The men’s basketball team went into Tuesday night’s game looking to come back from their loss to Northern Illinois after slipping on defense in the final minutes. The team lost double digit leads in the final minutes of their last four games heading in. This performance may not mark the end to the Bulls’ finishing issues, but it was enough get the win.
Kyle Yagielski doesn’t go to Bulls games in the usual fan apparel. Instead of a jersey, he wears no shirt. Instead of pants, he puts on shorts that end well above his knees. And instead of rocking team colors, he puts black X’s across his nipples and writes “UB Naked Guy” on his chest in black marker that “doesn’t come out for a few days.”
The Bulls (18-7, 10-2 MAC) lost Saturday afternoon after blowing a 13 point second half lead. They came in looking to go 8-0 against the MAC West division. With eight minutes to go in the half, Buffalo led the Northern Illinois Huskies (11-14, 4-8 MAC) 72-59, until the Huskies went on a 21-4 run over the next seven minutes.
Despite the Bulls’ success this season, there still remains one team ahead of them in the Mid-American Conference: the Central Michigan Chippewas. The Chippewas are currently first in the MAC and have been perfect in conference play this season. They are the last team to beat the Bulls, having a 86-79 win back in January.
Saturday's win marked the second straight game where the Bulls held their opponent to less than 50 points.
The Bulls (5-10, 2-5 Mid-American Conference) looked like they were going to pull off an incredible comeback before losing 19-16 to the the Northern Illinois Huskies (3-9, 1-5 MAC). Buffalo dropped the first four matches, giving up a 16-0 lead. But they rallied and accumulated five straight victories to tie things up at 16-16.
UB has wrestled the toughest schedule in program history, facing four top-25 teams already, including two top-five programs. The team will be heading to Pennslyvania this month to face the number one team in the nation, the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Bulls are just weeks away from the end of their season and it has been a down year for the team. The schedule has been hard for the Bulls who are 0-4 in their top-25 matchups this season
If you look at the Bulls from a perspective outside the team, they would look like the top team in the Mid-American Conference.
“When they come together they can knock people out,” said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. “I just think sometimes we go out there and allow a team to be in a game with us. I think this game we never saw our opponent. We saw what we were good at, what we had to do and things we could offer the game, and I think the fans had fun.”
The Bulls have already matched last year’s total wins with 17 and they still have eight games left to play. The Bulls (17-6, 9-1 MAC) have been hot since they entered MAC play winning their first eight games before losing to Kent State (12-11, 6-4 MAC) on Tuesday. The emergence of newcomers junior guard Jeremy Harris and senior guard Wes Clark have been the big reasons for their control of the MAC.
The team had a strong start going 9-2 in non-conference and followed it up going 8-2 in conference. The Bulls (17-4, 8-2 MAC) do not rest on their current mid-season accomplishments. Instead the players wait until they are MAC champions, always keeping their sights on it from the start of the season.
Men’s Basketball (16-6, 8-1 MAC) The Bulls have looked like killers in the MAC so far this season. Despite a recent close loss to Kent State (12-10, 6-3 MAC), the Bulls have won nine of their last 10 games. Seven of those wins were by 10 points or more. The team started the season with some impressive individual performances, but now the Bulls have been playing on a more consistent level.
One winter break later and the Bulls (16-6, 8-1 MAC) look like the best team in the MAC. Despite their recent win streak coming to an end to Kent State (12-10, 6-3 MAC), it remains their only loss in conference. And now they have a rematch with the Broncos (13-9, 5-4 MAC) this Friday at 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Men’s Basketball (16-6, 8-1 Mid-American Conference) vs. Western Michigan, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. The new semester brings big games and events for UB sports. The semester starts this week with a Friday game for the men's basketball team. They welcome the Western Michigan Broncos (13-9, 5-4 MAC) to Alumni Arena on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Bulls and Broncos were both selected by the MAC coaches to win their respective divisions.
Allen Greene will be leaving UB to become the athletic director at Auburn University beginning in February. Greene has been the athletic director for Buffalo since November 2015 and served as an associate athletic director prior to that, under his predecessor, Danny White.
The NBA season is in full effect and after opening day the next slate of games comes on Dec. 25. As NFL football is to Thanksgiving, NBA basketball is to Christmas. This year is no different. Here are the best Christmas games.
UB hasn’t had a Division I hockey team since 1987, but the club hockey team is still going strong. UB financially supports only Division I teams, but that doesn’t stop many club teams from thriving.
The Bulls are coming into their game against the Canisius Golden Griffins after going 1-1 at the Arizona State Classic. They had a strong game in their last outing beating the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels 80-53. The Bulls (5-1, 0-0) look like the better team on paper heading into Thursday’s home game. The Bulls have been able to get results on both sides of the ball unlike the Golden Griffins (2-5, 0-0), and it shows in both teams’ records.
UB’s bowl hopes are officially over. The 6-6 (4-4 Mid-American Campus) Bulls became bowl eligible this season for just the third time in school history.
Men’s Basketball vs. Niagara Purple Eagles (3-5) 106-87 The Bulls scored over the century mark on Wednesday night for the first time this season.
Solutions by The State News
