Bucknell (9-13, 5-4 Patriot League) at Navy (8-14, 5-4 Patriot League)
Saturday, Feb. 1 • 2 p.m.
Alumni Hall • Annapolis, Md.

Series History
Overall: Bucknell leads, 46-44 / Patriot League: Bucknell leads, 37-29
Last Game: Bucknell, 73-69 / Jan. 18, 2025 (Lewisburg, Pa.)
at Navy: Navy leads, 35-14 / Patriot League: Navy leads, 20-13
Last Game: Bucknell, 80-67 / Feb. 7, 2024

Broadcast Information
Video: ESPN+ / Matt Sabados, Mike Heary
Navy Radio: WNAV / Matt Sabados, Mike Heary

Five Starting Notes
1 – Bucknell's Noah Williamson ranks first in the Patriot League and is tied for 13th in the NCAA with 152 free throw attempts.  Navy's Austin Benigni is second in the league and T-26th nationally with 143 attempts.
2 – Benigni has scored 63 points in the last three Navy-Bucknell games and Williamson has scored 56.
3 – Navy's Aidan Kehoe ranks first in the Patriot League and is tied for 26th nationally with eight double-doubles.  Williamson ranks second in the league and is tied for 40th in the NCAA with seven.
4 – Navy leads the Patriot League with a defensive field goal percentage of 43.3%.  Bucknell ranks second at 43.8%.
5 – Navy has outrebounded its opponent in six-straight games.  The Mids are +62 in rebounds during this span (238-176).

Game Information
•    Navy plays host to Bucknell in a 2 p.m. game Saturday in Alumni Hall.
•    The game will be streamed through ESPN+ and WNAV will carry the game on the radio.
•    Matt Sabados and Mike Heary will be on the call for both broadcasts.
•    The game is sponsored by Luminis Health.

Attending the Game
•    Only those vehicles driven by someone with a Department of Defense (DoD)-approved identification card will be allowed onto the USNA.
•    Fans without DoD approved vehicle access to the USNA must park outside of The Yard.  The simplest way to do this is to park ($10 per vehicle) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (550 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Md., 21401).  Enter the blue / west parking lot through gate 5 off of Taylor Avenue.  The free fan shuttle bus will leave from and return to the Blue Angel jet.  Fan shuttle bus hours begin one hour before tip and ends one hour after the conclusion of the game.
•    Fans also can park downtown and walk through the gate one visitors center (52 King George St., Annapolis, MD, 21402) or gate eight.
•    Whether a visitor rides the shuttle bus or walks through one of the USNA gates, everyone ages 18 and over must have a valid picture ID (i.e.: State issued driver's license, student I.D., or a government issued passport). Visitors ages 17 and younger who do not have a valid picture ID must be accompanied by an adult. 

About Bucknell
•    Bucknell travels to Annapolis with an overall record of 9-13.  The Bison have recorded a 2-9 record in road games this season.  Those road losses include defeats at Kentucky, Maryland, Gonzaga and Syracuse.
•    Bucknell has tallied a 5-4 record in Patriot League games, which includes a 0-4 record in road games. Those four losses come by a total of 22 points: 2 (Lehigh), 10 (American), 7 (Colgate) and 3 (Boston U.).
•    Bucknell recorded a 79-67 victory at home over Loyola Wednesday night.

Series History
•    Navy and Bucknell first met on Jan. 31, 1920, when the Mids posted a 15-13 victory in Annapolis.
•    The Bison have won the last three games in the series to take a 47-44 advantage.  Navy holds a 35-14 lead in games played in Annapolis.
•    Bucknell leads Navy, 38-29, in Patriot League regular season games.  The Mids are in front of the Bison, 20-13, in league games played on The Yard.
•    Bucknell posted a 73-69 victory over the Mids earlier this season.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted an 18-13 record in games played on Feb. 1.  This includes a 4-5 record in Patriot League games.
•    Navy won the lone previous game against Bucknell played on Feb. 1 as it won a 69-59 decision in 1995.

Against Pennsylvania
•    Navy has totaled a 392-269 record in games played against opponents located in Pennsylvania.

A Look Back (Navy 79, Lehigh 54)
•    The game was tied at 15-15 when Navy took a 29-20 lead.  The Mids would go into halftime up 29-22.
•    Lehigh quickly closed to within 31-30 in the early stages of the second half.  Navy answered with an 11-0 run to take a 42-30 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
•    The Mids led by double figures the rest of the game.
•    Navy held a 38-21 lead on the glass on the night and shot 57% from the field after halftime.
•    Jordan Pennick was 5-7 from three-point range after halftime in scoring all 17 of his points after the break.  He also added a career-high 10 rebounds.

A Look Ahead 
•    Navy begins its third and final stretch of back-to-back road games of the league season Wednesday when the Mids play at Boston.

Benigni Scores 1,000th Point
•     Austin Benigni became the 27th Mid to score 1,000 career points during Navy's Jan. 18 game at Bucknell.
•    He reached the milestone in his 81st career game.  That ranks him 12th for the fewest games to score 1,000 points.
•    13 Mids who have played all four seasons during the program's Patriot League era have scored 1,000 points.
•    Ed DeChellis has now coached seven Navy players who have scored 1,000 career points.
•    The last to do so was John Carter Jr., on Jan. 22, 2022.
•    Benigni is in 26th place for the most career points by a Mid with 1,059.  Jack Conrad ranks 25th with 1,088.

Pennick on a Good Run
•    Jordan Pennick has scored in double figures in each of Navy's last three victories.
•    He has scored in double digits in four of Navy's five Patriot League wins this season.  Pennick scored nine points in Navy's league opening win against American.
•    Recently, he first totaled 13 points on 3-7 shooting from three-point range against Boston U.
•    Pennick then totaled a career-high 20 points in Navy's Jan. 26 game at Army.  He was 4-6 from three-point range and 5-8 from the floor in scoring 15 second-half points. 
•    He scored all 17 of his points in the second half Jan. 29 at Lehigh.  Pennick was 5-7 from three-point range and 6-8 from the floor in the second half.
•    He is averaging 16.6 points (50 total) and 5.3 rebounds a game (16) over the last three games.  Pennick is shooting 47.2 percent (17-36) from the floor and 48.1 percent (13-27) from three-point land in this span.
•    Navy as a team has been much more successful when Pennick scores in double figures (4-0) than when he doesn't (1-4).

The Flying Mids 
•    Navy is trying to play at a faster pace this season.
•    Using the adjusted tempo statistic (possessions per 40 minutes) on KenPom.com, the Mids are playing at their fastest pace during the Ed DeChellis-coached era (66.6 possessions a game, 207th in the NCAA).
•    Bucknell is averaging 67.2 possessions a game to rank 175th.

DeChellis Ranks Third at Navy for Career Wins
•    Navy's Jan. 2 win over American moved Ed DeChellis into third place for the most wins as a Navy head coach with 189.
•    He also is nearing the Navy record for the most games as a Navy head coach.  He has coached the Mids in 414 games and the record is 417 held by Ben Carnevale.

Navy Good Again on the Offensive Boards  
•    Navy has been very good over the last number of years at winning the offensive rebound margin.
•    The Mids ranked first in the Patriot League and 40th nationally during the 2023-24 season with an average of 12.45 offensive rebounds per game.
•    Navy stands first in the league and 115th nationally with an average of 11.64 offensive boards a game this year.
•    Aidan Kehoe (3.77 OR/G, 1st PL, 11th NCAA) and Donovan Draper (2.32 OR/G, 4th PL) rank among the league leaders in offensive rebounds.

Second-Chance Points 
•    Navy has regularly turned those second-chance opportunities into points. 
•    The Mids have scored at least 10 second-chance points in seven of the last eight games, have totaled 82 points in this span and are averaging 10.3 points per game.  Navy's foes have totaled 45 second-chance points (5.6 ppg) in this time.

Turnover Troubles 
•    Navy has had trouble with turnovers over the last number of games. 
•    The Mids have been on the wrong end of the turnover battle five times in the last seven games (includes one tie) and have scored fewer points after turnovers in six of the seven games.

Defensive Strength 
•    Navy has relied on its defense over the last three games.  The Mids have held Boston U., Army and Lehigh to field goal percentages lower than the marks with which they entered the game.
•    Navy ranks first in the Patriot League for defensive field goal percentage overall this year (.433) and in Patriot League games (.413).

Benigni's 10+ Point Scoring Streak
•    Austin Benigni saw his streak of games with scoring in double figures come to an end when he scored eight points in 18 minutes of playing time Nov. 25 against Washington (Md.).  
•    His run of 26 games is tied for fifth place for the longest streak of scoring in double figures in school history.
•    Benigni has scored in double figures in six-straight games and in 12 of the last 13 games.  The only outlier in this span was a nine-point game at Holy Cross.

At the FT Line – Austin Benigni / 2024-25 
•    Benigni ranks first in the Patriot League and sixth in the NCAA for free throws made (124).
•    He ranks second in the league and 26th nationally in free throws attempted (143). 
•    He also ranks second in the league and 58th nationally with a free throw percentage of 86.7 percent.
•    Benigni ranks third at Navy during the Patriot League era (1991-92 to present) and 20th in program history for the highest career free throw attempts per game average with 405 attempts in 84 games (4.82 fta/g).

Kehoe's Double-Double Run 
•    Aidan Kehoe saw his streak of double-doubles end at five when he registered six points and 11 rebounds Jan. 15 against Colgate.
•    The last Mid to have as many as five-straight double-doubles was David Robinson, who had 15 in a row (last 12 games of 1985-86, first 3 games of 1986-87).
•    Kehoe ranks first in the Patriot League and is tied for 26th in the NCAA with eight double-doubles this year.
•    He has missed a double-double by one rebound in three additional games.
•    Kehoe is one double-double away from trying the Navy record for the most by a Mid in a single Patriot League regular season. He has recorded six double-doubles in league games and Hassan Booker did so in seven games in the 12-game 1997-98 season.

Kehoe on the Offensive Glass
•    Navy has scored on 28 of the 43 possessions (65.1%) in which Aidan Kehoe has grabbed an offensive rebound since the start of the 2025 Patriot League season.

Kehoe Lately 
•    Aidan Kehoe moved into the regular rotation during Navy's Feb. 21, 2024, game at Loyola and made his first start in the next game against Holy Cross.
•    He had totaled 26 points (1.0 ppg) and 40 rebounds (1.5 rpg) in 26 career games prior to taking to the floor against the Greyhounds.
•    Since then, he has totaled 281 points (10.0 ppg) and 260 rebounds (9.3 rpg). 

Pennick Lately
•    Jordan Pennick had appeared in 16 games prior to Navy's Feb. 17, 2024, game at Boston U., and totaled 26 points (1.6 ppg) and 18 rebounds (1.1 rpg).
•    Since then, he has scored 253 points (8.7 ppg), made 48 three-point baskets (1.66 fgm/g) and grabbed 101 rebounds (3.5 rpg).