game, including a pair of 2022-23 season tickets.

The Patriot League Tournament gets underway next week, and while there is still plenty of jockeying for position in the middle part of the standings, Bucknell and Boston University do not have a whole lot riding on the outcome. The Terriers (11-6 PL) are locked into the No. 3 seed and will play at home against the No. 6 seed in the quarterfinal round next Thursday. The Bison (4-13) know they will be on the road for a first-round game on Tuesday night as either the No. 9 or 10 seed, at one of three possible destinations. Bucknell could play at Army, Holy Cross, or Lafayette, depending on Saturday's results. A victory in that first-round game would send the Bison right back on the road for the quarterfinals on Thursday at one of the top two seeds.

Bucknell and Boston University will be playing for the first time since New Year's Day, when the Terriers prevailed 63-61 at Case Gym. Funk scored 25 points in that game, but his potential game-winning jumper with about five seconds remaining was just short. Boston University has won 9 of 11, including a come-from-behind 76-60 win over Lafayette on Wednesday.

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

GAME DIGEST
What: Boston University (20-10, 11-6 PL) at Bucknell (7-22, 4-13 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.
TV: WQMY-TV
Streaming: 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 (12.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (17.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.7 apg)
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (5.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.2 apg)
F: Jake van der Heijden (6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C: Andre Screen (11.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.0 bpg)

With a Win over Boston University, Bucknell Would ...

... finish the regular season 8-22 overall and 5-13 in the Patriot League.
... clinch the No. 9 seed for the Patriot League Tournament.
... earn a spit of the season series with the Terriers.
... finish 7-6 at home this season, giving the Bison a winning home record in 17 of 18 full seasons in Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines

The Patriot League regular season wraps up on Saturday, with five games all scheduled for 2 p.m. One of those contests pits Boston University at Bucknell, as the two teams meet for the first time since the opening day of league play back on New Year's Day.
While the middle portion of the Patriot League standings remains jumbled, the Patriot League Tournament scenarios are fairly clear for Bucknell and Boston University. The Terriers are locked into the No. 3 seed regardless of Saturday's results, and they will host the No. 6 seed in a quarterfinal matchup next Thursday. The Bison will be seeded ninth or tenth and will be on the road for a first-round game on Tuesday. Possible opponents are Army, Holy Cross, or Lafayette.
Bucknell and American enter the day tied for the No. 9 spot at 4-13. The Bison will be the No. 9 seed with a win, regardless of American's result against Loyola. If the Bison and Eagles both lose, Bucknell would get the 9 seed if Loyola finishes ahead of Army, and American would be the 9 seed if Army finishes ahead of Loyola.
The Bison had been playing very well offensively over a two-week stretch before being held in check by Army on Wednesday night. Over the previous five contests, the Bison shot 50.2% from the field (140-279) and 47.7% from 3-point range (42-88) with an 86-57 assist-to-turnover ratio. Bucknell averaged 76.2 points per game in that span. But at West Point, the Bison were limited to 60 points on 42.3% shooting, and they were outrebounded 39-24.
Andrew Funk, the lone senior player on the Bison squad, will be honored before the game on Senior Day along with manager Kenny Wu. Funk is averaging 17.8 ppg, which is second in the league behind Loyola's Cam Spencer (18.5). Funk is one of only 24 players in the nation with at least five games with 28 or more points this season; he is one of only 40 with at least three 30-point games; and he is one of 55 with 12 20-point games.
Funk was recently named to the five-man CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 Team, and he now moves on to the national Academic All-America ballot. Funk is an accounting and financial management major with a 3.66 cumulative grade-point average.
Sophomore center Andre Screen is playing his best basketball of the season. Over the last six games, Screen has averaged 14.8 ppg on 65.6% (40-61) shooting from the field.
Boston University picked up its 20th win of the season on Wednesday, a 76-60 home victory over Lafayette. The Terriers trailed by 10 in the first half and by two at halftime, then shot 68% and outscored the Leopards 45-27 in the second half.
The Terriers bring in a veteran team, with a starting five comprised entirely of fourth and fifth-year players. Boston University's starting group has combined for 604 career games played and 437 starts. By contrast, Bucknell's starting five has played in 306 games and the entire roster has combined for 513.
Javante McCoy is coming off a 24-point outing against Lafayette, and he leads the team and ranks third in the Patriot League in scoring at 16.9 ppg. McCoy also ranks third in the league in 3-point accuracy at 44.0%. Center Sukhmail Mathon is one of 13 Division I players averaging a double-double with 15.0 ppg and 10.2 rpg, and Walter Whyte also scores in double figures with 12.7 ppg.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Boston University game will be televised on WQMY-TV, with Adam Marco and Bucknell Hall-of-Fame coach Pat Flannery calling the action. That broadcast will also be streamed on ESPN+.
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 BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Xander Rice scored a career-high 25 points for Bucknell, but Army used 21 from Jalen Rucker and a big rebounding advantage to defeat visiting Bucknell 73-60 on Wednesday night at Christl Arena.
Andre Screen recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Andrew Funk tallied eight points and a career-high eight assists for the Bison. Army snapped a six-game losing streak thanks in large part to the guard trio of Rucker, Josh Caldwell (19), and Aaron Duhart (12), who combined for 52 of the team's 73 points.
Bucknell came in hot offensively in recent weeks and Army had conceded 183 points in its last two games, but the Black Knights were strong defensively and on the glass in this one. They held the Bison to 42.3% shooting and parlayed a 39-24 rebounding margin into a 23-8 edge in second-chance points.

Bucknell vs. Boston University Series Notes

Bucknell and Boston University have met 22 times previously in men's basketball, and the Bison have a 13-9 lead in the series.
The two teams did not play in the COVID-abbreviated 2021 season. The Terriers won all three meetings in 2019-20, including a 64-61 nailbiter in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, and have now won four straight head-to-head matchups.
Bucknell is 6-4 at home in the series, 6-5 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites. In games played in Boston, Bucknell is 2-1 at Agganis Arena and 4-4 at Case Gym. The Bison were once 4-0 at Case Gym, but have since lost four straight there.
The two teams met for the first time at the 2005 Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara. The Bison won that one 63-57.
The Bison and Terriers opened the 2022 Patriot League slate on New Year's Day in Boston, and the hosts prevailed 63-61 in a game that came right down to the final possession. Bucknell trailed by one point in the closing seconds, but Andrew Funk's potential go-ahead jumper came up short. Funk did have 25 points in the game to lead the Bison. Sukhmail Mathon had a huge day for the Terriers with 21 points and 18 rebounds.

Notable Numbers

Senior guard Andrew Funk is enjoying his best season to date, with a scoring average (17.8) and field-goal percentage (.429) 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 12th-most in the nation. Funk is one of only 24 Division I players to hit six or more 3-pointers in a game at least four times this season.
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.
Funk has now entered the top 10 on Bucknell's season and career charts for made 3-pointers.

Most Made 3-Point Field Goals in Career, Bucknell History
   Player   Years 3FG
1. Bryson Johnson 2009-13   323
2. Kevin Bettencourt   2002-06   294
3. John Griffin 2004-08   220
4. Kimbal Mackenzie 2015-19   211
5. Mike Bright 1989-93   206
6. Cameron Ayers 2010-14   201
7. Chris Hass 2012-16   190
8. Mike Joseph 1986-90   183
9. Andrew Funk 2018-pr.   181
10.J.R. Holden 1994-98   180

Most Made 3-Point Field Goals in Season, Bucknell History
   Player    Year   3FG
1. Bryson Johnson 2010-11   99
2. Bryson Johnson 2011-12   84
3. Kimbal Mackenzie 2018-19   83
4. Chris Hass 2014-15   82
5. Kevin Bettencourt   2005-06   79
   John Griffin 2007-08   79
7. Kevin Bettencourt   2004-05   78
Andrew Funk 2021-22   78
9. Bryson Johnson 2012-13   73
10.J.R. Holden 1996-97   72
   Kevin Bettencourt   2003-04   72

Funk 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 currently ranks second in the Patriot League and 18th nationally in minutes played at 36.4 per game. The last Bison to play more than 36 minutes per game over a full season was Darryl Shazier (36.1) in 2008-09. In addition, Funk ranks eighth nationally in total minutes played (983:24).
Xander Rice recorded eight assists in both games against Loyola this season. That total is the most by any active Bison. Rice has 61 assists and only 27 turnovers in his last 14 games.
Reserve center Alex Timmerman is 12-for-14 from the field in his last five games.
Bucknell has struggled to create turnovers this season, as opponents are committing only 9.5 miscues per game on the season. That coupled with some rebounding troubles means that opponents have attempted 223 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 76.3% clip on the season despite a recent slump. That is the best mark in the Patriot League and 29th-best in all of Division I basketball. The Bison ranked in the top-10 nationally at around 80% for much of the season, but they endured a 51-for-86 (.593) slump over a four-game stretch before hitting 21 of 23 against Lafayette on Saturday.
The Bison have now played five overtime games this season, one shy of the school record of six set in 2008-09. Bucknell's three overtime wins are also one shy of the team record. The 1978-79 squad won four OT contests.

Patriot League Success

Bucknell is 310-151 (.672) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. This will be only the sixth time in 32 years that the Bison will have a sub-.500 PL record.
Bucknell won three straight Patriot League regular-season titles from 2011-13, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat. The Bison had won five in a row and eight of the previous nine before finishing T-6th in 2019-20.
Bucknell has made nine Patriot League Tournament appearances as the No. 1 seed and seven as the No. 2 seed.
Bucknell won Patriot League Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018. The Bison have made it to the semifinals 24 times and to the championship game 13 times in the league's first 31 years.
The Bison are the only team to go unbeaten in league play in a season (14-0 in 2006).

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell will be on the road for the first round of the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since the league expanded to 10 teams in 2013-14. The Bison will play Tuesday night, with possible opponents limited to Army, Holy Cross, or Lafayette.

Men's Basketball Hosts Boston University on Senior Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Xander Rice

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Basketball Hosts Boston University on Senior Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Andrew Funk

Xander Rice

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Related Videos