On Sunday, the UB Bulls (5-9, 1-5 Mid-American Conference) will take to the hard court in the hopes of accomplishing a feat that has now eluded them for over two years: a MAC road win.
Their host will be the Northern Illinois Huskies, (7-10, 2-5 MAC) who, after being chosen as the pre-season favorite to win the MAC West Division by the MAC News Media Association, are in the midst of anything but a championship season.
Both teams are coming off disappointing conference losses, with UB dropping to Marshall Saturday 86-74 and NIU falling to Ball State on Tuesday 71-65, extending the Huskies' own road loss streak to 0-8 on the year.
However, at home in the Convocation Center, Northern Illinois is 6-0 (with the other win and losses coming in a preseason invitational tournament). The stage is set for UB to end their current six game skid, while handing the Huskies their first loss at home.
To do so, the Bulls will have to focus much of their attention on NIU's two pre-season All-MAC players, senior guard P.J. Smith,who is scoring 13.3 points a game, and senior forward Marcus Smallwood, who is averaging a double-double on the year with 15.4 points and 10.2 rebounds.
"The big thing that we want to do is limit them to one shot," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "And that's really hard to do because Marcus Smallwood rebounds the ball so well, and they are all very active on the offensive glass. The biggest challenge with Northern Illinois is going to be to rebound the basketball."
Compared to last season, many of Bulls' offensive statistics are noticeably improved, including shooting percentage, which is at a steady 43 percent (up from 40.2), and points-per-game (70.6 points per game this season compared to 64.8 in 2002).
However, with rebounds per game slightly down from a year ago, one may wonder if UB's defensive effort is the culprit for their recent slide.
"Our defense hasn't been what we want it to be," said Witherspoon. "Some of the statistics will be deceiving because we are playing up-tempo more than we were last year, so we are in fact giving up more points because there are more possessions in the game. But, we still aren't playing the type of defense we want to play."
With the Huskies being the first of 12 remaining conference games (not including the ESPN Bracket Buster and MAC Tournament), the Bulls have plenty of basketball in front of them. However, a roller-coaster type season, like what the players have experienced so far, can be damaging to a team's motivation and focus.
One week you're riding the momentum of a five game winning streak, and a couple weeks later you're shaking your head after a six-game debacle.
"I think the biggest challenge in conference play is that while you're going to get knocked down, you got to get back up, whether it's a six game skid or whether it's a couple bad minutes in a game," said Witherspoon. "And you have to expect your opponents are going to get up, so you have to continue to be ready. And we've had both situations, in which we've been knocked down and taken too long to get up, and we've knocked our opponents down but allowed them to get back up. So the mindset we have to arrive at is that it's always going to be a 40 minute battle."
Buffalo will also be looking to avenge their 2003 season ending loss to the Huskies, which came on March 10, in the first round game from last year's MAC tournament. However, unlike that outing, the Bulls will have their talented backcourt leader Turner Battle this time.
Tip off is set for 3:05 on Saturday in Northern Illinois. The game can be heard on AM 1520.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
