After an off-season full of hype, the Bulls got a reality check Saturday night as they were bowled over by Connecticut, 90-68.
The dominating play of the Huskies' frontcourt proved to be the determining factor in the game.
"We didn't get surprised tonight," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We came in concerned about their ability to run the floor and their ability to rebound the basketball. We didn't respond well enough to get it done. I give credit to them, they certainly showed why they won a national championship last year."
The Huskies out-rebounded the Bulls 56-27, mainly due to the efforts of UConn big men Josh Boone, Denham Brown and Charlie Villanueva.
Boone led the Huskies and controlled the paint, collecting 11 rebounds while shooting 7-11 from the field en route to scoring a career-high 18 points. The sophomore center also added four blocked shots on the night.
Brown grabbed nine boards while Villanueva added eight rebounds and four blocks.
"It wasn't a shock what (Boone) was capable of doing, what we're disappointed in is our response," said Witherspoon. "We didn't play aggressive enough to affect the game. (Boone) rebounded the ball, he blocked shots."
UB center Mark Bortz said the Bulls should have played tighter defense against the UConn stars.
"It wasn't so much what he did, it was more myself losing concentration, losing where he was and not doing my job," Bortz said.
Bortz, along with Mario Jordan, played the majority of the minutes in the paint for the Bulls, while UB starting center and preseason All-MAC honoree Yassin Idbihi spent much of the game in foul trouble.
Off the bench, Bortz recorded a double-double for the Bulls. In 26 minutes of action, the senior center scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Idbihi, who proved to be somewhat of a non-factor in the game, shot 1-5 from the field with four points and two rebounds in 12 minutes on the floor.
"He was gassed," said Witherspoon of Idbihi. "He had one or two good possessions in the second half where he was attacking the basket, but the pace of the game took a lot out of him."
UConn commenced its first-half scoring frenzy by throwing down 11 unanswered points to give the Huskies a 13-2 lead just 3:51 into the game.
The Bulls struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just 25.8 percent from the floor compared to UConn's 46.2 percent.
Connecting on their first 15 shots, the Huskies never led the game by less than double digits. Heading into the locker room at the half, the Huskies led the Bulls 47-24.
"We really jumped into them and took away the dribble screens, the offense they run so well," said UConn head coach Jim Calhoun. "You try to discourage (UB) to think that they're not going to get any easy baskets and we did a wonderful job of that in the first half."
Despite a poor first-half showing, both offensively and defensively, the Bulls tipped off the second half of play with heightened energy and an offensive prowess that was seemingly absent in the first half of the game.
The Bulls outscored the Huskies 44-43 in the second half of the contest on a 16-36 shooting effort, improving their field goal percentage to 44.4 percent in the second half of play.
UB point guard Turner Battle led the Bulls in scoring, with 14 points. The senior also added four rebounds to go along with his four assists and four steals.
"We had some tough cuts. We just made some mistakes early and we didn't get back on defense," said Battle, a preseason All-MAC honoree. "I don't think our offense was too bad. We were a little hesitant at times. Other than that, we just didn't get back on defense."
UConn guard Rashad Anderson was 8-16 from the field, knocking down four threes and going 3-3 from the free-throw line. The junior guard led all scorers with 23 points in 24 minutes of action.
Anderson also had three steals on the evening. Despite his superb offensive effort for the Huskies, Anderson credited the stellar play of the UConn frontcourt for the success the team enjoyed against UB.
"We just came out and played hard," said Anderson. "All our big guys played phenomenally as far as blocking out, helping out on defense, controlling the boards, controlling the basket. They just did a wonderful job."
UB scored 30 points off of 23 forced UConn turnovers on the night, while the Bulls turned the ball over just 12 times and allowed the Huskies just 13 points off of turnovers. The Bulls also outscored the Huskies in fast break points, scoring 19 to UConn's 13.
Another positive for the Bulls, in their first game of the season, was the play of Roderick Middleton. Off the bench, the junior guard knocked down three three-pointers on 4-8 shooting and went 2-2 from the charity stripe to give him 13 points in 16 minutes of action.
Also for UB, Daniel Gilbert played solid defense, tying a career-high in steals, with five, including three that resulted in fast-break dunks. The senior ended the night with eight points.
