Sidelines

Former Bulls become Rapids

Two Bulls are returning to the city of Buffalo to further their basketball careers less than a year after their graduation from UB.

Turner Battle and Mark Bortz, standout members of last year's men's basketball team, have been signed to the Buffalo Rapids of the American Basketball Association for the rest of the season, according to The Buffalo News. There are eight games remaining in the Rapids' season.

The duo is slated to be ready to appear in the Rapids' next three home games, beginning Wednesday night against the Montreal Matrix at 7 p.m. at Park School.

Bulls and Gaels for BracketBuster

Buffalo men's basketball looks to take its 2-0 BracketBuster record to Iona College for one of ESPN's 13 televised mid-major games, ESPN announced Monday.

Iona currently holds the top spot in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with a 9-1 record in the MAAC, complimenting its 15-3 overall record.

Buffalo will play either Feb. 17 or 18 on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN360. The Bulls' exact date, time and network assignment will be announced Feb. 7.

'The Dream' tops the MAC East

Three impressive games by junior center Yassin Idbihi earned him Mid-American Conference East Divison Player of the Week.

Over the Bulls' last three games, Idbihi averaged 17 points, six rebounds, two assists, one block, and 1.3 steals. Idbihi leads the team in rebounding with an average of 7.4 per game and is No. 2 on the team for scoring, dropping 14.9 points a game.

The Moroccan native ranks fifth for rebounding and seventh for scoring in the conference.

Two-thirds of a triathlon

Dan McKenna and Kahla Walkinshaw were recognized this week for their athletic endeavors as UB Male and Female Athletes of the Week.

McKenna, a junior on the indoor track and field team, ran his way to a UB record mile in 4:09.30, winning him the top spot at the Penn State National Invitational and shaving three seconds off his previous school record. McKenna was also part of a record-setting relay team, clocking in five seconds earlier than last year's record in the distance relay. The new record is now 9:59.68.

Junior swimmer Walkinshaw also saw individual and relay success on Saturday, winning her two individual events and swimming as part of two second-place relay teams against Bowling Green. She finished first in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard butterfly with times of 58.59 and 2:05.32, respectively.