OPENING TIP
* Lafayette eyes its first Patriot League victory on Sunday afternoon when it returns to Kirby Sports Center for the league home opener against Bucknell. The Leopards let one slip away in the conference kickoff at Boston U. on Thursday, leading for more than 39 minutes in the 73-72 defeat, while Bucknell topped Army by a 67-65 score in its Patriot League debut in Lewisburg.
* The Leopards have been much more resilient this season than last, going without a loss in back-to-back games in 2019-20. Lafayette followed  up setbacks against St. Francis Brooklyn, Delaware and Rutgers with wins over Princeton, Penn and Sacred Heart, an improvement over its 5-13 record in contests following a loss a year ago. 

LAST TIME OUT
Lafayette led for more than 39 minutes on Thursday evening in Boston, but the final seconds didn't go its way in the Patriot League opener as Boston U.'s Jonas Harper hit the eventual game-winning three from the right wing with 13 seconds left to knock off the Leopards by a final of 73-72.

With less than a minute to play and Lafayette up, 69-68, a turnover led to a Walter Whyte bucket in transition to put the Terriers on top for the first time, 70-69. Senior Kyle Stout answered with a three on the other end to put the Maroon and White back in front, but Harper's counter proved to be the final blow. Sophomore Tyrone Perry got an off-balance chance at the win in the waning seconds, but his effort fell short and left as the buzzer sounded.

Senior Lukas Jarrett put together one of his better all-around games of the year with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists, a steal and no turnovers. Junior E.J. Stephens led the Leopards with 17 points on the night, while classmate Justin Jaworski and Stout added 15 and 14 points, respectively.

The Terriers won the battle on the glass in the second half by an eight-board margin, making a difference with 10 second-chance points and a 36-26 edge in points in the paint. Max Mahoney led all scorers with 20 points, missing just one shot from the field and adding nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double.

THE SKINNY ON THE BISON
Despite losing a pair of perennial all-league players in Nate Sestina and Kimbal Mackenzie, Bucknell continues to be a formidable foe, looking to improve to 2-0 in conference action on Sunday afternoon. The Bison, following a 4-9 non-league slate, took care of business in their league opener in Lewisburg on Thursday, dropping Army by a 67-65 score behind 22 points and nine rebounds from John Meeks. Bucknell is led by Nathan Davis in his fifth year at the helm, boasting a 94-54 record during his time in Lewisburg.

The Bison are as balanced as any team in the league this season with five different players averaging more than nine points per night. Jimmy Sotos paces the offense at 13.2 points per outing, while Avi Toomer, Meeks, Andrew Funk and Bruce Moore chip in with 12.5, 11.0, 10.4 and 9.4 points per game, respectively. Paul Newman, who starts most games with Meeks coming off the bench, leads the effort on the glass at 6.5 boards per contest. 

LAST MEETING
Lafayette didn't have an answer on Feb. 24, 2019, running into a hot-shooting Bucknell team on the road and falling by a 118-76 score in the last meeting between the two sides.

Kyle Stout was the lone bright spot for Lafayette on the day, tying a career-high with 17 points on 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, the only Leopard in double-figure scoring. Isaac Suffren added nine points and Alex Petrie added seven.

Bucknell just didn't miss much on the day, draining a school-record 21 threes on 36 attempts, a 58.3 percent conversion rate. The Bison shot 64.3 percent from the field overall and put six players in double-figure scoring, led by 21 from Andrew Funk.

FIREPOWER OFF THE BENCH
Lafayette treats its starters much differently than most programs in that the five that start are very unlikely to be the five counted on for a lion's share of the production. The Maroon and White are the only team in the Patriot League and one of just three teams in the nation (along with Detroit Mercy and Jacksonville State) with two of their top-three scorers coming off the bench as E.J. Stephens and Myles Cherry put up 11.3 and 10.6 points per game, respectively, with just one start between them in 2019-20. Stephens and Cherry are the only duo nationally to both average double-figure scoring without starting.

While senior Kyle Stout gets the start over Stephens, Stephens averages 5.2 more minutes, and the same goes for Cherry, who averages almost 18 more minutes per outing than freshman Neal Quinn, who has started each of the last two games. 

REVERSING THE TREND
With an 85-70 victory over Loyola in the 2018-19 Patriot League home opener, the Leopards snapped a streak of five straight defeats when conference play comes to Kirby Sports Center. All-time, Lafayette carries a mark of 14-15 in home openers of Patriot League play.