WORCESTER, Mass. – A few days earlier, Lehigh scored a big win at Bucknell minus one of the nation’s best players. It’s easy to come away from that feeling like the Mountain Hawks are the Patriot League favorite at this point, as winning at Bucknell is tough enough with a full squad. It’s still early, however, and the early signs are that Bucknell is responding the way they need to, including Saturday’s hard-fought 65-58 win at Holy Cross.
“I think they responded the way you would want a championship-caliber team to respond,” said head coach Dave Paulsen.
Bucknell does not go down easily, as one would expect. Their three losses have been by a combined eight points and all have been one-possession affairs. This has come against a top 40 schedule. They’re an experienced team, led by their big three of seniors Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson and Joe Willman, and collectively they’ve been through growing pains, a championship, and tough losses among other things.
So while no one will count them out yet by a long shot, knowing that league play is not even at the halfway point, there’s every reason to think Bucknell is every bit the contender Lehigh is. There’s also plenty of reason to think it will come down to those two schools once again.
“We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of minutes and have been in a lot of good games,” said Johnson. “We know that a regular season loss isn’t the end of the world, but at the same time you’ve got to recognize it, know what you did wrong and adjust.”
Bucknell’s big three are a great study in player development over their careers. They haven’t rested on their laurels after making a splash as freshmen in the first college games, with Muscala earning Patriot League Player of the Year honors as a sophomore and becoming an even more skilled post player, Willman earning postseason honors for the first time last year and Johnson improving every aspect of his game aside from shooting, his forte.
Johnson tied the program record for three-pointers on Saturday but had a bigger role in sealing the game at the foul line as he was 8-9 from the charity stripe en route to 16 points. He knew that shooters can’t afford to be one-dimensional with the way defenses will play him, so he adjusted by working harder to get open and contributing in other ways. His assist/turnover numbers have improved every year, while he remains a career 40 percent shooter from deep, and he’s become a good defender.
“He’s become a complete player,” said Paulsen. “He played terrific defense tonight, he just really did a great job. Teams are staying really, really tight on him, and that can be frustrating. He’s just been willing and able to do other things to help this team win.”
Added Muscala: “He’s a very much improved defender. Coach always give him a hard time saying he’s a weak link out there, but I think he’s our best team defender. He’s always talking, and it’s really helpful to play with him when he’s getting through ball screens like that and always helping me out.”
Willman is probably the least known of the three, but he’s vital to this team. By now he’s an expert at playing off Muscala and Johnson, and he’s always been a solid defender. He’s comparable to former Bison guard Bryan Cohen in that his contributions don’t always show up in the box score, he makes his mark on defense and does whatever it takes to win. On Saturday, he made a big contribution offensively as he scored 16 points on 7-9 shooting to go with six rebounds. Ten of those points came in the first half on 5-6 shooting, at a time when they couldn’t get as much going offensively as they wanted to.
“We need a guy like Joe, and he’s a guy that can step up, and he’s a guy that can blend in,” said Johnson. “He’s the perfect guy for our team right now. He’s the perfect complement to Mike.”
Then there is Muscala, whose 13 points and 11 rebounds look like just another day at the office. He got into some foul trouble, sitting for several minutes after picking up his fourth foul with 8:20 left. With Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum likely done for the rest of the regular season, Muscala is the odds-on favorite to win his second Patriot League Player of the Year award, but that wouldn’t speak to how Muscala has grown to be more skilled since arriving, has matured physically and adjusted to what defenses do to him. How many big men have a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio like he has?
In just about any other time, Muscala might be at least a three-time Player of the Year. He won it as a sophomore, but McCollum won it last year and might have been on his way to another one before his injury. Muscala has been a bit overshadowed by McCollum but will end his career as a Patriot League great.
“He works really hard, and I wouldn’t trade him for another big in the country,” said Johnson. “He’s the most skilled big I’ve seen. He has a lot of responsibility on our team, and there’s not one game where I’ve been disappointed with his play.”
While the big three undoubtedly lead the way and Cameron Ayers, who hit a big jumper to keep Holy Cross at a safe distance with about two minutes to go, is like a fourth member of the leaders, there is plenty of good help. Junior point guard Ryan Hill runs the show capably and sophomore Steven Kaspar has already made an impact right behind him. Kaspar came off the bench to hand out six assists with no turnovers on Saturday, and also helped with the defensive effort that limited Holy Cross’ Justin Burrell. Burrell had three assists with one turnover, but was 4-13 from the field. Freshman Dom Hoffman has promise in the frontcourt but also some growing to do, as does classmate Ryan Frazier in the backcourt.
Bucknell hangs its hat on defense, and they did that again on Saturday. They held Holy Cross to 34 percent from the field, including 31 percent in the second half when they held off a few rally attempts. Only five opponents have shot better than 40 percent against them on the season.
“That’s where we’re going to hang our hat,” said Paulsen. “It has an impact on our offense at times, as we’re not as fluid as maybe we’d like to be, but we’ll take that. It’s a long season, and you’ve got to grind out victories, and that’s what our guys did.”
Saturday’s game started a stretch where five of seven are on the road for the Bison. They were naturally not happy after the home loss to Lehigh on Wednesday night, but true to being a veteran team that has won before, they responded starting at practice the next day. That’s how they’ll set the stage not only for the rematch in a few weeks, but also a potential rematch in the league championship game down the road.
“Last year, we lost to Lehigh at home, then we came here and put up ten points in the first half and lost,” said Muscala. “To grind this one out, it wasn’t pretty, but to grind this one out means a lot and it shows the maturity of the team.”
