Men's Basketball Road Swing Starts Saturday at Colgate

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- After a frustrating start to the Patriot League schedule, Bucknell looks to begin a climb up the standings starting Saturday afternoon at Colgate. Game time is 2 p.m. at Cotterell Court, with live streaming on ESPN+.

It will be no easy task, as Colgate is off to a 5-0 start in Patriot League play, and the defending champs have won 20 straight games against PL foes dating back to last season. The Raiders have won four straight in the series, including wins in each of the last two Patriot League Tournaments. Bucknell was in both regular-season games last season only to see Colgate pull away late. In the game in Hamilton, the Bison sprinted out of the gates to a 27-11 lead, but the Raiders went 13-for-19 from the 3-point arc after a 1-for-8 start and came back to win 83-69.

Xander Rice, the Patriot League's third-leading scorer at 15.4 points per game, averaged 18.3 in three games against Colgate last season. Ryan Moffatt was a thorn in Bucknell's side last year, totaling 48 points while hitting 12 of 16 3-point attempts in the three head-to-head matchups.

Saturday's game starts a tough stretch for the Bison, who will play four of their next six on the road, including two this week against the league's first and second-place teams. following the Colgate game, Bucknell heads to Army West Point, which is 4-1 with the only loss coming by two points to Colgate.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (7-11, 0-5 PL) at Colgate (11-7, 5-0 PL)
Where: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: WVLY (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: ColgateAthletics.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (7.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G: Xander Rice (15.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.9 apg)
F: Ian Motta (6.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.9 apg)
F: Alex Timmerman (12.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.6 apg)
C: Andre Screen (10.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 bpg)

With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a seven-game losing streak and improve to 8-11 overall and 1-5 in the Patriot League.
... end a four-game series losing streak and improve to 70-51 all-time against the Raiders.
... halt a six-game losing streak at Cotterell Court.

Headlines

Bucknell continues its search for its first Patriot League victory on Saturday at Colgate, the defending champion and currently the only team without a PL loss.
The Bison have dropped seven straight games since a Dec. 18 home win over Merrimack. Most recently, Bucknell fell 67-57 to Loyola on Wednesday as its recent offensive struggles continued.
After a strong offensive start to the season, the Bison have slumped in recent games. Bucknell shot 50% or better in seven of the first nine games and ranked in the top 10 nationally in field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. Over the last nine contests, however, the Bison have struggled at the offensive end.

Bucknell Offense
PPG FG%   3FG%
First 9 Games   75.6   .509   .399
Last 9 Games 62.3   .415   .302
Patriot League Games   61.4   .404   .236

Senior Xander Rice has upped his scoring output in his senior season and comes into the game as the Patriot League's third-leading scorer at 15.4 ppg. Rice, who topped the 900-point mark for his career on Wednesday against Loyola, has scored in double figures in every game this season and 19 straight dating back to last year.

2022-23 Patriot League Scoring Leaders
1. Gerrale Gates, Holy Cross   17.8
2. Jalen Rucker, Army    15.9
3. Xander Rice, Bucknell 15.4
4. Tucker Richardson, Colgate   15.0
5. Evan Taylor, Lehigh 14.6

Colgate entered Patriot League play with a 6-7 record, higlighted by a second-straight win at Syracuse, but has now rattled off five straight wins to start the PL slate. The first three of those league victories were routs, including a 101-67 win at Loyola, but the two most recent against Army and Boston University have been close. Including the 2022 postseason, Colgate has won 20 straight games against Patriot League foes.
The Raiders average a league-high 80.4 points per game on the season, and all five starters score at least 9.9 ppg. Senior Tucker Richardson, who recently became the school's all-time assists leader, leads theh squad with 15.0 ppg and 5.0 apg. Freshman point guard Braeden Smith and senior center Keegan Records both score 12.3 ppg.
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 finished 9-23 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.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Colgate game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Doug Birdsong, who is in his 23rd 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.

Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes

This will be the 121st all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back 103 years to 1920. The Bison have a 69-51 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (183), Lafayette (176), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (104).
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell is 48-25, 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.
Colgate swept both regular-season meetings from the Bison last year and then added a third win in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. The Raiders won 75-56 in Lewisburg in a see-saw battle. Colgate jumped out to an 18-2 lead, Bucknell outscored them 48-33 in the middle 22 minutes to pull within 51-50, and then the Raiders finished the game on a 24-6 run. Bucknell raced to a 27-11 lead in the rematch in Hamilton on Feb. 2, but Colgate rallied to win 83-69 thanks to 14-for-28 shooting from 3-point range. The Raiders won 96-68 in the postseason meeting, led by 28 points from eventual Tournament MVP Jack Ferguson.
Xander Rice had three terrific performances against Colgate last season, scoring 20, 18, and 17 points for an 18.3 average. He went 10-for-17 from 3-point distance in the three games, including 7-for-11 in the two games at Cotterell Court.

Notable Numbers

Through 18 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 Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense, second in scoring defense, and fifth in 3-point defense.

   Scoring Defense   Opp. FG%     Opp 3FG%
2021-22     79.4      .466 .373
2022-23    67.3 .413     .341

Bucknell has held nine of its 18 opponents under 40% from the field this season and is 7-2 in those games. Bucknell is 0-10 when the opponent shoots 40% or better.
The Bison are looking for additional scoring options, as the team has had only two double-digit scorers in each of the last six contests.
Xander Rice was named Tournament MVP of the Ocean Bracket at the Sunshine Slam during Thanksgiving Week. On Dec. 18 against Merrimack, he was held to 11 points, but he did hand out nine assists without a turnover. Rice, who ranks third in the Patriot League in assist/TO ratio (1.9), is one of only 35 Division I players — Lafayette's CJ Fulton is the only other Patriot League player to do it — to log nine or more assists with no turnovers in a game this season, and he is only the fourth different Bison to do it in the last 18 years.

Last Time Out

Xander Rice scored 18 points and Andre Screen added 12, but Loyola held the lead the entire game on its way to a 67-57 victory on Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion. Freshman guard Deon Perry led the Greyhounds with a career-high 22 points on 7 of 13 shooting, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range.
Rice (6-for-12) and Screen (5-for-7) combined to make 11 of 19 field goals, but the rest of the Bucknell roster shot 7-for-30 as the team's recent offensive struggles continued. Overall, the Bison shot 36.7% for the contest, while Loyola shot 45.8%.
Bucknell trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before narrowing its deficit to six points at halftime. There were two key junctures in the second half when the Bison drew close but could not get over the hump.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell heads back on the road on Wednesday to face Army at Christl Arena.
The Black Knights are 4-1 in the Patriot League, with the only loss a two-point setback to Colgate at West Point. Army visits Boston University on Saturday.

Men's Basketball Road Swing Starts Saturday at Colgate

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Men's Basketball Road Swing Starts Saturday at Colgate

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

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