Men's Hoops Set for Thanksgiving-Eve Clash with Maryland

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell's rigorous non-conference schedule continues on Wednesday with a trip to the XFINITY Center to take on Maryland. It's a 4:30 p.m. start in College Park on Thanksgiving Eve, and the game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network with Jason Horowitz and Myles Dread on the call.

The Terrapins have won all eight meetings between the two schools, although in the last meeting in 2017-18, Maryland had to come back from a 15-point halftime deficit in an 80-78 verdict. The Bison will be trying to win a road game against a Big Ten team for the second straight year, as they knocked off Penn State 76-67 last season in State College. That was a breakout game on a bigger stage for Noah Williamson (21 points) and Josh Bascoe (11 points, 10 assists), who are now Bucknell's top two scorers this season.

Bucknell is looking to rebound from Saturday's 57-53 home loss to Rider. It was a frosty shooting night for the Bison, who were held 27 points below their Patriot League-leading season scoring average coming in. Bucknell is now 4-3 on the season, with two of the wins coming on the road against Delaware and Southern Indiana.

Maryland is 5-1 after rallying from 12 down at the half to beat Villanova 76-75 on Sunday in Newark, N.J. The Terps have yet to play a true road game, with the neutral-site game against the Wildcats following five straight home games. Maryland's only loss so far is a 78-74 verdict to Marquette, which was then ranked 15th and is now up to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll. Williamson and the Bison will have their hands full with Maryland's formidable frontcourt duo of freshman Derik Queen (16.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and senior Julian Reese (13.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg).

When Bucknell and Holy Cross met in three straight Patriot League championship games from 2005-07, the head coaches in that heated rivalry were Pat Flannery and Ralph Willard. Now both have offspring coaching in this game. Willard's son, Kevin, is in his third season as head coach at Maryland, and Flannery's son, Jesse, is in his second year as an assistant coach at Bucknell. Bucknell head coach John Griffin III played for the Bison in all three of those championship games and was on the winning side in 2005 and 2006.

After Thanksgiving, the Bison will be right back at it on Saturday, taking on Siena at the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Siena first-year head coach Gerry McNamara is a Scranton native, and the Bison and Saints will be playing the first Division I college basketball game in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area since McNamara's Syracuse team played there in 2005-06.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (4-3) at Maryland (5-1)
Where: XFINITY Center, College Park, Md.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 27, 4:30 p.m.
Watch: Big Ten Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Maryland, Bucknell Would ...

... defeat the Terrapins for the first time in nine all-time meetings.
... defeat a Big Ten team for the second straight year (76-67 at Penn State on 12/2/23).
... improve to 5-3 overall and 3-1 on the road this season.

Headlines

After playing four straight games at home, the Bison head back out on the road on Wednesday for a Thanksgiving-eve matinee at Maryland.
This is the second of four major conference opponents on a tough non-league schedule. The Bison already faced Kentucky, and next month they will play at Gonzaga and Syracuse.
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a cold-shooting night in Saturday's 57-53 loss to Rider. The Bison came in averaging a Patriot League-high 80.3 points per game, but against the Broncs they shot just 35.4% overall, 7-for-28 from 3-point range, and 12-for-20 from the foul line. The 53 points were by far a season low. The previous low was 72 at Kentucky.
The schedule says Bucknell has competed in seven games so far this month, but in reality it's 7.6 games when factoring in the five overtime periods the team has already played. The Bison lead all Division I teams in overtime games (3) and overtime periods (5), and they even played back-to-back 2OT games in a span of four days against Mount St. Mary's and Delaware. It was the first time Bucknell played consecutive 2OT games since 1978-79, when the Bison defeated Saint Joseph's and American.
Three of Bucknell's wins this season have featured dramatic second-half comebacks. The Bison trailed by as many as 12 at Delaware on opening night before ending the game on a 12-0 run to win 85-73. At Southern Indiana, Bucknell held the Screaming Eagles to one point in the last 3:58 of regulation and then led from the first possession on in overtime. At home against Richmond, the Bison trailed by as many as 21 in the first half and by 18 at the break before storming back to win 80-76 in 2OT.
Noah Williamson was a preseason All-Patriot League selection and is off to a strong start, averaging 16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and a league-high 2.1 blocks per game. Williamson scored a career-high 32 points in the win over Southern Indiana, and last Saturday he scored 22 of his 26 after halftime to lead the comeback charge against the Spiders.
Josh Bascoe (14.9 ppg) scored at least 15 points in the first five games of the season and is the league's No. 6 scorer. Bascoe ranks in the top 10 in the league in seven statistical categories, and he ranks 11th in the nation in minutes played at 36.5 per game.
This is year No. 2 under head coach John Griffin III, a 2008 Bucknell graduate who was a standout guard for the Bison. Bucknell went 14-19 overall and 10-8 in the Patriot League last season. The Bison were playing their best basketball at the end of the year and finished in a four-way tie for second place, although tiebreakers relegated them to the No. 5 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. An 80-57 rout of American in the PL quarterfinals was the team's fourth straight victory, and then the Bison took top-seeded Colgate to the final seconds in a 68-65 loss in the semifinals.
The Bison returned all but three members of last year's team. Josh Adoh graduated and is using his extra COVID year at Cal State San Bernardino, a reigning Division II Final Four team. Also graduated from last year's team were top scorer Jack Forrest (16.0 ppg, First Team All-Patriot League) and walk-on Alek Delev.
That continuity leaves the Bison with one of its oldest teams in several years. Of the 15 players on the roster, 10 are either seniors (4) or juniors (6).
Maryland is off to a 5-1 start after a come-from-behind 76-75 win over Villanova in Newark, N.J., on Saturday. The Terrapins trailed 40-28 at the half before winning it in the final minute. Maryland's formidable frontcourt duo of freshman Derik Queen (22 points, 11 rebounds) and senior Julian Reese (18 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles, and Queen's free throws with 21 seconds left were the different.
The Villanova game was Maryland's first of the year outside of College Park. The Terps had previously won home games against Manhattan, Mount St. Mary's, Florida A&M, and Canisius, the latter by a 108-37 score. Their only loss came at home against No. 15 Marquette, 78-74 on Nov. 15.
Queen (16.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Reese (13.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg) both shoot over 60% from the field and are two of the top big men in the Big Ten, and Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14.5) and Rodney Rice (14.2 ppg, 42.9 3FG%) are two high-scoring guards.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Maryland game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Jason Horowitz and Myles Dread will be on the call from College Park.
Doug Birdsong, now in his 25th season as "Voice of the Bison", will have the local radio call on Eagle 107.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live statistics can be accessed via UMTerps.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Pat Behan Named Special Adviser to the Head Coach

John Griffin III announced on Friday that Pat Behan '10 has been named Special Adviser to the Head Coach.
A native of Leesburg, Va., and a former member of the Bison men's basketball team, Behan is currently in a battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. While the disease cut short a promising basketball coaching career, he still regularly watches Bucknell games and sends text messages with advice to Griffin, who was his teammate and roommate at Bucknell.
Behan's best season at Bucknell was his junior year, when he earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors and received the Benton A. Kribbs Award as the team MVP. He led the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) that year. He had a torrid stretch late in the season when he recorded five straight 20-point games. Behan captained the team as a senior in 2009-10. In his career, he played in 119 of a possible 123 games and totaled 925 points.
In five years as the head coach at St. John's College High School in the Washington, D.C., area, Behan's teams compiled a 127-51 record and sent 26 players on to the college level. In his final season as head coach in 2022-23, he led the Cadets to a 32-4 record, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship, and a No. 18 national ranking.
More information about Pat and his battle with ALS can be found at the BehanStrong website at BehanStrong.com.

Last Time Out

Bucknell had a possession down one point in the final 10 seconds but could not convert, and Rider finished off a 57-53 win at the free-throw line on Saturday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who saw their two-game winning streak come to an end, were fighting from behind for most of the contest and just could not get enough shots to drop.
It was a defensive struggle all night with both teams shooting well under 40%, and offensive rebounding and free throws played a big role in the result. Rider grabbed the first eight rebounds of the game and led 16-0 in second-chance points in the first half and 20-9 in total. All told, the Broncs finished with a 42-29 edge on the glass.
The Bison also missed four straight free throws in one key stretch late in the game as they were slowly chipping away at what had been an eight-point deficit. Bucknell finished 12-for-20 at the charity stripe. Rider had been solid at the line for most of the night until three straight misses gave the Bison a chance to win the game.
Bucknell came into the game leading the Patriot League in scoring at 80.3 points per game, but the Bison shot 35.4% from the floor and hit 7 of 28 from downtown.
Josh Bascoe led the team with 13 points, followed by Ian Motta with nine and Ruot Bijiek with seven points, five rebounds, and a career-high five assists. Brandon McCreesh tallied eight points and six boards off the bench.

Bucknell vs. Maryland Series Notes

The Terrapins have captured all eight series meetings, starting with a 106-72 win in 1976.
This will be Bucknell's third appearance at XFINITY Center. The first six series meetings took place at Cole Field House.
Bucknell's best shot at win over Maryland came in the most recent matchup on Nov. 18, 2017. The Bison played a near-perfect first half and led 50-35 at intermission after shooting 64.5% overall and 7-for-10 from downtown. It was a different story in the second stanza, as Maryland ramped up its defense and transition game to get back in it. The Terrapins outscored Bucknell 29-11 in the first 11:11 of the half to regain the lead, but the Bison matched them blow-for-blow all the way to the final buzzer. Bucknell had a chance to inbound under the Maryland basket down by two with 0.5 seconds left but could not get a shot off, and the Terps held on to win 80-78. Stephen Brown led the Bison with 23 points, while Anthony Cowan scored 12 of his team-high 17 at the foul line for the Terps.

Bucknell vs. The Big Ten

The Bison are 35-119 (.227) against current members of the Big Ten (26-79 vs. Penn State, 8-23 vs. Rutgers, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-8 vs. Maryland, 0-2 vs. Ohio State and Michigan State, and 0-1 vs. Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northwestern). Most of the games against Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland came before they were members of the Big Ten, however.
The Bison are 3-25 against teams that were members of the Big Ten at the time of the game (2-15 vs. Penn State, 1-0 vs. Purdue, 0-2 vs. Ohio State, and 0-1 vs. Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Maryland).
Bucknell has faced two Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Bison fell 71-62 to Wisconsin in the second round in 2005. That came two days after the 14th-seeded Bison stunned Kansas in the first round. Bucknell also dropped a close 82-78 decision to Michigan State in Detroit in the first round in 2018.

Facts & Figures

Noah Williamson's three double-doubles are ninth-most among all Division I players.
Williamson against Richmond became the first Bison to block five shots in a game since Nana Foulland against Loyola in 2018.
Williamson's 64 free-throw attempts are third-most in the nation, trailing only Ketron Shaw from UMES (73) and Jamir Watkins of Florida State (63).
Williamson has certainly been a catalyst for the Bison thus fall. In the team's four wins, he is averaging 22.8 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 63.6% from the field. In the three losses, he is averaging 9.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and shooting 30.0%.
Ruot Bijiek has stepped up his offensive production in the last week. He matched his career high with 14 points against Mount St. Mary's and then blew past that total with 20 against Richmond. His 13 points against NJIT gave him three straight double-digit games for the first time in his career.
Bijiek is averaging 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists over his last four games.
Bucknell is shooting 37.7% from 3-point range on the road but just 30.3% at home this season.
The Bison have been on a shot-blocking spree of late with 27 in the last four games.

Men's Hoops Set for Thanksgiving-Eve Clash with Maryland

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Noah Williamson

Men's Hoops Set for Thanksgiving-Eve Clash with Maryland

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Noah Williamson

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