Men's Basketball Returns Home Friday to Face Hofstra

GAME DIGEST
What: Hofstra (1-2) at Bucknell (2-1)
Where: Sojka Pavilion
When: Friday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Eagle 107 and BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
TICKETS
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison men's basketball squad is coming off its first loss of the campaign on Tuesday night at Princeton, and now a tough early season schedule continues on Friday at home against former conference rival Hofstra. It's a 7 p.m. tip at Sojka Pavilion, with coverage on ESPN+ and Eagle 107 radio.

After opening the campaign with good wins over Delaware and Mount St. Mary's, the Bison fell 73-63 at Princeton. Bucknell held the Tigers to 12 points in the paint, but the hosts hit 10 3-pointers and benefited from an 11-3 edge in second-chance points. This is Bucknell's lone home contest in a span of seven games. This tough early season run includes two Power Five opponents in Pittsburgh and St. John's; three traditionally strong mid-major programs in Mount St. Mary's, Princeton, and Hofstra; and two Mid-American Conference foes in Bowling Green and Buffalo at the Skechers Ft. Myers Tip-Off.

While Bucknell is now 2-1 on the season, the Pride are 1-2 after a 95-61 home win over Molloy on Monday. Hofstra opened the season with two close losses to quality opponents in UCF and Iona. Friday's matchup features two coaches who were former star players at their schools. Bucknell's John Griffin III and Hofstra's Speedy Claxton are two of the 51 Division I head coaches who are now piloting their alma maters. Griffin (1,084) and Claxton (2,015) combined to score 3,099 points in their collegiate careers, and both were part of teams that won conference championships.

Speaking of coaches, Bucknell and Hofstra have a common bond with Hall-of-Fame coach Jay Wright. A 1983 Bucknell graduate, Wright's first head coaching job came at Hofstra from 1994-2001, where Claxton was one of his star players. Wright moved on to Villanova in 2001 and led the Wildcats to two national championships.

Freshman center Amon Dörries had an impressive opening week, and he has been the team's leading scorer in all three games so far. In the win over Delaware, the 6'11" center from Germany made his first seven field-goal attempts and finished with 20 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes. The 20 points were tied for second-most in team history by a freshman on opening night. Last Friday at Mount St. Mary's, he tallied 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting, and in a critical time in the second half he scored five straight points after the Mount had sliced a 10-point deficit down to one.

Dörries and Jayden Williams were both honored by the Patriot League on Monday. Williams was named PL Player of the Week after tallying 25 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and only two turnovers in the two Bison wins. Dörries was selected as the PL Rookie of the Week. He is the first Bucknell player to win the rookie nod since Deuce Turner on Feb. 2, 2021.

Bucknell's guards have done an excellent job taking care of the ball thus far. Primary ball-handlers Williams (3), Brandon McCreesh (0), Pat Curtin (0), and Quin Berger (0) have combined for only three turnovers in 241 minutes through three games. Williams ranks first in the Patriot League and 66th nationally with a 5.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Senior Ruot Bijiek, who played in his 100th career game last Friday at Mount St. Mary's, is off to a strong start with 38 points and a team-high 17 rebounds. Bijiek is 6-for-15 (.400) from 3-point range and 10-for-10 from the foul line. He also led the team in scoring with 15 points in the exhibition game at Louisville. Curtin has come out firing to start his career. The guard has attempted 27 shots in 43 minutes so far, and he has 24 points to show for it. He hit double figures for the first time with 10 at Mount St. Mary's. Curtin also ranks among the league leaders in steals with five.

Hofstra went 15-18 overall and 6-12 in the Coastal Athletic Association last season. The Pride fell 65-60 to Monmouth in the second round of the CAA Tournament. Six players have returned from last year's squad, including leading scorer Cruz Davis (14.4 ppg). The junior guard was a MAAC All-Rookie selection at Iona in 2022-23, and then he was limited to four games due to injury the following season at Iona. After transferring to Hofstra last year, he was an Honorable Mention All-Met selection after leading the Pride in points and assists.

Davis is off to a strong start this year, averaging 18.0 ppg through three games. That includes a 24-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist effort against Molloy on Monday. Four other Hofstra players are also scoring in double figures: Preston Edmead (15.3), Victory Onuetu (10.3), Biggie Patterson (10.0), and German Plotnikov (10.0). The Bison have not played Hofstra since the 2021-22 season, but they have some familiarity with a couple of their players. Josh Reaves played at Mount St. Mary's in 2023-24 before transferring to UIC and then to Hofstra. Reaves scored 14 points for the Mount against Bucknell in a preseason charity exhibition game. AJ Wills started his career at Patriot League rival Holy Cross before moving on to Wyoming and then to Hofstra. Wills was injured and did not play in either game against the Bison in 2023-24.

The former East Coast Conference rivals rekindled their series in 2019-20 after a long hiatus, and now the two teams are set to meet for the third time in the last six seasons. Hofstra won the last matchup 88-69 in Hempstead in 2021-22, behind 24 points from Aaron Estrada. Andrew Funk had a huge game with 28 points, and Josh Adoh added a career-high 15 for the Bison. Hofstra started the game 1-for-13 from the 3-point arc but went 12-for-19 after that.

The most recent matchup in Lewisburg came in 2019-20, and the Bison won that one 86-71 thanks to some terrific 3-point shooting. The Bison went 15-for-28 from the arc, including 11-for-16 in the second half. Bucknell and Hofstra kicked off their series with three straight meetings from 1955-57, and then throughout the 1970s and 80s they were rivals in the East Coast Conference. They met five times in the ECC Tournament, with Bucknell winning three of those. One of Bucknell's most memorable wins was an 89-84 overtime verdict in the 1989 ECC semifinals. The Bison followed with a win over Lafayette to get to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. The two teams also met in the final ECC Tournament in 1990, with the Bison winning 72-67 in the quarterfinal round. Bucknell leads the all-time series 20-11, including an 11-2 mark at home. The Bison have beaten the Pride nine straight times in Lewisburg, although the first eight of those came in Davis Gym.

Next on the schedule, Bucknell travels to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers on Monday night. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Jan. 2, 2005, when the Bison upset the seventh-ranked Panthers 69-66. That remains the highest-ranked team Bucknell has ever beaten.

Men's Basketball Returns Home Friday to Face Hofstra

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Players Mentioned

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Pat Curtin

Brandon McCreesh

Jayden Williams