BUFFALO — The Bulls close out the regular season on Friday evening when they host Bowling Green with MAC Tournament implications very much in play. Buffalo enters the game in a five-way tie for second place with Ohio, Kent State, Ball State, and Western Michigan. A win on Friday night will ensure the Bulls of a bye to the Quarterfinals in Cleveland. Entering Friday night, the Bulls can still finish anywhere from the second to sixth seed in the MAC Tournament.
Friday night is Senior Night for the Bulls as they will honor five members who will be playing in their final regular season game at Alumni Arena: Christian Pino, Raheem Johnson, David Kadiri, Willie Conner, and Blake Hamilton. The Bulls also be honoring senior managers Dallas Comstock and Jake Sweeney.
The Bulls picked up their school record sixth MAC road win on Tuesday night with their victory at Ohio. Buffalo won games at Ohio, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, and Kent State this season. It is the first time in school history that the Bulls will finish a MAC season with more road victories than home wins. Prior to this season, UB won five MAC road games six times, including each of the last three years.
Bowling Green enters Friday night’s game with a 13-17 record and a 7-10 mark in MAC play. The Falcons are currently in a three-way tie for eighth place as they are playing for a first round home game in the upcoming conference tournament. BG is 3-10 on the road this season.
Bowling Green is led by senior Zack Denny, who is averaging 12.8 points per game and Wes Alcegaire, who is averaging 11.6 points per contest. Demajeo Wiggins adds 10.0 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game. In all, Bowling Green has five players averaging 8.0 points or better per game. Ismail Ali leads Bowling Green with 114 assists.
Freshman Dylan Frye led all scorers with 20 points in the first meeting between these two teams as he also pulled down seven rebounds. Senior Zack Denny added 12 points for the Falcons. Bowling Green did record 11 steals in the game, including three each from Denny and Ismail Ali.
A 1994 graduate of BGSU, Michael Huger was named the 17th head men’s basketball coach on April 17, 2015. Huger, who returned to his alma mater where he was a standout player for the Falcons from 1989-93, came to BGSU after four seasons at the University of Miami and eight total seasons as an assistant coach for head coach Jim Larrañaga, whom he played for at BGSU. Prior to following Larrañaga to Miami, Huger spent four seasons at George Mason where he helped lead the Patriots to the postseason every year — including NCAA berths in 2008 and 2011.
With their 96-69 win over Ball State on Feb. 3, the Bulls scored 90 or more points in three straight games, following 101 points against Central Michigan and 90 points against Akron. This is just the fourth time in school history that the Bulls have scored at least 90 points in three straight games and the first time since 1994-95. UB also accomplished it during the 1969-70 season and the 1989-90 season. On Tuesday night, the Bulls scored 99 points at Central Michigan, their most points ever in a MAC road game and their fourth most points ever in a road contest in school history.
The Bulls recorded 101 points on Tuesday night in their victory over Central Michigan, their highest scoring output ever against a Mid-American Conference team in regulation. The Bulls scored 107 points in a double overtime loss to Kent State in 2006 and between 2006-17 the Bulls twice put up over 100 points against non Division I opponents.
The last time that UB put up 100 points in a regulation game against a D-I opponent was Nov. 21, 2001 when they scored 100 points at Chicago State. Since turning Division I in 1991-92, Tuesday night was the fourth time that the Bulls have scored at least 100 points against a fellow D-I opponent in regulation.
Buffalo recorded its sixth MAC road victory on Tuesday night at Ohio, a new school record for conference road wins in a season. The Bulls had five MAC road wins six times, including each of the last three seasons. The win at Ohio this season was just UB’s fourth ever at the Convocation Center, while the win earlier this season at Kent State, marked just the third ever win at the M.A.C. Center, all coming in the last three year.
The Bulls have had five different players record double doubles this year in Blake Hamilton, Willie Conner, Nick Perkins, CJ Massinburg, and David Kadiri. The five different players with double-doubles are the most in a season since 2014-15 when Justin Moss, Xavier Ford, Shannon Evans, Rodell Wigginton, and Lamonte Bearden all recorded double-doubles thats year.
Those five players have combined for 12 double-doubles on the year, led by four each from Hamilton and Perkins. In the win over Western Michigan, Hamilton and Perkins each recorded a double-double as Hamilton had 15 point and 10 assists, while Perkins finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. In both that game, and the one against Central Michigan at Alumni Arena, Hamilton flirted with triple-doubles. CJ Massinburg and Willie Conner each recorded their first career double-doubles this season as Massinburg had his first one at Eastern Michigan and most recently had 17 points and 10 rebounds against Akron. Conner had his first career double-double against Bowling Green with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The Bulls are looking to do something that no Mid-American Conference school has ever accomplished and that is win three straight MAC Tournament titles. Buffalo has already become the first team since Kent State to go in back-to-back seasons when the Golden Flashes did it in 2001 and 2002, but a third straight trip would make conference history. No Big 4 school has gone to three straight NCAA Tournament since Canisius in 1955-57.
Buffalo is one of only five programs to have won conference titles in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 joining Hampton (MEAC), Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley), Kentucky (SEC), and Gonzaga (WCC). Of that group, Gonzaga is the only one to have received three straight automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulls finished the eight-game regular season against the MAC West by going 6-2, tied for the most wins against the West since 2013-14. The Bulls swept Central Michigan, while splitting with Ball State. UB then also beat Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois. The only team in the West that UB failed to beat was Toledo, which came on the road in the first conference game of the year.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
