Battle with cross-town Griffins to test Bulls

Duke-North Carolina. Michigan-Ohio State. Buffalo-Canisius? Rivalries are part of what makes college sports exciting, and this Friday night should shape up to be another intense bout in the record books between Queen City contenders.

Defeating the Griffins last year by a close score of 81-76 at Alumni Arena, the Bulls had a rowdy and anxious crowd of over 6,100 in attendance. Canisius will look to fight back with the home advantage this Friday night. Buffalo, who was 4-9 on the road last season, hopes to snag an early non-conference road win and spoil the Griffins' night.

"Our approach has always been to use our non-conference games to get better," said Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We don't get caught up in whom we play and where we are. We just really need to try to get better everyday and eventually we will be good enough that it will take care of itself."

The Bulls may or may not have preseason Mid-American Conference team member senior forward Yassin Idbihi, as he is still nursing a sore ankle.

"He is questionable for Friday," said Witherspoon. "He hasn't had a lot of practices. He's had three and a portion of another. Most likely a game time decision."

Last year's Bulls, who finished the season with a 19-13 record, have many shoes to fill with the loss of its talented senior class. After losing seven key players due to graduation over the past two seasons, this year's squad is littered with freshmen and sophomores looking to find themselves on the court.

"We were able to use the Buff State game as an evaluation tool for our younger guys, and that worked out," Witherspoon said. "It worked out that we were able to afford them a lot of minutes and give them some game day experience."

Returning four seniors to its line up including three of the team's top four scorers from last year, the Griffins look to use their experience against Buffalo. Forwards Corey Herring and Darnell Wilson, and guard Chuck Harris all return for the Griffs. Herring averaged 14.4 points and just over five rebounds a game for the Griffs. Wilson averaged just less than 13 points a game with 5.5 rebounds. Speedy guard Harris averaged 10 points a game but also led the team in three-point percentage as he shot around 38 percent and led the team with 91 assists.

"They bring three of their top four and we loose three of our top four scorers," Witherspoon said. "That stat means we might play pretty good defense and they still might score. We have to make every possession tough on them and hopefully can put them in a drought."

Possibly playing without Idbihi, senior forward Parnell Smith will undoubtedly get many touches down low and attract a double team now and again. The Bulls will rely on sophomore forward/center Vadim Fedetov to be confident playing on a once-injured knee and take some pressure off Smith.

"We've been working on things that were going to use all season long like blocking out, taking charges and getting to loose balls," Witherspoon said. "We need to work on being strong with the basketball so we don't just turn it over and they get east baskets."

Outside the key, the Bulls will put the ball in the hands of their talented sophomore class. Guards Eric Moore, Sean Smiley and forward Greg Gamble will be responsible for breaking the Canisius press as well as penetrating the Griffins and breaking down their defense. Look for all three to take the open shot if it's there, as the trio was 8-15 from the field and shot 25 percent from three against Buffalo State. Also look for freshmen point guard John Boyer to get some minutes off the bench to relive Moore or Smiley of their ball handling duties.

"The first thing we want to do against them is establish ourselves and our principles, the things we practice everyday," Witherspoon said. "We're going to have to get in there, get sweating a little bit and get our feet wet and see if there are some match- ups we can take advantage of."

Buffalo will look for new role players this season to step up. Sophomore guard Andy Robinson will be counted on to play scrappy defense against the Canisius guards. The Bulls will also need steady play from freshman guard Calvin Betts and junior forward Andrew Atman to help with the task of stopping Herring and his wrecking crew.

This is the 39th meeting between the rivals, and the Bulls hold a 28-10 series advantage over the Griffins. The game will tip-off at 8:15 p.m. at Canisius' Koessler Center.