Men's Basketball Closes Out Non-League Slate Saturday at Syracuse

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell wraps up the 2024 calendar year and the non-conference portion of the 2024-25 schedule on Saturday afternoon at Syracuse. The Bison have already played Kentucky, Maryland, and Gonzaga on the road, in addition to strong mid-majors such as St. Bonaventure, Richmond, Delaware, and Radford, and Saturday's game at the JMA Wireless Dome concludes one of the most challenging non-league slates in team history.

Bucknell will be looking to shake a six-game losing streak that came on the heels of a strong 4-2 start. After taking 13 days off for final exams, the Bison played very well in long stretches at No. 13/14 Gonzaga last Saturday, but the Bulldogs prevailed 86-65. There were several bright spots in Spokane, most notably all-league center Noah Williamson returning to form. Williamson led the team with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting, which included a handful of strong moves around the basket against Gonzaga's big front line. Josh Bascoe scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and he continues to lead the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg. Freshman guard Jayden Williams also impressed last week, hitting a couple of 3-pointers on the way to a career-high 10 points.

Syracuse has dropped two straight and four of its last five to fall to 5-6 on the season. This is also the Orange's final non-league game, with the bulk of ACC play starting on Dec. 31 against Wake Forest. Syracuse is 5-1 at home this season but is looking to bounce back from a one-sided 87-60 loss to Maryland in Brooklyn, N.Y., last Saturday.

After Saturday's game, 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 (4-8) at Syracuse (5-6)
Where: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Dec. 28, 2 p.m.
Watch: The CW
Local Radio: Eagle 107
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: Cuse.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Syracuse, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a six-game losing streak and conclude the non-league portion of the schedule with a 5-8 record.
... improve to 3-4 on the road this season.
... improve to 2-10 all-time against the Orange and 2-9 against them at the JMA Wireless Dome.
... defeat an ACC team for the first time since the 1960-61 season (Virginia 99-81), and for only the third time ever.
... defeat a team from a Power 5 conference for the first time since the 2016-17 season (Vanderbilt 75-72).

Headlines

Bucknell visits Syracuse on Saturday in a battle of two teams trying to shake losing streaks heading into conference play. The Bison have dropped six straight since a 4-2 start, including an 86-65 setback at No. 13/14 Gonzaga this past Saturday. Bucknell starts Patriot League action on Jan. 2 at Lehigh. The Orange have lost two straight and four of their last five, and they will be looking to turn things around with nothing but ACC games remaining starting on New Year's Eve at home against Wake Forest.
This has been a very challenging non-conference schedule for Bucknell. The 12 opponents they have played so far are a combined 88-62 (.587), through Sunday's games, including four teams that have already won at least 10 games: St. Bonaventure (12-1), Kentucky (10-2), Maryland (10-2), and Radford (10-5).
Bucknell started the season 4-2 but have dropped six straight to Rider, Maryland, Siena, St. Bonaventure, Radford, and Gonzaga (combined record 50-27). The Bison have struggled offensively during this stretch. After averaging 80.3 points per game in their first six, over the last six outings they have averaged 60.0 ppg while shooting 39.6% from the field, 25.8% from 3-point range, and 58.8% from the foul line. In this stretch, the Bison have 91 turnovers to 66 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 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and a league-high 1.4 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 and 14 at Gonzaga, 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.
Griffin probably wishes he could suit up on Saturday, because he rarely missed a shot at the JMA Wireless Dome during his playing career with the Bison. He made his collegiate debut there on opening night in 2004-05, when Bucknell played Princeton in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Griffin, starting in place of injured point guard Abe Badmus, went 5-for-5 from the field and scored 18 points. The next day he went 5-for-5 again and tallied 16 points against Northern Colorado. One year later, Griffin came off the bench and hit two big 3-pointers in Bucknell's 74-69 win over No. 17 Syracuse.

John Griffin III as a Player at JMA Wireless Dome
Date   Opponent   Result     FG-FGA 3FG-3FGA   Pts.
11/11/04   Princeton 61-48 L   5-5 2-2 18
11/12/04   Northern Colorado   67-54 W   5-5 3-3 16
11/22/05   #17 Syracuse 74-69 W   2-4 2-3 6
12-14 7-8 40

Syracuse won 20 games and finished 11-9 in the ACC in 1994 alum Adrian Autry's first season in 2023-24, but the Orange just missed an NCAA Tournament bid for the third year in a row.
This year's squad is 5-6, with the six losses coming against Texas, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Maryland. The Orange fell 87-60 to the Terrapins in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Saturday. Syracuse is 5-1 at home, with the lone loss coming to Georgetown, and 0-5 away from the Dome.
The Orange have been without top scorer J.J. Starling (19.8 ppg) since Nov. 27. Starling, who scored 38 points against Youngstown State and 27 against Texas Tech, has been out with a broken left (non-shooting) hand. Donnie Freeman (13.5), Chris Bell (10.9), and Jyare Davis (10.1) are all averaging in double figures. This will be the second straight year the Bison have seen Davis. He scored a game-high 21 points for Delaware in the Blue Hens' 78-57 win over Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion in the 2023-24 season opener.
Bucknell held its own on the glass against Gonzaga on Saturday and will have to be sharp again this week against a Syracuse team that averages 10.2 offensive rebounds per game. The Orange shoot 46.5% from the field but only 28.9% from the 3-point arc.
Bucknell's Brady Muller and Syracuse's Kyle Cuffe Jr. were teammates at Blair Academy in New Jersey.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Syracuse game will be televised on The CW, with Tom Werme and John Henson on the call. Check your cable guide or service provider to find The CW affiliate in your local market. WSWB 38 is The CW affiliate in Bucknell's local (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) television area.
"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 Cuse.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Pat Behan Named Special Adviser to the Head Coach

John Griffin III announced on Nov. 22 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.
Syracuse assistant coach Dan Engelstad is also a close friend of Behan, and when Engelstad was head coach at Mount St. Mary's last season, the Bison and Mountaineers played a preseason exhibition game with proceeds going to The BehanStrong Foundation.
Syracuse freshman Donnie Freeman played for Behan at St. John's and starred on that WCAC championship squad in 2022-23. Freeman averaged 21.0 ppg and 8.5 rpg that season.

Last Time Out

Graham Ike tallied 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 13/14 Gonzaga to an 86-65 win over Bucknell on Saturday night at McCarthey Athletic Center. Noah Williamson scored 16 points to lead the Bison, who played good basketball in several stretches against the nation's third-highest-scoring team.
Williamson went 7-for-13 from the field on the way to his 16 points. Josh Bascoe scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and freshman Jayden Williams scored a career-high 10 points off the bench.
Bucknell led eight minutes into the contest and hung around for most of the first half, but Gonzaga pulled away in a pivotal first four minutes of the second stanza. The Bison missed their first six shots of the half while the Bulldogs ran off nine straight points to stretch their 38-27 halftime advantage to 47-27.
Bucknell regrouped, hitting four 3-pointers over the next three minutes to get back in it. Brandon McCreesh started a 14-7 run with a trey, Bascoe hit two in a row, and Williams canned his second of the night to cut it to 13 at 54-41. That was as close as Bucknell could get, however, as Gonzaga warmed up later in the half.
Bucknell shot 40.7% from the floor and went 10-for-31 from 3-point range and 7-for-10 from the foul line. The Bison were hampered by 19 turnovers, which led to 24 Gonzaga points.

Bucknell vs. Syracuse Series Notes

Bucknell is 1-10 all-time against Syracuse, with the first meeting dating all the way back to March 3, 1915 (a 37-20 Syracuse win).
Bucknell and Syracuse met in the opening round of the 1989 NCAA Tournament, in a Midwest Regional game at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Syracuse, a No. 2 seed, topped 15th-seeded Bucknell 104-81. The Orange scored 52 points in each half and were led by 27 points from Billy Owens, 21 from Stevie Thompson and 19 each from Matt Roe and Sherman Douglas. Bucknell received 22 points from Mike Butts, 14 from Mike Joseph and 11 from Ted Aceto. The game would mark Bucknell's last NCAA appearance until 2005.
In the first meeting since the 1989 NCAA Tournament, Bucknell upset the 17th-ranked Orange 74-69 at the Carrier Dome on Nov. 22, 2005. Kevin Bettencourt scored 20 points and Chris McNaughton added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Bison, who shot a blistering 82.4% (14-17) from the field in the second half used a late 9-0 run and excellent free-throw shooting to score its first win over Syracuse in nine tries. Demetris Nichols scored 19 points and Gerry McNamara scored 18 despite a 6-for-19 shooting performance for Syracuse. Bucknell head coach John Griffin III was a sophomore on that team, and he had six points and four assists in 16 minutes off the bench.
The Orange were ranked No. 1 in the country when the two teams met during the 2011-12 season, and that is Bucknell's most recent game against a No. 1 team. Mike Muscala led Bucknell with 14 points and seven rebounds. Kris Joseph paced Syracuse with 17 points as the Orange prevailed 80-61.
Syracuse rolled 97-46 in the most recent meeting on Nov. 23, 2019. Buddy Boeheim scored 22 points and went 6-for-8 from the arc as Syracuse shot 14-for-29 from downtown on the day. Bruce Moore paced Bucknell with 17 points.

Facts & Figures

Bucknell has shot the three better against its "high major" opponents this season. The Bison shot 35.2% (31-88) from the arc against Kentucky, Maryland, and Gonzaga, compared with 28.1% (61-217) in all other games.
Bucknell has been a much better second-half team this season. The Bison have scored 100 more points in the second halves of games (441) than in the first halves (341).
The Bison lead the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 43.0% on the season.
Bucknell has played four overtime games this season, which are the most in all of Division I basketball. 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.
Noah Williamson against Richmond became the first Bison to block five shots in a game since Nana Foulland against Loyola in 2018.
Williamson's 81 free-throw attempts are 28th-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 76th out of 355 Division I teams in free-throw attempts per game with 22.2, and they rank 63rd in FT attempts per FG attempt (.390). 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 .632 that ranks 344th nationally.
Williamson has certainly been a catalyst for the Bison thus far. 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 eight losses, he is averaging 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and shooting 38.8%.
Bucknell is shooting 33.8% from 3-point range on the road but just 28.7% at home this season.

Who's Got Next?

The Bison travel to Lehigh on Jan. 2 for the Patriot League opener.
The first PL home game will be on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. against Colgate. That 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.
Also of note, 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.

Men's Basketball Closes Out Non-League Slate Saturday at Syracuse

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Bascoe

Brandon McCreesh

Brady Muller

Jayden Williams

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Closes Out Non-League Slate Saturday at Syracuse

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Bascoe

Brandon McCreesh

Brady Muller

Jayden Williams

Noah Williamson

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