Men's Basketball Returns to Action Saturday at No. 13/14 Gonzaga

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Final exams are in the rear-view mirror, and the Bison men's basketball team returns to the floor after a 13-day layoff on Saturday at No. 13/14 Gonzaga. Bucknell will be making its first trip to "The Kennel" -- and its first visit to the state of Washington for that matter -- as a very difficult non-conference schedule continues. This is the third of four major conference opponents on the slate. The Bison have already played Kentucky and Maryland, and they will finish out the calendar year against Gonzaga and Syracuse on each of the next two Saturdays.

The Bison jumped out to a 4-2 start, but a couple of key injuries and an offensive slump have contributed to a five-game losing streak. Most recently, Bucknell fought back from a 14-point second-half deficit to force overtime at 9-2 Radford, but the Highlanders prevailed 74-70. It was Bucknell's Division I-leading fourth OT game of the season. A bright spot for the Bison was a career-high 22-point performance from wing Achile Spadone. The Davidson transfer went 6-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-5 from the 3-point arc, and he will have an increased role moving forward after senior Ian Motta (10.1 ppg) was lost for the season with a knee injury.

Josh Bascoe had 19 points, including the game-tying layup with eight seconds remaining in regulation, in the loss at Radford, and he now leads the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game.

Gonzaga improved to 8-3 with a 102-72 win over Nicholls State on Wednesday. Of the Bulldogs' three losses, two have come in overtime against West Virginia and Kentucky, and the other came against two-time defending national champion UConn at Madison Square Garden. Gonzaga averages 89.5 points per game -- third-most in the country -- and defensively they hold opponents to 25.2% shooting from the 3-point arc.

After Saturday's game, the Bison will take a few days off for the holidays before returning to campus on Dec. 26 to prep for Syracuse. It will be all Patriot League play the rest of the way, with the conference opener on Jan. 2 at Lehigh.

Bison fans should mark their calendars for a couple of key home dates coming up in January. The Jan. 5 game against Colgate will be the 20th Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball. The festivities include a silent auction and raffle drawing, with proceeds benefiting Suncom Industries. Bucknell will hold Alumni Day on Jan. 18 when Navy visits Sojka Pavilion. The program will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landmark 2005 NCAA Tournament win over Kansas.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (4-7) at #13/14 Gonzaga (8-3)
Where: McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Wash.
When: Saturday, Dec. 21, 9 p.m. (ET)
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: Eagle 107
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: GoZags.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Gonzaga, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a five-game losing streak and head into the holiday break with a 5-7 record.
... improve to 3-3 on the road this season.
... defeat a ranked opponent for the first time since Nov. 22, 2005 (No. 17/19 Syracuse 74-69). The Bison have dropped 18 straight games to ranked foes since then and are 3-33 all-time against teams ranked in the AP poll.
... improve to 2-3 all-time against the West Coast Conference.

Headlines

The Bison make their first-ever trip to the McCarthey Athletic Center, aka "The Kennel", on Saturday night. This is the first ever meeting between the Bison and Gonzaga and is also the first time the Bison have played in the state of Washington.
The Bison have certainly taken on a challenging non-conference schedule. The 11 opponents they have played so far are a combined 74-52 (.584), through Wednesday's games, and Gonzaga and Syracuse still loom on the non-conference schedule before the end of the calendar year.
Bucknell will be playing for the first time in 13 days after taking a break for final exams. The most recent outing was a 74-70 overtime loss at Radford on Dec. 8. That was Bucknell's fourth overtime game of the season, which is the most in all of Division I basketball. Colorado State and West Virginia have each played three. Bucknell's six OT periods, which include back-to-back 2OT games against Mount St. Mary's and Richmond, are also the most in the nation.
Bucknell started the season 4-2 but have dropped five straight to Rider, Maryland, Siena, St. Bonaventure, and Radford. The Bison have suddenly slumped offensively. After averaging 80.3 points per game in their first six, over the last five outings they have averaged 59.0 ppg while shooting 39.3% from the field, 24.2% from 3-point range, and 57.8% from the foul line. In this stretch, the Bison have 72 turnovers to 57 assists.
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 averaging 13.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and a league-high 1.5 blocks per game. Williamson scored a career-high 32 points in the win over Southern Indiana, and he scored 22 of his 26 after halftime to lead the comeback charge against Richmond.
Josh Bascoe recently surpassed Williamson as the team's leading scorer. After tallying 19 points against Radford, Bascoe is now averaging a career-high 14.1 ppg.
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).
Gonzaga ranks third nationally in scoring (89.5), and the Bulldogs will be the third team ranked in the top 10 that Bucknell has played this season. Kentucky is currently the highest-scoring team in the nation at 91.3 ppg, and Maryland is ninth at 87.8 ppg.
Gonzaga is also third in assist/turnover ratio (2.00), sixth in free throw percentage (.817), and fifth in three-point percentage defense (.252).
Gonzaga is 2-2 against ranked opponents. The Zags notably won by double digits against No. 7/7 Baylor (101-63) and No. 14/15 Indiana (89-73). Before beating Nicholls State on Wednesday, Gonzaga had dropped its last two games to No. 4/6 Kentucky (90-89 OT) and No. 18/20 Connecticut (77-71). Remarkably, that was their first two-game losing streak in six years, snapping a run of 204 consecutive games without back-to-back losses.
Five players for the Zags are averaging double-figures in scoring: Graham Ike (14.6), Khalif Battle (13.0), Braden Huff (13.0), Ryan Nembhard (12.0), and Nolan Hickman (10.2). The 6'10" Huff is getting his points off the bench, and he led the team with 25 on 11-for-12 shooting from the field in the most recent win over Nicholls State. Ben Gregg is averaging 9.5 ppg and Michael Ajayi (no relation to Bucknell's Pip Ajayi) is averaging 7.5 ppg.
Nembhard leads the nation with 10.3 apg and is fourth in the nation in Assist/TO ratio (5.14).

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Gonzaga game will be streamed on ESPN+ and will also be televised in the Seattle (Fox13+) and Portland (KPTV) markets.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong 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 GoZags.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Achile Spadone scored a career-high 22 points and helped lead a spirited comeback from 14 points down in the second half, but Bucknell fell 74-70 in overtime at Radford on Dec. 8. Josh Bascoe added 19 points, including a game-tying drive with eight seconds left in regulation, but the Bison were depleted in overtime with their top three bigs and four players in total disqualified in a foul-filled contest.
Jarvis Moss scored 15 points and Josiah Harris had 12 for the Highlanders, who improved to 9-2 on the season after their fifth straight win.
Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field and struggled from long range for most of the day, which meant the game evolved into a physical battle in the paint and on the glass. There was a total of 57 fouls called which led to 69 free throws, and six players fouled out.
Bucknell led twice early in the overtime session after a dunk from Ruot Bijiek and a trey from Bascoe. Bijiek joined Williamson and Ajayi on the bench with five fouls in that stretch, however, and offensive rebounds would become a big factor for Radford the rest of the way.
Spadone's 22 points came on efficient 6-for-8 shooting from the field, 3-for-5 from the arc, and 7-for-8 from the foul line. Bucknell shot 36.2% overall and went 7-for-30 from the 3-point arc and 21-for-33 from the line.
Radford shot 39.0% from the field and hit 5-for-18 from deep and 23-for-36 from the line.
Bucknell committed only 10 turnovers — four after halftime — but was outrebounded 51-37.

Bucknell vs. Gonzaga Series Notes

This will be the first ever meeting between the Bison and the Zags. This will also be Bucknell's first ever game in the state of Washington.
Bucknell is 1-3 all-time against teams from the West Coast Conference, with all of the games coming against the Northern California Bay Area teams. The lone win was a 68-65 overtime win at San Francisco in the 1995-96 season opener. The Bison are also 0-2 against Saint Mary's and 0-1 against Santa Clara.

Facts & Figures

Noah Williamson against Richmond became the first Bison to block five shots in a game since Nana Foulland against Loyola in 2018.
Williamson's 78 free-throw attempts are 17th-most in the nation.
Free-throw shooting has been a good news/bad news situation for Bucknell this season. The positive is that the team is getting to the line frequently. The Bison rank 57th out of 355 Division I teams in free-throw attempts per game with 23.3, and they rank 40th in FT attempts per FG attempt (.411). The latter figure is up from .290 last season. The negative is that Bucknell has really struggled at the charity stripe, with a team FT% of .629 that ranks 337th nationally.
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 seven losses, he is averaging 8.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and shooting 35.2%.
Bucknell is shooting 34.1% from 3-point range on the road but just 28.7% at home this season.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell has a week off before heading to Syracuse on Dec. 28. Bucknell is 1-10 all-time against Syracuse with its only win coming on Nov. 22, 2005.
That will be the final non-conference game of the regular season. Patriot League play begins on Jan. 2 at Lehigh.

Men's Basketball Returns to Action Saturday at No. 13/14 Gonzaga

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Achile Spadone

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Returns to Action Saturday at No. 13/14 Gonzaga

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Achile Spadone

Noah Williamson

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