BUFFALO — The UB Bulls men’s basketball team return to Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon when they host Western Michigan.
UB is looking to build on its success from Tuesday night’s win at Kent State. The Bulls have won three straight meetings against Western Michigan at Alumni Arena.
The Bulls got a huge lift from their sophomore class in the victory against Kent State on Tuesday night as the quartet of CJ Massinburg, Nick Perkins, Dontay Caruthers, and Nikola Rakicevic. That group combined for 64 of UB’s 82 points on the night. Caruthers had a career high of 11 points, while Rakicevic tied his career best with 14 points in the victory.
Buffalo dropped its first two MAC home games last week with defeats against Ohio and Ball State. The Bulls are looking to avoid a three-game home losing streak, which hasn’t happened in MAC play since the 2007-08 season when Buffalo dropped consecutive home games to Ball State, Miami (OH), and Kent State.
Western Michigan is 6-11 in the season and 2-3 in MAC play following an 86-80 loss at Eastern Michigan on Tuesday night. Before that, the Broncos were coming off consecutive wins at home over Toledo and Kent State. Western Michigan is still looking for its first win away from home as it is 0-10 in away and neutral games this year. Two of those losses have come against UCLA and Villanova.
Thomas Wilder leads the Broncos as he is averaging 17.5 points per game and he also has a team-high 64 assists. Tucker Haymond, who led WMU in scoring last year against UB, is averaging 14.0 points per game. The Broncos have three more players averaging at least 8.0 points per contest, including Brandon Johnson, who is averaging a team-high 5.5 boards per game.
Wilder is averaging 19.0 points through five league games and he has recorded 27 assists and just six turnovers during those contests. Haymond, who had 35 points in the win over Kent State, is averaging 16.0 points in league play and a team-high 5.4 boards. Reggie Jones is averaging 13.4 points per game since the beginning of the MAC schedule.
Steve Hawkins is the longest tenured head coach in the Mid-American Conference as he is currently in his 14th season with the Broncos. The Broncos have made seven of the program’s 10 postseason appearances in that time, including NCAA Tournament berths in 2004 and 2014, and have rattled off 11 straight top-three MAC West finishes. Hawkins was the top assistant for three years before taking the job in 2003. Hawkins served for nine seasons as head coach at Quincy University in Illinois.
Following UB’s latest victory over Kent State, the Bulls have now beaten the Golden Flashes seven straight times, including the last four at Kent State. UB is also currently riding an 11-game winning streak against Northern Illinois, with UB’s last loss against the Huskies coming in 2005-06. Right now, UB has two of the eight longest winning streaks against one conference school in the MAC:
- 17 – Akron vs. Bowling Green
- 14 – Kent State vs. Ball State
- 13 – Akron vs. Ball State
- 11 – Buffalo vs. Northern Illinois
- 8 – Toledo vs. Miami (OH)
- 7 – Buffalo vs. Kent State
- 7 – Ohio vs. Ball State
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
