The formula for success in mid-major college basketball is simple: recruit well, keep as much year-to-year fluidity as possible and create a winning atmosphere with a good coach.
UB women’s basketball managed to pull off several upsets on their way to a Mid-American Conference Championship and NCAA tournament berth last year.
Davonta Jordan, a talented young point guard who had just graduated high school, found himself looking for a school late in the summer.
Since John Stutzman took over the UB wrestling program in 2013, the program has experienced a renaissance.
Saturday afternoon was rough for the Buffalo Bulls (2-8, 1-5 Mid-American Conference) football team.
In the first half of Sunday’s Mid-American Conference Championship Game, the Akron Zips outshot the Buffalo Bulls 13-0. By the end of the game, Akron had outshot UB 25-4 and had a 15-0 edge in corner kicks.
In their final home game of the year, the Bulls (2-8, 1-5 Mid-American Conference) were defeated by the Miami RedHawks (5-6, 5-2 MAC) 35-24 at UB Stadium. Bulls redshirt freshman quarterback Tyree Jackson finished the day 12-of-27 for 96 yards before being pulled with a leg injury late in the third quarter. Miami sophomore defensive back De’Andre Montgomery finished the game with two defensive touchdowns, scoring both within five minutes of each other.
The Bulls (12-3-3, 3-1-2 MAC) eked out a 2-1 overtime win on Friday in the MAC semifinal game against the Bowling Green Falcons (9-7-4, 2-1-3 MAC) at Cub Cadet Field. For the second consecutive year, the Bulls will face the Akron Zips (11-5-3, 3-1-1) in the MAC Championship game.
For years now, the running back position has been among the strongest position groups for UB’s football team. This is thanks to Matt Simon, UB’s (2-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) running back coach and one of the only coaches to be retained after the team underwent a massive overhaul two years ago.
The Buffalo Bulls (2-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) are coming off nine days rest as they prepare to face the Miami (OH) RedHawks (4-6, 4-2 MAC) on Saturday.
Men’s soccer (11-3-3, 2-1-2 Mid-American Conference) The men’s soccer team closed out their season with a 0-0 tie against the Bowling Green Falcons (9-5-4, 2-0-3 MAC). The Bulls entered the game controlling their own destiny in MAC tournament seeding.
UB men’s soccer traveled to Bowling Green this weekend knowing that a win would make them the regular season Mid-American Conference Champions and give them home field advantage in the MAC Tournament. It would have snapped Akron’s 11-year streak of winning the MAC regular season title. UB (11-3-3, 2-1-2 MAC) played Bowling Green (9-5-4, 2-0-3) to a 0-0 tie in a Saturday night slugfest.
For the second straight year the Buffalo Bulls men’s basketball team began their season by unveiling a MAC Championship banner.
The UB football team (2-7, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) outgained the Ohio Bobcats (7-3, 5-1 MAC) on offense but early mistakes cost them and they fell 34-10 at Peden Stadium. Bobcats’ freshman quarterback Quinton Maxwell was the star of the game with 236 passing yards, 50 rushing yards and three total touchdowns.
After coming up short three times last season, the Buffalo Bulls (5-5, 2-0 NECHL) men’s hockey team toppled rival Niagara Purple Eagles (2-8, 2-1 NECHL), 4-2, in their first attempt this season. Buffalo is now .500 and in the midst of a 3-game win streak.
This Thursday at UB Stadium, we saw something out of UB’s football team that we hadn’t seen in weeks: fight. Coming into Thursday as a 17.5-point home underdog against a good Akron team (5-4, 3-2 Mid-American Conference), Buffalo played their best game of the season, not only scoring an upset win, but doing it in dominating fashion.
On Thursday night, senior running back Jordan Johnson finally looked like the unstoppable force many expected him to be when coming into the season. The senior running back set a program record with 282 rushing yards as well as finding the end zone twice, as the Buffalo Bulls (2-6, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) came away with the 41-20 upset win against the Akron Zips (5-4, 3-2 MAC) on a wet Thursday night at UB Stadium. Buffalo snapped their four-game losing streak as they secured their first conference victory of the season.
UB Women’s soccer (7-7-5, 4-4-3) played their most important game of the year Thursday afternoon against Akron. If they lost, their season could have been over. Even in the cold rainy weather, the Bulls played at 100 percent from the first minute to the end. With the win, Buffalo finished the season 7-0-3 at home.
There’s an old adage in sports that good teams can win ugly. Last Friday, through the rain and cold, Buffalo men’s soccer played an ugly game against Mid-American Conference rival Western Michigan and managed to come out with a 1-1 tie despite being “outworked,” according to head coach Stu Riddle’s. With Buffalo (9-3-2, 1-1-1) trailing 1-0 in the 90th minute, senior forward Russell Cicerone went up in the box with less than a minute left in the game and snatched life from the jaws of death as he knocked a header into the net off a cross from senior defender Alec Fisher.
The Buffalo Bulls (1-6, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) are struggling to find their first conference win and things aren’t going to be any easier this week. After Saturday’s 44-7 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies (2-6, 2-2 MAC), the Bulls host east division foe, the Akron Zips (5-3, 3-1 MAC), on Thursday night at UB Stadium.
Solutions by The State News
