BUFFALO MASSACRE: UB MEN & WOMEN UNLEASH THREE DAYS OF TERROR AT ALUMNI ARENA
BUFFALO MASSACRE: UB MEN & WOMEN UNLEASH THREE DAYS OF TERROR AT ALUMNI ARENA
Today in class, we're studying the anatomy of a stampede.
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Three days. Three home games. Three wins by an average of 23.3 points per game.
Less than two weeks ago, the University at Buffalo basketball teams seemed to be in disarray. The men had fumbled two straight measuring-stick games to Mid-American Conference leaders Toledo and Ohio, the latter in a 21-point blowout. The women had dropped three in a row, including a pair of two-point losses to Ohio and Ball State.
Neither has lost since.
The two squads enjoyed the friendly confines of Alumni Arena for three straight nights this week, Monday through Wednesday, and things got gory. Their MAC rivals probably watched these games the way you or I take in a Blumhouse film.
Let’s recap:
MONDAY: UB (W) 71, WESTERN MICHIGAN 64
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Buffalo’s short rotation seemed unsustainable, but you couldn’t argue with the results. Despite getting just 20 minutes from the reserves—the reserve, rather, as freshman forward Saniaa Wilson was the lone sub, notching five points and four rebounds—the Bulls (15-7 in MAC play, 9-3 overall after this game) pulled out a seven-point victory over the league rival Broncos (12-8, 6-5), a team that entered the game 163rd in the NCAA NET rankings and pulling votes in College Insider’s Mid-Major Top 25.
From UBBulls.com:
Freshman guard Georgia Woolley led all scorers with 21 points to go with six rebounds and four steals. Junior Dyaisha Fair scored 18 points while dishing out seven assists and recording five steals and Summer Hemphill (pictured above) recorded her second straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds while also tying a career-high with five steals. Junior Dominique Camp flirted with a triple double as the junior scored eight points while pulling down a career-high nine rebounds and adding seven assists.
Defense was the name of this game, though. It had to be—UB shot 41 percent from the floor (and under 30 percent in the fourth quarter) and 22 percent from three (0-for-six in the fourth). The team was clearly gassed, and why not? Woolley and Fair each played 40 minutes for the fourth consecutive game, Camp logged 35 minutes for the seventh time in eight contests, and Hemphill ground out 35+ for the fifth time in six.
But WMU shot just 41 percent themselves, and tired legs be damned, Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack had Buffalo—Woolley, specifically—pressuring the ball for 90 feet, and while her teammates occasionally leaned forward into a full-court press.
It worked. Flustered, Western Michigan entered the fourth quarter in an 11-point hole. The Broncos snuck as close as six with 43 seconds remaining in the game, thanks to Reilly Jacobsen scoring eight of her 17 points in the final 10 minutes, but five-of-six free-throw shooting from Fair, Woolley, and Hemphill closed the game out.
The Bulls, in fact, gladly accepted the whistle’s charity, hitting nine of 12 fourth-quarter free throws. It was enough for Buffalo to hang on to its fourth straight win and 10th in 11 tries at home.
Lauren Ross scored 17 for WMU in the loss. Jacobsen double-doubled with 12 boards, as well.
Camp Sighting
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Let’s give some credit to Camp, who doesn’t get quite the shine that Fair (eighth-leading scorer in the country), Hemphill (a sixth-year senior with eight double-doubles this season), and Woolley (the leading rookie scorer in the MAC) receive.
After a benching in the Northern Illinois win on Jan. 29—Camp seemed disengaged during her 23 minutes of court time, her lowest total since Dec. 20, and got an earful from Legette-Jack when she was pulled in the first half—she’s bounced back by averaging 7.3 points, four assists, and over five rebounds over her past three games while sitting just three of a possible 120 minutes.
Camp has a tough job, keeping three big-time scorers in Fair, Hemphill, and Woolley fed, while finding her own place in the flow—and she’s been doing it really well.
TUESDAY: UB (M) 102, EASTERN MICHIGAN 64
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While the Bulls (12-8, 6-2) beat Central Michigan by 20 on the road over the weekend, Tuesday’s 38-point thrashing of Eastern Michigan really felt like the redemption story. We saw smashing performances from the guys who’ve had us mulling some nagging questions.
When UB plays the way they did on Tuesday, running and gunning and getting the 14th man into the game, Buffalo looks like Kentucky’s MAC cousin.
Our standouts:
MACEO JACK. Huge tip of the cap to senior swingman (pictured above), who’s been the subject of criticism on these digital pages. A 12-point, 35-minute-per-game player in his last full season at George Washington before transferring to UB, Jack saw his playing time dwindle in January. He’s been revitalized in February, scoring nine points with 10 rebounds against CMU before unleashing the finest performance of his Buffalo career against the overmatched Eagles (8-15, 3-9)—22 points, nine rebounds, and three assists on a cool eight-of-11 from the field and three-of-five from distance. He dunked, he hustled, he had his mom dancing in the stands. If Jack stays near this level of play for the rest of the season, it changes the complexion of this team.
JOSH MBALLA. Held to 26 points in his last five games, the senior forward scored 13 on six-of-eight shooting against EMU. Mballa was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year last season, but he’s also supposed to be a tough out near the basket—the 6’7, 220-pound rack of lean Bordeaux beef averaged over 15 points in 2020-21, and dropped 29 on Miami (Ohio) back on Dec. 29. If Mballa rediscovers his touch, it changes the complexion of this team.
DAVID SKOGMAN. The big sophomore forward from Wisconsin is the 10th most efficient offensive player in the nation, but he’d scored in single digits in three of his last four games after rolling off a three-game stretch in which he averaged 16.7 points. On Tuesday, Skogman found a groove, posting his second Laettner of the season (six-for-six from the floor, two-for-two from the stripe) en route to 15 points and seven boards. In the past five games, the 6’10, 228-pound Skogman has shared the floor with Mballa 45 percent of the time. If these two towers can each eat minutes and dominate at the rim—Mballa is the fourth-leading rebounder in the MAC and Skogman is literally the most efficient two-point shooter in Division 1—it changes the complexion of this team.
RONALDO SEGU. The Bulls collected 28 assists on 43 field goals, led by nine dimes from point guard Ronaldo Segu—the season high for the MAC’s leader in assists per game (6.3). In UB’s losses to Toledo and Ohio, Segu missed 17 of 23 shot attempts and dished out just three helpers. He now has 14 assists in the past two games, both wins. Coincidence? Over the course of the game, Buffalo scored 26 fast break points and made six free throws—the other 70 points came in transition and the half-court game, where Segu must be the quarterback. If the former MAC Sixth Man of the Year’s decision-making ability enables the Bulls to stay consistently productive in all phases of its offense, it changes the complexion of this team.
Let’s give some credit to Head Coach Jim Whitesell, who roasted his team after that loss to the Bobcats—something that did not impress the gang here at UB In 5—but strategized his way to a couple blowouts since.
“We talked about, after we got beat by Ohio, is that we’ve got to own it,” Whitesell told Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News. “We’ve got to be humble. We’ve got to go back and work harder, and let’s roll the tape and get there.”
Oh—and let’s not forget star senior Jeenathan Williams, the 56th-leading scorer in D1 hoops and fourth in the MAC. Williams quietly dropped 16 points, including 11 in the first half as Buffalo built an insurmountable lead.
When the Bulls are firing on all cylinders, they may be unbeatable. If UB keeps this up, it changes the complexion of the MAC.
WEDNESDAY: UB (W) 93, EASTERN MICHIGAN 68
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Alumni Arena is where directional schools from Michigan come to die. The men’s team is 14-1 against Michigan directionals since 2015 at Alumni, while the women’s team is 3-0 against compass points from the Great Lakes State at home this season.
The latest affront to Midwestern geography was Buffalo’s 93-68 thrashing of Eastern Michigan, a game in which the Bulls (16-7, 10-3) showed off something we haven’t seen in a long time: depth.
Six UB reserves played on Wednesday—six! And while they accounted for eight points, 12 rebounds, three assists and six turnovers—not exactly bench dominance—it offered an intriguing look at what this team can be when, you know, the starters aren’t being ground into dust.
From The Buffalo News:
The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team is making its goal clear. Maximize the final month of the season, and make a run at the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulls took a step towards that point with a 93-68 win against Eastern Michigan on Wednesday at Alumni Arena, but UB coach Felisha Legette-Jack considered the bigger picture, even after the Bulls’ biggest margin of victory in a Mid-American Conference game this season.
“These ladies have been playing really well, but there’s so much room for them at the top, to get to,” said Legette-Jack, whose team won its fifth consecutive game. “There’s so many things we need to do in the next 30 days to really let Buffalo appreciate how hard they’ve worked.
“We’re not going to be in celebratory mode until we get to where we think we want to be. Our hope is to get to 68 teams, when they call out on Sunday (for the NCAA Tournament).”
They may not be on the postseason precipice just yet – UB began Wednesday at No. 73 in the women’s NET rankings – but the Bulls flexed their wares in the rout of the Eagles.
Fair scored 38 points and looked more like herself than she has in weeks. Woolley, the leading rookie scorer in the MAC, added 21 points. Camp had a career-high 16.
But the reserves! It was like reading a comic book when you were a kid, and one of the obscure heroes who only pops up once in a while—I was a big fan of Moon Knight—makes an appearance in one of the 27 Spider-Man titles.
We saw:
Elea Gaba, a 6’3 junior from Germany, make her first appearance of the season. Gaba started 16 games last season and averaged 6.9 points and 3.8 boards in 15 minutes per game.
Jazmine Young, a senior guard who started the first 10 games of the season before taking time off for personal reasons, score four points and add two assists in nine minutes.
Saniaa Wilson, a freshman forward and Rochester high school star who’s already had a big impact on Buffalo in just five games, grab six rebounds in 13 minutes.
Nia Jordan, a junior guard, and Ramatoulaye Keita, a sophomore forward, who’ve each seen limited minutes this season, get more court time against EMU.
Casey Valenti-Paea, a sophomore guard from Melbourne, Australia, play her first five minutes of the year.
And just like that, to use a phrase currently in the culture, the Bulls have two former starters and an emerging frontcourt star to draw upon. They also have a trio of deep reserves who can, in a pinch, enter a game and not feel as though the spotlight is something completely new.
That’s just as important as the win over the hapless Eagles (5-14, 2-10).
Let’s Hear It For Hemphill
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A Buffalo product, a Cardinal O’Hara (Tonawanda, N.Y.) High School star, and now a lock for the UB Athletics Hall of Fame—thank you, basketball gods, for Summer Hemphill.
From The Buffalo News:
Hemphill now has 1,302 points and 1,008 rebounds in six seasons with the Bulls, and she’s only the second player to reach the 1,000 points/1,000 rebound mark for the UB women’s program. Hemphill joins Kourtney Brown, the program’s all-time leading rebounder (1,124) and its all-time leading scorer (1,995 points).
“I’m grateful,” Hemphill told Rachel Lenzi. “I’m very blessed to have the opportunity to play this game of basketball at the Division I level, and I wouldn’t be able to achieve these milestones without all my teammates, from the past and the present. It was good to see (former UB stars) Cierra (Dillard) and Tessy (Onwuka) out there today. It seems like a long time ago, but just a few years ago, they were on the court with me, as well as all the players on this team.”
UP NEXT: AN ILLINOIS TRIP FOR THE WOMEN WHILE THE MEN HOST THE GIANT-KILLERS
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The UB women head to DeKalb this weekend for a Saturday showdown with Northern Illinois (9-12, 3-8, 175th in NCAA NET). The Huskies have struggled this season, but are 6-3 at home. The 2 p.m. game can be viewed on ESPN3.
The men will hold things down at home, hosting Ball State (11-12, 6-6, 250th in NCAA NET) at 2 p.m. The Bulls—113th in NET—would be the obvious favorite, particularly given the Cardinals’ 2-7 road record, but beware the birds: BSU took out conference-leading Toledo last Friday in a 93-83 upset at Worthen Arena in Muncie.
UB, of course, does have a road win over Ball State this year, a 74-68 win in which Jeenathan Williams scored 20 and David Skogman notched a his third straight double-double. Let’s hope for more of the same.
The game can be viewed on ESPN+.