Bucknell battles Lafayette in the championship of the Patriot Tournament at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday. The game gets underway at 7:30 p.m. EST and it can be seen on CBSSN. The Bison lost to the Leopards 63-62 on Feb. 16 and are 9-3 against them over the last four years.

The 21 points and 14 rebounds by Mike Muscala helped the Bison to a 78-70 victory over Army on Mar. 9. A stat-sheet stuffer, he leads the team with 19.0 points per game, 11.2 rebounds per game, and 2.5 blocks per game. For the Leopards, Tony Johnson finished with 24 points and eight rebounds in the 82-69 win over Lehigh on Mar. 9. With 4.8 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game, he has team-best marks in both categories.

Bucknell has a statistical advantage over Lafayette in one significant category, rebounding, where the Bison have an edge over the Leopards, 36.2 per game to 29.7 per game. A key area of strength for Lafayette is effective field goal percentage at 53.5, which ranks first in their conference (and 28th nationally).

Lafayette StatSmack

  • The Bucknell scoring leader (Mike Muscala, 608 points) has more points than the Lafayette scoring leader (Seth Hinrichs, 486 points).
  • Bucknell allows fewer rebounds (30.2 allowed per game vs. 33.7 allowed per game) than Lafayette this season.
  • Bucknell has an average margin of victory of 12 over Lafayette in 50 wins since 1980.
  • Bucknell has a better record on the road than Lafayette this season (12-4 vs. 5-11).
  • The Bucknell rebounding leader (Mike Muscala, 357 rebounds) has more rebounds than the Lafayette rebounding leader (Seth Hinrichs, 163 rebounds).
  • Bucknell is better at defending the three (31.1 percent allowed vs. 36.4 percent allowed) than Lafayette this season.
  • Bucknell has a much better NCSA Athletic Ranking than Lafayette (No. 117 vs. No. 283).
  • Bucknell is bigger. The average weight of the top 8 players on Bucknell is 206 lbs compared to 196 lbs for Lafayette.
  • Bucknell has a much better overall winning percentage over the last 10 years (61.6 percent to 44.4 percent).
  • Bucknell has a better scoring defense (59.4 allowed per game vs. 69.2 allowed per game) than Lafayette this season.
  • Even computers respect Bucknell more. Bucknell has a better RPI this season than Lafayette (RPI: No. 55 vs. No. 153).