Women’s basketball (15-5, 5-4 Mid-American Conference)
After starting the season hot and jumping out to a 10-0 start, the Buffalo Bulls women’s team faced their first taste of defeat this season when they fell to Harvard 74-62 in their second game after Christmas. The team has cooled down since and have a 6-5 record since the start of break.
Head Coach Felicia Legette-Jack has been looking to mix things up and has inserted junior forward Mariah Suchan into the starting line up as well two freshmen, guard Theresa Onwuka and forward Summer Hemphill. The team is 4-1 in their last five and look to have gotten things back on track.
Men’s basketball (10-12, 4-5 MAC)
The men’s basketball team has been going through a lot of ups and downs this season. They’ve spent most of the season around the .500 mark and continued that through the break as they are 5-5 since the end of last semester. They struggled in close games and lost three different games by two points or less.
The Bulls also received bad news over the break when freshman forward Quate McKinzie broke his hand against Ohio and has missed the last six games. In the first game since students returned to school, the Bulls put up 101 points during their “Bulls Jam” night. It is their most points in a division I game in over 10 years.
Wrestling
Head coach John Stutzman and the Buffalo Bulls wrestling team has been having a great season so far. In the latest NCAA coaches panel rankings UB had six wrestlers ranked. Two wrestlers finished in the top 25. Redshirt sophomore Bryan Lantry was ranked 18th at 133-pounds and Senior James Benjamin was ranked 22nd at 197-pounds.
The team went 4-1 in the month of January. They were dominant in their wins and three of their victories were by 29 points or more. Their only loss came against no.7 ranked Missouri.
Men’s Soccer
It was an eventful January for the UB Bulls soccer team. Former head coach Stu Riddle left the program to accept the head coaching position at Northern Kentucky. Davie Carmichael has taken over the head coaching position after spending the past two seasons as a member of Riddle’s staff.
Russell Cicerone made history when he became the first player in UB history to be selected in the MLS draft. He was selected in the fourth round by the Portland Timbers. He was also the first player in UB history invited to the MLS combine.
Swimming and Diving
The swimming and diving team had some notable accomplishments over break. The men’s team snapped Eastern Michigan’s win streak of 72-straight MAC duals. The streak started during the 1997-98 season.
Senior Nick Rodriguez was named MAC diver of the week after his performance in the UB diving invitational. Rodriguez and teammate junior Dan Roche have both qualified for the NCAA zones.
Tennis (1-2)
The men’s tennis team opened their season over the break. The first match was tough and they fell 6-1 to Cornell, gaining their only point from doubles play. Things improved in a close 4-3 loss to Yale, before the Bulls finally scored their first victory in a 5-2 defeat of the Brown Bears.
The women’s team has yet to open their season but had a good showing in the preseason polls. They were chosen as the favorites in the regular season and tied with Ball State as co-favorites in the tournament.
Daniel Petruccelli is the assistant sports editor and can be reached at daniel.petruccelli@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of UB Athletics
