Men's Basketball Faces Penn State Saturday in Final Game Before Exam Break

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- It's back on the road for the Bucknell men's basketball team, but this time it's just a short trip to Happy Valley as the Bison take on Penn State on Saturday. The noon tip from the Bryce Jordan Center will be televised on the Big Ten Network, with radio coverage in the Susquehanna Valley on WVLY 100.9 FM. Sirius/XM subscribers can hear the game on Channel 372 and the SXM app.

The 2023-24 season is only four weeks old, but this is already Bucknell's 10th game of the campaign. First-year head coach John Griffin III has challenged his young team with a difficult schedule, and he has seen a number of positive developments as the squad prepares to head into a two-week break for final exams. The Bison are coming off one of their better offensive outings of the year on Wednesday against undefeated Princeton, which is off to a great start after making a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last March. The Bison were red-hot over the game's first 30 minutes and built a lead of as many as 11 points early in the second half. The lead was still eight with nine minutes to play, but the Tigers connected on 12 straight shots down the stretch and closed the game on a 28-6 run to win 85-71.

Bucknell has another tough test coming up on Saturday. Penn State also had a magical March last season, advancing all the way to the Big Ten Tournament final and then routing Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Many of the stars of that veteran squad have graduated, including former Bison Andrew Funk who was 8-for-10 from three in the NCAA win over the Aggies, and head coach Micah Shrewsbury departed for Notre Dame during the offseason. But the Nittany Lions have reloaded under new head coach Mike Rhoades, a name very familiar to Bison fans. Rhoades was a star player for Pat Flannery during Lebanon Valley's NCAA title run in 1994, and Rhoades had a very successful six-year run at VCU before taking over in State College. Rhoades brought with him from VCU a pair of experienced guards in Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr., and sophomore guard Kanye Clary is having a breakout season averaging 16.7 ppg. Transfers Qudus Wahab (Maryland) and Zach Hicks (Temple) give Penn State good size in the frontcourt, and the Nittany Lions are one of the top teams in the country at forcing turnovers (17.1 per game).

The Nittany Lions started the season with four straight wins, including a 74-65 verdict against Lehigh from the Patriot League, but they are looking to bounce back from an 0-3 trip to the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida during Thanksgiving week. Penn State dropped three high-scoring games to No. 12 Texas A&M, Butler, and VCU, and now the Nittany Lions will be looking to add to their 12-game home winning streak against non-league opponents.

Bucknell will have three non-conference games remaining after the exam break, two of them at home. The Bison will face Radford for the first time on Dec. 16 at Sojka Pavilion. After a Friday matinee at Merrimack on Dec. 22, Bucknell hosts Saint Peter's on Dec. 30 before starting Patriot League play on Jan. 3 at home against Holy Cross.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (2-7) at Penn State (4-3)
Where: Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pa.
When: Saturday, Dec. 2, 12 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Local Radio: The Valley (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: GoPSUSports.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Josh Bascoe (9.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 4.9 apg)
G: Jack Forrest (15.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.3 apg)
F: Brady Muller (0.7 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.1 apg)
F: Ruot Bijiek (6.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.8 apg)
C: Noah Williamson (9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 0.7 bpg)

With a Win over Penn State, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 3-7 overall and 2-5 on the road on the season.
... defeat the Nittany Lions for the first time since Nov. 13, 2013 (0-3 since). That was also Bucknell's last win over a Big Ten team (0-8 since).

Headlines

Bucknell wraps up a busy first semester with a day trip to Penn State on Saturday. This will be the team's 10th game in the first four weeks of the season — no team in the country has played more — but after this game the Bison will be off for two weeks to focus on final exams and the final three non-conference games before Patriot League play starts on Jan. 3.
Bucknell and Penn State have some staff connections. Mike Rhoades, in his first year as Penn State's head coach after a successful six-year stint at VCU, was a standout player at Lebanon Valley under future Bucknell Hall-of-Fame coach Pat Flannery. Rhoades led his team to the 1994 NCAA Division III title and was the Co-Outstanding Player of the tournament. Flannery recently joined the Penn State basketball community as GM of the school's Happy Valley United NIL collective. Jesse Flannery, Pat's son and now an assistant coach at Bucknell, was on Rhoades' staff at VCU as a graduate assistant.
Bison head coach John Griffin III was previously the associate head coach at Saint Joseph's, where he went up against Rhoades' VCU teams and guards Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr., who have since joined Rhoades at Penn State. Baldwin was the 2023 A-10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Bucknell will also see a familiar face in PSU grad transfer Leo O'Boyle, who played four years in the Patriot League at Lafayette.
Through Wednesday's games, Bucknell was one of only 12 teams in the nation to have played nine games already, and none had played more than nine.
The Bison were also one of only 12 teams to have played at least six true road games through Wednesday. By contrast, the six road games are more than the total of four entire conferences: Big 12 (2), Big Ten (4), Pac 12 (4), and Big East (5).
Bucknell is coming off a frustrating loss to unbeaten Princeton on Wednesday. The Bison played terrific basketball for the first 30 minutes and built an 11-point second-half lead against a Tigers squad that advanced to the 2023 NCAA Sweet Sixteen and are currently receiving votes in the Associated Press poll. But Princeton made 12 consecutive shots and outscored the Bison 28-6 over the final nine minutes to win 85-71.
One game after shooting a season-worst 28.8% from the field and 20.0% from the 3-point arc at Marist, the Bison shot 51.0% overall and 50.0% (9-18) from the 3-point line against Princeton.
Likewise, top scorer Jack Forrest had a nice bounce-back performance against Princeton. He entered the Marist game as the Patriot League's leading scorer at 16.6 ppg but was held to two points on 1-for-14 shooting in that game. But on Wednesday he led the way with 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 from downtown. Forrest pushed his season average back up to 15.4 ppg, which ranks third in the Patriot League.
During the first four games of the season junior point guard Josh Bascoe provided good support for Elvin Edmonds IV coming off the bench. Bascoe had an eight-assist game against Delaware and a 15-point game at Niagara in a reserve role. After Edmonds was injured late in the first half at La Salle, Bascoe has started and played heavy minutes in each game since. He had two more eight-assist games against Duke and St. Bonaventure, and he scored a career-high 20 points in the win over Southern Indiana. Bascoe had 14 points and six assists on Wednesday against Princeton.
Bascoe is one of only 14 players in the nation with at least three games of eight or more assists this season.

Most Games with 8+ Assists
Darius Brown, Utah State   4
Rayj Dennis, Baylor   4
Dajuan Harris, Kansas   4
Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac   4
Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State   4
Stephan Swenson, Stetson   4
Josh Bascoe, Bucknell   3
Jared Bynum, Stanford   3
Jaquan Carlos, Hofstra   3
Daniss Jenkins, St. John's   3
Johannes Kirsipuu, Central Arkansas   3
Noah Reynolds, Green Bay   3
Jamal Shead, Houston   3
Elijah Stephens, American   3

Bucknell is in the midst of its 129th season of basketball, dating back to its first game on Feb. 14, 1896, a 16-14 victory over Lock Haven.
Bucknell is looking to rebound from a 12-20 season a year ago. The Bison went 5-13 in Patriot League play and fell 64-59 at American in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.
The Bison were picked ninth in this year's Patriot League preseason poll, one spot ahead of Army West Point. Defending-champion Colgate was the preseason No. 1 pick. John Griffin III is one of five new head coaches in the Patriot League this season.
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 four straight sub-.500 seasons, something that has not happened since 2000-01 to 2003-04.
Penn State started the season 4-0 with home wins over Delaware State, Lehigh, Saint Francis, and Morehead State, but the Nittany Lions are looking to rebound from an 0-3 weekend at the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla. They fell to No. 12 Texas A&M (89-77), Butler (88-78), and VCU (86-74).
Penn State is coming off an outstanding 2023-24 season in which it went 23-14, lost a two-point game to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament final, and routed Texas A&M 76-59 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Andrew Funk, a four-year standout for Bucknell who played last season as a graduate student at Penn State, went 8-for-10 from three-point range and scored 27 points in that game.
Kanye Clary is the team's top scorer at 16.7 ppg, followed by Baldwin at 14.0 ppg. Maryland transfer Qudus Wahab is averaging just shy of a double-double with 10.0 ppg and 9.6 rpg. Clary was actually averaging 19.5 ppg through the team's first six games, including a 28-point outburst against Butler, but he was scoreless in nine minutes before leaving with an injury in the most recent game against VCU.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Penn State game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Jason Ross Jr. will be joined on the broadcast by former Nittany Lion Myles Dread.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong will provide the radio call on 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 GoPSUSports.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Notable Numbers

Rebounding has been a key stat for the Bison thus far. They are +24 on the boards in their two wins, but in the seven losses Bucknell is -78 on the glass.
Bucknell has been strong from the free-throw line of late after a slow start to the season. The Bison are 54-66 (.818) from the stripe over the last four games. Center Noah Williamson has been a big part of that resurgence, as he is 21-25 (.840) during that span.
Josh Bascoe is 20-for-37 (.541) from the field over his last four games.
Quin Berger is 7 for his last 13 from 3-point range after a 1-for-7 start to the season.
Pip Ajayi is 5-for-5 from the floor over his last two games.
Jack Forrest is one of only 42 guards in the nation averaging at least 15.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
After holding four of its previous five opponents under 45% shooting from the field, Bucknell's last two opponents have shot 56.0% (Marist) and 58.9% (Princeton), respectively.

Last Time Out

Bucknell put together some of its best play of the season over the game's first 30 minutes, but Matt Allocco and undefeated Princeton simply wouldn't miss in the final 10 minutes, and the Tigers stormed back from 11 points down to defeat the Bison 85-71 on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion.
Jack Forrest scored 21 points and Josh Bascoe recorded 14 points and six assists for Bucknell, which shot 51.0% on the night and hit 9 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc. Princeton (7-0), the reigning Ivy League champion and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team a year ago, shot 58.9% for the game, including 60.0% in the second half. The Tigers hit 12 straight shots over a 10-minute stretch, with Allocco canning six of the first eight, and they ended the contest on a 28-6 run to stay undefeated on the season.
It was a well-played game throughout, with the teams combining to shoot better than 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range, and 80% from the free-throw line. There were just 14 combined turnovers and 32 total assists. Princeton had 20 assists with only four turnovers, and Bucknell logged 12 assists with 10 turnovers, but eight of those miscues came in the second half as the Tigers held the Bison to only two field goals in the game's final 9:40.

Bucknell vs. Penn State Series Notes

This is the 105th meeting between Bucknell and Penn State in a series that dates all the way back to 1897. The Nittany Lions have a 79-25 lead in the series.
Bucknell has played only four other opponents as many as 100 times: Lehigh (184), Lafayette (177), Gettysburg (126), and Colgate (122).
Bucknell's most recent series win came in November 2013. The Bison snapped a 12-game series losing streak with a 90-80 victory behind a career-high 25 points from Steven Kaspar. Its previous series win had been on Jan. 14, 1976 in Davis Gym (69-64). It was also Bucknell's first win at the Bryce Jordan Center after 10 losses there. The Bison's previous win in State College was a 74-73 overtime decision on Feb. 21, 1968 at Rec Hall.
Penn State won the last meeting 98-70 on Nov. 19, 2019. It was the first one-sided game in the series after a run of seven straight closely contested battles. In the 2019 game, Penn State led 45-42 at the half before outscoring the Bison 53-28 in the second half. Lamar Stevens scored 21 of his 27 points in the second stanza, while future Nittany Lion Andrew Funk led the Bison with 15 points.
Bucknell won the very first meeting 24-4 on March 5, 1897 at Tustin Gymnasium. According to the account in the Orange & Blue student newspaper, "The gymnasium was tastily decorated with orange and blue bunting and also with the colors of State College—blue and white. The audience was large, considering the inclement weather and also the slushy condition of the pavements and campus." Bucknell played a possession-style game and limited the State College boys to only one goal in each half. Alas, the two teams met again 15 days later, and State College exacted revenge on its home floor by a count of 10-7.

Who's Got Next?

Following the Penn State game, Bucknell will be off for final exams until resuming play on Dec. 16 at home against Radford. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Bison and Highlanders, who are 5-4 on the season after dropping a one-point decision to Old Dominion on Wednesday.

Men's Basketball Faces Penn State Saturday in Final Game Before Exam Break

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brady Muller

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Faces Penn State Saturday in Final Game Before Exam Break

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brady Muller

Noah Williamson

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