Men's Team to Face MAC Foes Over Break

While most of the UB student body is away over winter break in some place warm, eating home-cooked meals and celebrating after final exams, the men's basketball team will be hard at work.

The Bulls (4-2 overall, 0-1 Mid-American Conference) have five games scheduled against conference opponents, including a home game against the Toledo Rockets, the team that eliminated the Bulls from the Mid-American Conference playoffs last March.

The game against Toledo is the Bulls' first opportunity to exact revenge on the team that ended UB's best season since joining the MAC.

Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon isn't thrilled about the Toledo game falling during break.

"I would much rather play them during the school year, when the Maniacs are here," Witherspoon said. "Everybody on our staff feels the same way, and I'm sure Toledo, when the schedule came out, said 'Hey that's great, are they back in school yet? No? Great!'"

In addition to their conference foes, the Bulls will be facing Canisius and Penn State as part of their non-conference schedule. Last season, the Bulls opened the season against Canisius and lost in dramatic fashion. Canisius defeated UB by two points in the final possession of the contest.

For the Bulls, it is hard to play these games over break, because of the diminished student presence on campus.

"They're a struggle when you're playing them at home, because you don't have as many students there to help us," said Witherspoon. "But by the same token, when you go on the road it's usually a relief because the other teams also don't have their fans there."

The Bulls' other conference opponents during winter break are, in order, Central Michigan, Akron and Miami (Ohio). Last year, the Bulls saw great success against these three teams. Buffalo only faced Central Michigan once, but recorded a nine-point victory over the Chippewas. UB swept Akron twice last season, and split with Miami.

Normally, the fan support during breaks are not even comparable to the crowds gathered at Alumni Arena during the school year, but Witherspoon believes that the Bulls' positive performance over last year and the beginning of this season could change that.

"This year might be different, our fan support in general has been better so our fan support during break might be better," Witherspoon said. "We played in Cleveland last year and that fell during spring break, of all breaks, and we had buses full of fans come to that game."

An upside to playing games during winter break is that the team can spend much more time together than it normally would at other times during the school year, but Witherspoon said the team doesn't change its normal practice routine very much.

"It's different from the standpoint that we can spend more time with them," said Witherspoon. "We are able to get to know one another a little bit better."

The first game for the Bulls during the spring semester will be on Jan. 19, on the road at Kent State. The first home for the Bulls back in Buffalo is the following Tuesday, Jan. 25 against Northern Illinois.