Jan. 20, 2009
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Game Notes 
GAME 18 • JANUARY 21, 2009
Matchup: Lafayette (6-11, 2-1) at Bucknell (3-14, 0-3)
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lewisburg, Pa.
Arena: Sojka Pavilion (4,000)
Television: None
Radio: WSAN-AM Fox 1470
Dick Hammer (Play-By-Play), Phil LaBella (Color Analyst)
Internet:
THE MATCHUP: Lafayette heads to Lewisburg, Pa., for a 7 p.m. tipoff against Bucknell. The Leopards are coming off a thrilling victory over then-league leader Navy this weekend while Bucknell dropped to 0-3 in Patriot League play for the first time in the program's history.
LAST TIME OUT: Lafayette downed Navy in an 84-69 victory on Saturday, handing the then-conference leader its first league loss.
Free throws proved to be the game-changer. Lafayette sank 27-of-30 (90 percent) while Navy hit 16-of-25 (64 percent).
Senior Andrew Brown led the Leopards with 23 points, and Jared Mintz recorded the first double-double of his career with a career-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris led Navy with 16 points each.
SINKING THE MIDS: Lafayette's win over Navy snapped a five-game winning streak for the Midshipmen and gave them their first league loss in three games. Lafayette became the first team in the last 26 games to shoot better than 50.0 percent against Navy.
TOP OF THEIR GAME: The Leopards played some of their best basketball against Navy (1/17). Lafayette's 84 points was the most points scored in a game this season. The Leopards also produced season-best outings from the field (54.2 percent; 26-of-48) and the free throw line (27-of-30, 90 percent). The 15-point spread was the team's largest margin of victory for the season.
Lafayette shined on defense as well, limiting Navy to six assists and 28 rebounds, both season lows for Leopard opponents.
CAREER DAY: Jared Mintz's career day against Navy culminated in Lafayette's second double-double of the year. Mintz recorded career highs in both points (17) and rebounds (10). He joins Ryan Willen as the only other player to achieve the feat in a game this season.
LEOPARD LEADERSHIP: Senior guard Andrew Brown and junior guard Jeff Kari are serving as the team captains. Brown is the lone member of the class of 2009 and is the team's leading scorer (14.8 ppg). He has played in 104 games in his career. Kari played in 30 games in his first season on College Hill after transferring from East Carolina and is one of the most improved players in the league. After averaging 4.0 ppg and 1.7 rpg in 2007-08, he is now averaging 11.8 ppg and 4.0 rpg.
BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE: The Leopards have been solid from the free throw line as of late. In its last five games, Lafayette has hit an average of 85.4 percent from the line in 110 attempts.
Senior Andrew Brown is the team's most consistent free throw shooter at 83.8 percent, and freshman Ryan Willen is right behind him at 83.7 percent. Lafayette is shooting a Patriot League best 75.7 percent (261-of-45), ranking 13th in the nation, from the charity stripe this season.
LIGHTING UP THE LINE: Five different Leopards sank every free throw they attempted against Navy on Saturday. Jeff Kari led the team with a season best 8-of-8 production, followed by Jared Mintz (7-of-7), Andrew Brown (4-of-4), Michael Gruner (3-of-3) and Deirunas Visockas (2-of-2). Both Mintz and Brown are riding a 13-of-13 streak from the charity stripe. Mintz has hit 13 consecutive over the past two games while Brown's streak dates back to Mount St. Mary's (1/2).
The best streak so far this season belongs to freshman Ryan Willen, who converted16-of-16 between Dec. 17 and Jan. 10.
DID YOU KNOW?: With its 15-point victory against Navy, Lafayette earned its first victory of the season in games decided between 11-20 points. The Leopards were previously 0-6 in such games.
BEAST ON THE BOARDS: Freshman forward Ryan Willen has consistently led the team in rebounding this season despite earning his first starting nod on Jan. 10. He averages 4.4 boards per game and is the first freshman since the 1995-96 season to lead the Leopards in rebounding. That year, Stefan Ciosici '00 brought down 7.6 rpg.
FROM DOWNTOWN: After sinking 44 treys this season, Andrew Brown now has 263 three-pointers to his name and needs nine more to break the career record held by Tyson Whitfield '01. He needs two more treys to move into the top five career three-point shooting leaders in Patriot League history. Lehigh's Matt Logie '03 owns the No. 5 spot on the list with 265.
Brown's hot hand from behind the arc last year helped him cement his name in the Lafayette record books. Brown owns the school record for most three-pointers in a game (nine), most three-point field goal attempts in a season (247) and most treys made in a season (99).
NEXT UP: The Leopards return home on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tipoff against archrival Lehigh before heading out on a three-game road trip beginning at Army on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m.
MIXING IT UP: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon swapped the starting five for the second consecutive game vs. Colgate, using his fifth lineup of the season with Andrew Brown, Ben Wheeler and Jeff Kari at guard and Ryan Willen and Jared Mintz at forward. He stuck with the quintet for the win over Navy.
CHIPPING IN: All 12 Lafayette players that recorded minutes against Colgate (1/14) scored in the game. The last time every player scored in one game was on Feb. 16, 2008, when Lafayette lost to Navy, 82-80 in Annapolis, Md.
FIELD DAY: On Jan. 14, the Leopards pulled out their first win in games when the opponent shoots a better field goal percentage after an 0-9 drought. Colgate sank 44.2 percent from the field while Lafayette hit 40.8 percent. So what accounts for the win? The Leopards outrebounded the Raiders (37 to 33), swiped more steals (10 to six), converted more from the free throw line (82.8 percent to 52.0 percent) and swatted more shots (four to one).
IN WINS AND LOSSES: In their six wins, the Leopards have held opponents to 40.6 percent from the field. In losses, however, Lafayette allows opponents to hit 49.8 percent from the floor.
BLOCK PARTY: Stay out of Marek Koltun's way. The junior center has 16 blocks on the season, surpassing his career total from his previous two seasons combined. With 29 stuffs to his name, he needs one more rejection to break into Lafayette's top 25 leading blockers in records dating back to 1977-78.
VISOCKAS RETURNS: Sophomore Deirunas Visockas, who underwent knee surgery in the off season, saw his first minutes of the season against Penn on Jan. 6. He grabbed two boards and attempted one shot in nine minutes of playing time. He scored his first points the following game, with five points in 12 minutes at Holy Cross on Jan. 10. Visockas averages 2.8 ppg and 1.5 rpg in four games off the bench.
1,200 CLUB: When senior Andrew Brown sank a free throw with 14 seconds remaining against Towson to secure a 70-63 win, the guard tallied his 1,200th career point. As a result, Brown became the 18th player in school history to achieve the feat and has since upped that total to 1,283.
The most recent player to score at least 1,200 points in his career was Bilal Abdullah '08, who finished with 1,253 to rank as the 13th leading scorer in program history.
In a related note, Lafayette's win over Princeton on Dec. 30 was the program's 1200th in 99 seasons.
ON THE SIDELINE: The all-time winningest coach in Lafayette history and the longest tenured coach in the Patriot League, Fran O'Hanlon (Villanova, '70) is in his 14th season as the Leopards' head coach. A two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year recipient, O'Hanlon has twice led Lafayette's program to the NCAA Tournament and lays claim to three Patriot League regular-season titles among his credentials.
With a 75-71 double-overtime victory over Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2007, O'Hanlon became the winningest coach in Lafayette history and now holds an all-time record of 192-199 on College Hill.
O'Hanlon's overall record does not necessarily tell an accurate story of the job he has done at Lafayette. The Philadelphia native inherited a 2-25 team when he took over in 1995-96 and won 7, 11, 19, 22 and 24 games over the next five seasons. From 1997-2000, Lafayette was 65-24 overall and 31-5 in the conference with two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1996, the Patriot League, which was originally founded based on the principle of need-based financial aid only, began allowing athletic scholarships. However, it was not until 2006 that Lafayette chose to do so. By no coincidence during that span, Lafayette posted a 79-91 mark and was 38-44 in the league.
AT THE HALF: The Leopards entered halftime with a 23-21 lead over Princeton on Dec. 30. The combined 44 points were the fewest at halftime of Lafayette's 17 games this season and the fewest since Jan. 13, 2007. On that date, Navy headed into the locker room with a 28-16 lead over the Leopards. The Leopards have lost just one game this season (6-1) when leading at the half, falling to Rider after leading 41-30 at halftime.
LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: The Leopards have 15 games televised at home. Fourteen telecasts will be produced by the Lafayette Sports Network (LSN). The Leopards garnered national exposure on ESPNU when they visited Penn State on Dec. 21 and will again when they travel to Lehigh in late February. Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of LSN's play-by-play duties for the 12th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season and will be joined by Dan Mowdy on the sidelines.
WELCOME TO COLLEGE: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon hasn't been afraid to use the seven members of his freshman class this season. Ryan Willen has played in all 17 games with three starts, Nick Petkovich 16, Alex Orchowski and Jim Mower 14, while Andy Moore, J.D. Pelham and Rob Delaney (with one start) clocked nine apiece.
Willen continues to lead the team in rebounding with 4.4 per game while also contributing 8.4 ppg in 21.3 minutes per game. Willen's clutch free throw shooting helped secure Lafayette's win at Wagner. In the last four minutes, the Seahawks went on an 8-3 run, closing in on Lafayette's lead 70-67, before fouling Willen with 11.4 seconds remaining. The rookie sank both free throws, making it a two-possession game. Willen finished with seven points and three rebounds.
The rookie has maintained his cool into league play. Against Navy, Lafayette built a 12-point lead early in the second half before the Mids attempted a comeback. Kaleo Kina drove for a layup at 7:28, diminishing the Leopards' advantage to one point, but Willen came up with a big three on the next possession to stop the momentum and Lafayette went on to an 84-69 win.
ABOUT LAFAYETTE COLLEGE: Located in Easton, Pa. (70 miles west of New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia) on the banks of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, Lafayette is a small liberal arts school with a renowned engineering program. Lafayette, which has 23 Division I sports with a student body of 2,382 undergraduates, competes in the Patriot League with Army, Navy, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Colgate, American and Lehigh. Lafayette is the alma mater of Pete Carril and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon.
THRIVING WITH THIRTY: Andrew Brown's 30-point production against Robert Morris was the fourth such game of his career. Brown first drained 30 points as a sophomore on Jan. 20, 2007, at archrival Lehigh. He accomplished the feat twice as a junior, scoring 32 at Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 21, 2007, before notching his career high against Army (34 points) on Jan 30, 2008.
WELCOME BACK, GRUNER: Since returning from his six-game layoff due to injury, junior guard Michael Gruner is back to his old self. He averages 7.5 points and 2.8 rpg and recently posted a career-high 15 points against Princeton on Dec. 30. Gruner, who sat out six games from Nov. 18 to Dec. 4 with a thigh contusion, returned to the court with a five-minute stint at Fordham on Dec. 8.
Gruner was a mainstay in the starting lineup in 2007-08 and proved to be Lafayette's steadiest ballhandler, dishing out 72 assists to 46 turnovers for a 1.6 assist/turnover ratio. Gruner is a Marquis Scholar, the most prestigious academic scholarship awarded to Lafayette students.
BEHIND THE ARC: Lafayette is averaging 8.1 three-pointers per game, good enough to place the Leopards 31st in the nation through games of Jan 18. In 2007-08 Lafayette ranked fifth in the nation with 10.0 three-pointers made per game. Individually this season, Andrew Brown leads the team with 44 three-pointers (2.6 per game) and made a season-high seven vs. Robert Morris on Dec. 17.
PRESEASON ALL-PATRIOT FOR BROWN: Senior guard Andrew Brown was selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team in late October. Brown was an All-Patriot League Second-Team pick at the end of the 2007-08 season after leading the Leopards in scoring 14 times and averaging a team-best 15.9 ppg. He also led the team in assists (85).
KEEP IT UP, KARI: Junior guard Jeff Kari never seems satisfied with his career highs. He has either set or tied his career high in points in five games this season. He set his career high with 15 points in the season opener at Wagner. He reset his career high against Stony Brook with 16 points, and again hit for 16 points against Temple. He then bested that mark with a 21-point performance against Rider.
Kari isn't just a scoring threat. He tied his career high in assists (seven) against Hartford and grabbed a career high in rebounds (nine) against Rider. In the Rider and Temple games, he led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
Kari averages 11.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game and is second on the team in both categories.
MOVING UP THE SCORING CHARTS: Brown is climbing the all-time career scoring list. This season his 252 points have catapulted him from 35th to 13th among career scoring leaders, and he now has 1,283 career points. He recently surpassed Bilal Abdullah '08 (1,253 pts.) and needs 34 points to catch Bruce Stankavage '91 (1,317) in 12th place.
ASCENDING THE ASSISTS LIST: Brown is also moving up the career assists list. With three assists against Navy, Brown increased his total to 61 for the season and 321 for his career, passing Brian Burke '02 (308) and claiming seventh place. He needs 48 more to tie Bob Falconiero '80 (372) for the sixth spot on the list.
LOTS OF THREE BALLS AT HARTFORD (12/4): Lafayette made a season-high 15 three-pointers at Hartford on Dec. 4. It was the first time since Jan. 2, 2008 at Pittsburgh when they made 15 or more. Those 17 treys at Pitt were the most allowed by a Panther opponent in the program's history.
In a related note, Lafayette's 21 assists at Hartford also marked the first time the team dished out 20+ assists since it recorded 21 assists against Army on Jan. 30, 2008.
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?: Andrew Brown can distribute the ball. The Littleton, Colo. native led the team in assists his first three years on College Hill. Brown dished out 94 assists (3.1 apg) as a sophomore and started 27 of 30 games. He had 84 assists as a freshman, starting all but three games, and was the first freshman during the Fran O'Hanlon era to lead the team in assists. Brown finished his junior year with a team-high 85 assists in 30 games (2.8 apg), despite taking a more active scoring role. This season, Brown has 61 assists through 17 games (3.6 apg).
Brown can shoot the ball too. He averaged 9.3 ppg as a freshman when he hit 51 three-pointers and followed that by scoring 10.4 ppg while netting 69 three-pointers in his second season on College Hill. In 2007-08, Brown led the Leopards in scoring 14 times and has continued that trend eight times this season, averaging 14.8 ppg.
Brown is stellar from the line. In his sophomore year, he shot 91 percent from the charity stripe, connecting on 42-of-46 attempts. Last season, Brown went to the line 82 times and hit for 83 percent. He reached the line a career-high 10 times in the season opener, connecting on eight, and is shooting 83.8 percent this season in 74 attempts.
Brown makes big shots. Last year at Stony Brook, Brown went 7-for-8 at the line with five of those makes coming in overtime. Brown was responsible for the tying baskets that sent the Stony Brook and UMBC games to overtime. At Mount St. Mary's, Brown's ninth three-pointer of the game came in overtime and gave Lafayette a 76-72 win. With 48 seconds left in overtime at Navy, a Brown three claimed the lead for the Leopards (97-94) before they went on to win it 103-99.
SEEING DOUBLE: Freshman Ryan Willen seems to be adjusting to college just fine. The Cape Girardeau, Mo. native posted a double-double against Stony Brook (11/18), tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds. It was the first double-double performance since Feb. 23, 2008, when Bilal Abdullah '08 tallied 19 points and 13 rebounds against Lehigh. Willen's performance was the first double-double by a freshman since Abdullah achieved the feat on Jan. 13, 2005, posting 21 points and 10 rebounds. Two games later against Rider, he nearly tallied another double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
LOOKING BACK: The last time Lafayette started off the season with a 2-0 record was in 1998-99. In that season, the Leopards defeated Dartmouth, 56-41, and Princeton, 63-47. Lafayette went on to earn a 22-8 record, including a 10-2 record in the Patriot League, and secured a berth to the NCAA Tournament after winning its first Patriot League championship (against Bucknell). Even more impressive, Lafayette achieved all that success despite losing the preseason Player of the Year Stefan Ciosici for the entire season and the 1997-98 Rookie of the Year Tyson Whitfield for seven games in the middle of the conference schedule.
THE PRESEASON POLL: Lafayette was picked eighth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll voted on by the conference head coaches and sports information directors. Defending champion American was selected to repeat followed by Lehigh, Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell, Navy and Army.
IN THE RANKS: Seven of Lafayette's non-conference opponents were picked to finish within the top five of their respective leagues in the pre-season polls. At No. 1, Mount St. Mary's is the highest ranked non-conference opponent the Leopards will face. Lafayette will tip off against five opponents from the Northeast Conference -- the most of any one conference on the Leopards' schedule.
D.C. DANDIES: Though players from 11 states and three countries are represented on Lafayette's roster, the Leopards do have a preference for the D.C. area. Prior to arriving on College Hill, three of Lafayette's guards attended schools within 25 miles of the nation's capital. Michael Gruner shined at Walt Whitman High School, where he led his team to a state championship. Sophomore Ben Wheeler played at Chantilly where he garnered first team all-district and second team all-region accolades his senior year. Freshman Nick Petkovich is the most recent addition from the D.C. area, an All-IAC Conference First-Team selection from Bullis Prep.
WORKING OVERTIME IN 2007-08: The Leopards set an NCAA single-season record with five overtime wins on the road (at Navy -- 103-99 on Jan. 19, at Colgate 69-68 on Jan. 16, at Princeton -- 76-71 on Jan. 9, at Towson -- 79-69 on Dec. 19 and at Stony Brook -- 78-67 on Nov. 12) in 2007-08. The lone win at home in overtime came Nov. 20 vs. UMBC (87-84) to give the team a total of six overtime victories and tie the NCAA team record for overtime victories in a season. Wake Forest (6-1 in 1988-89) and Chattanooga (6-0 in 1983-84) share the mark. Fran O'Hanlon is 16-10 in overtime.
BASKETBALL IQ: Lafayette placed a program-best five student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during the 2007-08 season. The distinction recognizes those who have earned a varsity letter and maintained a 3.2 GPA during the spring semester. Junior Michael Gruner and sophomores Deirunas Visockas and Ben Wheeler along with graduated players Matt Betley and Paul Cummins earned the nod.
ON THE RADIO: The entire 2008-09 Lafayette men's basketball season will air on WSAN-AM 1470 "The Fox." Entering his 42nd season as the radio voice of Lafayette athletics, Dick Hammer will continue to call the play-by-play action. Joining Hammer courtside will be Lafayette Sports Information Director Phil LaBella.
