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LEWISBURG -- Bucknell coach Nathan Davis has announced a 13-game non-conference men's basketball schedule that includes five home games, three contests against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams and a Thanksgiving-week trip to the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Fla.
"We are excited to have five home games in pre-conference play, and having the first two games at home will give our great fans an early look at the team," said Davis. "It's a challenging schedule with a mix of some familiar opponents and some that we have not seen. As always, we look to build a non-league schedule that will present us with a variety of styles as we prepare for Patriot League play."
The 2022-23 season tips off on Monday, Nov. 7 at home against Lebanon Valley. The Nov. 7 date equals the earliest lidlifter in team history. The Bison opened the 2018-19 season with an overtime win at St. Bonaventure on that date. Bucknell will be taking on Lebanon Valley, a strong in-state Division III program, for the first time since 1986-87.
Five days later, Niagara makes its first visit to Sojka Pavilion since Dec. 22, 2004, when Charles Lee beat the buzzer to give the Bison a two-point victory in the midst of a season-turning 11-game winning streak.
Bucknell will also have non-conference home games against Marist on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 26), Saint Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 30, and Merrimack on Dec. 18.
Bucknell's first road test of the season comes on Nov. 15 at St. Peter's in Jersey City, N.J. The Peacocks are fresh off a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight last March. After defeating Monmouth to capture the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association championship, St. Peter's stunned Kentucky, Murray State, and Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. This will be just the second all-time meeting between the Bison and Peacocks, with the other a 92-75 Bucknell win all the way back in 1972-73 at the Hatter Tournament in DeLand, Fla.
Bucknell's final two non-league contests will also come against reigning NCAA Tournament squads, as the Bison visit Richmond on Dec. 21 and Rutgers on Dec. 23. Richmond edged Davidson 64-62 in the 2022 Atlantic 10 championship game, then the 12th-seeded Spiders defeated Iowa 67-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers earned a No. 11 seed after finishing 12-8 in the grueling Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights were sent to Dayton to play an opening-round NCAA Tournament game, and they fell to Notre Dame 89-87 in double overtime in one of the most dramatic games of the entire tournament.
The Bison will start their Thanksgiving holiday week at Georgia in a Sunshine Slam campus-site game. Bucknell and Georgia will be meeting for the first time since 1991, when the Bison were edged 93-90 in Athens.
The 2022 Sunshine Slam will be contested on Monday-Tuesday, Nov. 21-22 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach. The Bison will play in the Ocean Bracket along with Austin Peay, Presbyterian, and UAlbany. Georgia, Saint Joseph's, South Florida, and UAB will play in the Beach Bracket. There will be a pair of semifinal round games in each bracket on Monday and a championship and consolation game in each bracket on Tuesday. First-round pairings and game times will be announced at a later date.
Bucknell will kick off the month of December with a pair of road games against NJIT (Dec. 3) and La Salle (Dec. 6). The Bison and Highlanders have never before met in men's basketball, while the Bison will be looking to defeat the Explorers for the second year in a row after winning 82-70 at Sojka Pavilion last season.