Western New York native Steven Means grew up a Buffalo Bills fan. After four years on the gridiron for the University at Buffalo Bulls, Means has a chance to achieve his dream of reaching the NFL. On Tuesday afternoon, the senior flaunted his athletic prowess in front of 18 NFL teams in the Bills' practice facility.
The men's basketball team has faced the toughest competition the Mid-American Conference has to offer in its past two games. Three days removed from one of the biggest wins in the program's history against nationally ranked Akron, the Bulls (12-18, 7-8 MAC) couldn't carry their momentum over against Ohio (22-8, 13-2 MAC), losing 72-69. The Bulls let a 69-63 lead with 3:51 remaining slip away when Ohio guard D.J.
This year's Mid-American Conference Championship meet was very similar to last year's for the Buffalo Bulls.
A day after the men's basketball team pulled off arguably its biggest home victory ever, the women's hoops team put on a senior day performance that Alumni Arena won't soon forget. The Bulls (10-18, 8-7 Mid-American Conference) defeated Kent State (3-25, 1-13 MAC) 81-45, scoring a season high in points and allowing only nine first-half points. The victory marks Buffalo's fourth win by 20 or more points this season. "We've been building up to this moment for the entire year," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack.
The last time the men's basketball team played Akron, it had a chance to end the Zips' 10-game winning streak.
Editor's note: Markus McCaine was on the lacrosse team in 2011 Students don't hear about athletic teams chasing a third-straight conference championship very often around UB.
The men's basketball team appeared to be on its way to its first-ever victory in Kent State's MAC Center. That is, until Kent State (16-12, 6-7 Mid-American Conference) senior Chris Evans hit a buzzer-beating bank shot in overtime.
The men's tennis team seems to have found its stride. The squad has attained three straight wins, after back-to-back victories against Niagara and Duquesne this weekend. The Bulls (5-2) started strong on Friday against the Niagara Purple Eagles (4-3) and never looked back. Sophomore Damien David and freshman Akhil Mehta won the first doubles match 8-4, and senior Vusa Hova and sophomore Sebastian Ionescu won 8-3 in the second match. "The team played well against Niagara, especially in the doubles matches," Hove said.
The softball team traveled to Louisville, Ky., this weekend for the second of its five tournaments to open the season - Buffalo's first home game isn't until March 27. The Bulls (2-7) opened the tournament with an extra-inning win but proceeded to drop their next three games. In the opening showdown, the squad defeated Mid-American Conference opponent Kent State (2-6), 3-2 in eight innings.
Many of them travel over 9,000 miles from Southeast Asia. Some navigate the Pacific, traverse the Rockies or cross the Mississippi. But they couldn't go the last 86 miles. Last Saturday, four of the table tennis club's top players could not make the trip to Mississauga, Ontario, to play in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament.
When the baseball team loses an All-Mid-American Conference first-team player for five of its first seven games, struggles would be expected. When senior outfielder Matt Pollock, who sat out most of last weekend with a wrist injury, struggled to swing the bat on Friday, the Bulls' long weekend in Lexington, Va., did not look promising. But Pollock's replacement, junior outfielder Jimmy Topps, went 5 for 11 and scored two runs in Pollock's absence, helping the Bulls (4-3) to a 3-1 record on the weekend and giving them their best seven-game start since 2009. The Bulls swept Maryland Eastern Shore (1-5), 9-6 and 6-3, and split with Virginia Military Institute (3-5), 4-6 and 10-3.
The wrestling team finished its season with a situation that has been familiar all year: an injury-filled lineup with wrestlers competing out of their weight classes leading to another loss on the team's record. The Bulls (1-11, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) lost their last dual of the season 31-10 against 14th-ranked Purdue (17-6, 5-3 Big Ten) in the Regional Duals in Lancaster, Pa.
On Saturday afternoon, the men's basketball team hit as many field goals as, twice as many 3-pointers as and six fewer free throws than their opponent. They played well enough to win in every phase of the game, except one: turnovers. The Bulls (11-16, 6-6 Mid-American Conference) turned the ball over 24 times against Manhattan (11-16, 8-8 Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference), including 18 times in the first half as they fell 65-64 in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBuster game. "We didn't think they were a pretty good basketball club, so we probably came out not as focused as we should have been," said junior forward Javon McCrea.
When the women's basketball team hosted Ohio in January, it resulted in Buffalo's largest victory in over three years and its best rebounding performance since 2004. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack didn't want the team's first matchup to allow for a letdown in the second affair. The Bulls (9-17, 7-6 Mid-American Conference) avoided the trap, as they defeated the Bobcats (6-19, 1-12 MAC), 56-35, on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Arena. "We talk about many things other than basketball [during pre-game]," Legette-Jack said.
The men's and women's track and field teams had some very lofty expectations coming into the weekend's Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships. The Bulls traveled to Ypsilanti, Mich., for the two-day competition and found an abundance of individual successes. Three Bulls were crowned MAC champions over the weekend and six others secured finishes inside top three in their respective events. Junior thrower Jonathan Jones and senior thrower Shante' White were named the men's and women's athletes, respectively, of the meet in recognition of their championship winning performances. Jones brought home a familiar title for the Bulls on Friday, as he broke former Buffalo thrower Rob Golabek's school record in the shot-put event.
The women's basketball team has failed to score more than 57 points in each of its five losses in Mid-American Conference play this season.
Richie Sebuharara came to Buffalo expecting to run track and field and follow in his brother's footsteps, but his heart was on the basketball court.
There are two things an onlooker notices from senior guard Tony Watson during shooting drills at the end of the men's basketball team's practice: He talks to the ball whenever he shoots.
In front of a record crowd at Cleveland State's Chagrin Valley Athletic Club, the men's tennis team snapped a two-game losing skid and sent the crowd of more than 200 home disappointed. The Bulls (3-2) secured a 4-3 win against the Vikings (2-6) on Saturday, giving the team its first-ever victory against Cleveland State.
It was a parade of big shots, missed opportunities and forfeits when the women's tennis team took to the court against ASA College.
Solutions by The State News
