WASHINGTON - MARCH 17: The Bucknell Bison react to their loss to the Connecticut Huskies during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at the Verizon Center on March 17, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
The No. 1 Syracuse Orange host the Bucknell Bison in the Carrier Dome tonight in the next-to-last non conference game of the season.
The Bison enter the game with a record of 7-4. The only previous game against a ranked team was an 80-68 loss to then-No. 18 Vanderbilt. They also lost to Minnesota in the season-opener. All of their wins come over mediocre opponents and, in the case of Binghamton, not very good ones.
Bucknell likes to spread the wealth around. Four Bisons are averaging double figures, including Cameron Ayers (13.2 PPG), Mike Muscala(13.0), Joe Willman (11.0) and Bryson Johnson (10.3). Muscala was the 2010-11 Patriot League Player of the Year while Ayers made the Patriot League All-Rookie Team.
Bryson Johnson, who averages 10.3 PPG, is the team's biggest three-point threat. He usually attempts 6 or 7 threes a game, which means he'll probably take about fifteen against us.
Head coach Dave Paulsen is in his fourth year and he's coming off his best, in which he led the Bisons to 25-wins, a Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Syracuse owns an 8-1 series lead over Bucknell, though that loss is fairly recent. The Bisons defeated Syracuse 74-69 in 2005 in the Carrier Dome. Incidentally, that was also the last time Bucknell beat a Top 25 team. The series began in 1915 with a 35-20 SU win.
The game will be televised on ESPNU and starts at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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