After hosting Ohio in Alumni Arena Wednesday night and being served with a loss, the Buffalo men's basketball team looks to deliver a loss to the RedHawks on Saturday night at Miami of Ohio.
UB (13-6 overall, 6-5 Mid-American Conference) will be the 10th team to enter Miami's Millett Hall this season to face the RedHawks (12-5, 7-2). No opponent, however, has been able to leave with a win. The RedHawks, who faced Toledo late last night, are 9-0 at home this season.
Buffalo, who has not lost consecutive games this season, will look to learn from its mistakes against the Bobcats and utilize those lessons against the RedHawks. The Bulls will have to play aggressively and contain the Miami's Danny Horace, the MAC's top rebounder.
"We're going to have to be aggressive right from the beginning and make sure they have trouble scoring," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "When we get into an up-and-down contest, anything can happen. That's what we had (Wednesday) night. We got going up and down the court and we ended up two points short. We need to make sure that we can stop our opponent from scoring, especially early in the game. If we can put them in a hole, that might take the crowd out of it."
Along with the crowd, Buffalo needs to control Horace, Miami's leading scorer who holds the number one spot in the MAC for rebounding and defensive rebounds. The 6-foot-6-inch senior forward averages 15.8 points and 10.1 rebounds a game.
"We are going to have to keep Danny Horace from getting offensive rebounds," said Witherspoon. "I think that's the biggest thing that we got to do with Danny Horace, is keep him from getting offensive rebounds."
Rebounding is going to be a crucial part of Saturday's game. Miami, who as of Thursday was number one in the MAC East, shoots 50.1 percent from the floor at home. Allowing them the offensive boards would only give a high-shooting team more chances to sink their shots.
"I think we're going to have to make sure that we get more offensive rebounds and we keep them from getting offensive rebounds because they shoot the ball so much better at home so if they get extra shots, that's no good," said Witherspoon.
The Bulls also have to watch the number of free throws they allow to the RedHawks, who shoot 67.2 percent from the line when they are the home team.
In recent games, two of Buffalo's starters, Yassin Idbihi and Mario Jordan, have found themselves in foul trouble, committing four or more fouls in four of the last six games. In order for UB to be successful, the big guys down low need to watch the number of fouls they commit and control the power of Horace.
Miami currently leads the series 10-3, but Buffalo has been triumphant in the last two contests.
When UB faced Miami last month at home, they held the RedHawks scoreless for the first 9:53 of regulation. While UB went on to win, 67-56, they were out-rebounded 40-28. Only six of Buffalo's rebounds were offensive boards while Miami had a total of 23 defensive rebounds.
During that contest, Roderick Middleton had 17 points, leading the Bulls. Horace led the RedHawks with 15 points while teammate Chet Mason completed a double-double against the Bulls, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Buffalo's bench scored 20 points in the game, while the backups for Miami contributed just nine.
The last time the Bulls played at Miami was Feb. 28, 2004. The Bulls were victorious, 87-73. Four Buffalo players scored in double digits, led by Calvin Cage with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Battle had a game-high seven rebounds.
For the past two seasons, Buffalo has posted its season high in 3-point percentage at Millett Hall. To accomplish this feat for the third consecutive season, the team must complete over 60 percent of their 3-point attempts. The team sank 12 of 20 from the perimeter during its loss Wednesday night, hitting a season high of 60 percent from the land of plenty.
Tip off is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. For those who are unable to make the trip to Oxford, Ohio, the game will be available via radio broadcast on 1340 AM.
