BUFFALO — The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team returns to the court on Saturday afternoon as they welcome the Northern Illinois Huskies to Alumni Arena for a conference showdown. The Bulls and Huskies will tip at 2:00 pm with the Bulls wearing pink warm up shooting shirts as it will be Play4Kay day at Alumni Arena on Saturday. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game as well.
The game will air live on ESPN3 with Paul Peck and Amy Audibert on the call or it can be listened to live on ESPN1520 with Matt Mattia on the call.
The Bulls stay at Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon as they look for their second straight win on their home court as the high-scoring Northern Illinois Huskies come to town. The Bulls are 10-2 at home this season as they look to secure their seventh MAC win of the season after having a week off between games. The game will air live on ESPN3 with Paul Peck and Amy Audibert on the call or can be heard on the radio on ESPN1520 with Matt Mattia on the call starting at 1:30 pm with the pre game show.
The Bulls had a great bounce back game on Saturday afternoon in front of their home fans as they were able to down the Kent State Golden Flashes, 77-62. The Bulls put together one of their best outings of the season as they shot 47.5% from the floor while dominating the fast break scoring, 21-2. Senior JoAnna Smith exploded for a career-high 31 points as she finished off the game going 13-for-21 from the floor. Junior Courtney Wilkins returned to the floor on Saturday and had her best game of the season as she netted 13 points on 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Stephanie Reid continued her steady play as she finished with 12 points, five assists and a steal in just 20 minutes of work.
The Bulls have turned into a great home team since head coach Felisha Legette-Jack took over the program just over four seaons ago. The Bulls own a 14-2 record at Alumni Arena over their last 16 games and they have accumulated a 10-2 record this season. The 10 home wins this season are the most in a regular season since 2000-01 when they earned 12 home wins. Over the past 3+ seasons, UB owns a 36-16 record in from of their home crowd and they haven’t lost more than five games in a season at Alumni Arena. At home this season, UB is averaging 70.4 points while allowing their opponents to average just 57.6 points and 36.0% shooting from the floor.
This marks the 23rd meeting of all-time between the two programs with the Huskies holding the 14-8 edge in the series. UB has won six of the last seven in the series with their lone loss coming last season in DeKalb as the Huskies buried a game-winning three pointer at the buzzer.
One of the keys to the Bulls success this season has been winning the battle on the boards. UB was able to outrebound the Golden Flashes on Saturday, 37-33, and it resulted in a 15-point victory. UB is 14-4 on the year and 31-8 over the past two seasons when winning or tying the rebounding battle. As a team, UB ranks 2nd in the MAC and 21st in the NCAA in rebounds per game (43.0/game).
Buffalo has been getting after the offensive glass all season long and this continued on Saturday as they snagged 12 offensive rebounds in the win over Kent State. The Bulls turned those 12 offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points. UB has now won or tied the offensive rebounding battle in 18 of their 22 games this season. On the year, UB ranks 11th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds (16.9/game) and 25th in rebound margin (+7.4). Buffalo has held 18 opponents and 15 of their last 16, to 10 second chance points or less this season. The rebounding effort by the Bulls has been impressive as they are limiting their last 15 opponents to just 9.8 offensive rebounds/game while averaging 16.7 themselves.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
