WASHINGTON – With the announcement of an expanded Patriot League Tournament earlier this week, crucial postseason seeding is on the line this weekend when American University men's basketball faces Bucknell for a home-and-home series.
 
QUICK INFO

• Date/Time: At Bucknell: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2 p.m. At AU: Sunday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m.
• Site: Lewisburg, Pa. (Sojka Pavilion) Washington, D.C. (Bender Arena)
• Series History: Bucknell leads, 44-24
• TV: ESPN+
• Talent: At Bucknell: Joe Vasile (pxp) At AU: Dan Laing (pxp) Jimmy Patsos (color) 

INSIDE THE SERIES

• Bucknell has won five straight matchups in Lewisburg with AU's last win in Sojka Pavilion coming on Jan. 2, 2014 (67-57).
• A season ago, American won the battle in Bender Arena on a Connor Nelson 3-pointer as time expired (61-60), but dropped the other two games to the Bison by a total of nine points.
• The first time these two programs met was on Jan. 14, 1939 in Lewisburg, Pa. The Eagles came out on top in that one, 38-33. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN

• Jamir Harris has been a bright spot for the Eagles offense since AU returned from its latest COVID shutdown. He ranks third in the PL in scoring at 20.6 points/game and leads the nation by making 4.0 three-pointers/game.
• Josh Alexander has stepped up in his first season as the starting big in Tenleytown. On Wednesday night against Loyola, he set a season-high with nine rebounds and matched his career-high with four blocks. He currently ranks third in the PL with 1.7 blocks/game.
• AU was at full strength for the first time this season with a 10-player rotation on Wednesday night. Johnny O'Neil and Stacy Beckton Jr. returned to action for the first time since January against the Greyhounds.
• American will have played five games in eight days after completing this weekend series versus the Bison. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BUCKNELL

• Bucknell has been out of action since Jan. 31 due to COVID protocols, a span of 28 days. Before their shutdown, the Bison had been on a roll, winning four straight games and three in a row by double-digits.
• John Meeks was key to the turnaround for Bucknell. He missed the Bison's first four games but returned for their next four games and earned two PL Player of the Week awards. The Third Team All-PL selection a year ago is averaging 24.5 points/game and 6.3 rebounds/game.
• Deuce Turner and Andre Screen have been impact freshmen for the Bison so far as both have been named PL Rookie of the Week already. Turner averages 8.4 points/game and shoots 86.2 percent from the charity stripe. Screen is a 7-footer from Alexandria, Va., who averages 7.6 points/game on 57.8 percent shooting from the field. He leads the team with 6.8 rebounds/game.

OTHER NOTABLES

• With the addition of Lorenzo Donadio (Rome, Italy) and Christian Lorng (Paris, France) to the roster this season, AU continues its legacy of international-born ballers as 11 different players from 10 different countries have now played for Coach Brennan. Most recently, Yilret Yiljep (Nigeria) and Mark Gasperini (Russia) carried the torch as international players. The legacy of international players continues all the way back to the Jeff Jones era as an international player has been an Eagle for at least 20 straight seasons.
• When play tipped off in the season-opener against Navy, the Eagles became the second-to-last NCAA D-I men's basketball program that hadn't officially opted out of competition to open its season. Loyola Maryland tipped off a few hours later at 4 p.m. and was the final program to open play. Both programs went on pause prior to the first scheduled weekend of play due to a positive COVID-19 test within its Tier 1 personnel.
• In his eighth season at AU, head coach Mike Brennan looks to make moves on the all-time wins list. He is four wins away from becoming the fifth AU skipper to reach 100 wins. Six more wins this season will put Brennan in fourth place on the all-time wins list.
• Senior guard Stacy Beckton Jr. is looking to make his mark on the AU Men's Basketball record book this season. He currently sits in 9th on the all-time blocks list at AU with 80 career swats. His 36 blocks in 2018-19 also put him on 9th place on the single-season list. The Third Team All-PL honoree and PL All-Defensive Team member has also improved offensively over the course of his career and looks to continue that momentum this season. He is currently 265 points away from becoming the 33rd member of the 1,000 point club at AU. 

POSTSEASON PLANS

• Teams in the conference are split into three mini-conferences: South (American, Loyola, Navy), Central (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh) and North (Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross). Teams will play multiple games within those mini-conferences with other games in the league serving as crossovers.
• As announced by the Patriot League on Thursday, Feb. 25, the tournament has expanded to once again include all programs who are able to participate.
• Each of the three mini-conference winners earns a spot into the tournament field and will host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (one through three) by their overall League record winning percentage.
• The fourth through 10^th seeds are determined by overall league winning percentages. The fourth seed will host a quarterfinal game on Saturday, March 6 and the seventh and eighth seeds will host a first-round game on Wednesday, March 3.
• Remaining tiebreaker criteria, if necessary, include: Head-to-head record, comparison of winning percentage vs. non-tied common opponents starting at the highest possible seed and continuing through the lowest seed, and finally a coin toss on Zoom.
• For more information, head to patriotleague.org
• AU could finish as low as 10th in the league, but also as high as 4th based on other results within the league. 

VIRTUALLY "PHIL BENDER" ARENA PRESENTED BY GEICO

• American University Athletics has announced a new virtual ticket campaign in an effort to sell out Bender Arena this coming basketball season. This new season-long initiative, presented by "TEAM AU" partner GEICO, will challenge Eagles fans and alumni to sell out each seat in Bender Arena for the 2020-21 basketball schedule. The "AU Founder" ticket price of $18.93 commemorates the year AU was founded. Click here to support AU Athletics by buying virtual tickets. 

HOW TO WATCH ESPN+

• A subscription to ESPN+ is available for purchase via ESPN.com, ESPNPlus.com, or the ESPN App. Fans can access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed. To subscribe, click here. It costs $5.99/month or $59.99/year.

KEEP UP WITH US

• For the latest on American University Men's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_MBasketball), Facebook (/AU.MBasketball) and Instagram (@au_mbasketball).