BULLS BOUNCE BACK FROM TOLEDO LOSS, FLATTEN BALL STATE BY 26 POINTS
BULLS BOUNCE BACK FROM TOLEDO LOSS, FLATTEN BALL STATE BY 26 POINTS
PLUS: UB women's hoops miss another shot at a signature win; visiting old friends when Syracuse faced Duke; mid-major notes from the field.
Image from instagram.com
A wild mid-week run with the Bulls! Never a dull moment this season.
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team (10-10 overall, 4-3 in Mid-American Conference play) snapped its five-game road winless streak with a resounding 91-65 win over Ball State on Tuesday. “Basketball fans packed Worthen Arena Tuesday night, hoping to experience some thrills before the incoming snowstorm,” wrote Gus Martin of The Muncie (Indiana) Star-Press. “Instead, the Cardinals (13-7, 4-3 MAC) put up a dud to lose their first home contest of the season. They trailed 20-3 within the first 6 minutes, a deficit BSU never recovered from…sending the lively crowd home wondering whether they'll endure another cold walk for the team's next home game.” Devastating.
The UB women’s basketball team (8-8, 3-4) dropped a down-to-the wire 64-61 decision to MAC-leading Bowling Green (17-2, 6-1) at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night. Other than the Falcons’ two losses—a 96-61 defeat to #6 Indiana in Bloomington on Nov. 17 and an 81-73 slip-up at Ball State to start league play on Jan. 4—this was BGSU’s closest game of the season. Bowling Green is #6 in the CollegeInsider.com Women’s Mid-Major Top 25 and #54 in the NCAA NET rankings.
Let’s investigate.
The UB Men Are Figuring Out Who They Are
Image from instagram.com
Buffalo won its first two MAC games of the season over Ohio and Northern Illinois, sparking optimism that the team was, perhaps, a diamond in the rough—especially with a pair of games against struggling Miami and Central Michigan up next.
The Bulls, of course, lost both of those winnable games in uninspiring fashion, the overtime loss to the Chippewas being so egregious that the Twitter mob was sharpening pitchforks and oiling torches for the march over to Head Coach Jim Whitesell’s office. We at UB In 5 found ourselves using Saving Private Ryan references, imploring Whitesell to earn the final two-and-a-half seasons left on his $300,000-per-year contract.
Three days later, the Bulls exploded for 100 points in a 29-point win over Bowling Green. While the men would lose to third-place Toledo on Friday, the team was done in by a pair of extended shooting slumps at the end of the first and second halves—some kind of definitive skill gap with the Rockets, currently ranked 105th in NCAA NET. Even with those untimely cold snaps, UB shot 47 percent from the field in defeat, helping Buffalo’s effective field goal percentage to creep up to 50.5 percent,1 a respectable 168th in the country and slightly above the national average.
The Bulls were hot out of the gate. Of Ball State's first seven possessions of the game, they turned the ball over five times. Four of which were steals courtesy of (sophomore guard) Curtis Jones, (junior swingman Isaiah) Adams, and (junior guard Yazid) Powell. The Bulls were lights out in the first half of action. Shooting at a rate of 52.8% (19-of-36) from the floor and 53.8% (7-of-13) from three-point range gave Buffalo a major advantage as the Cardinals were 11-for-30 (36.7%) in the half.
The Bulls' 18-point halftime lead was Ball State's largest halftime deficit of the season. The Cardinals' 27 points at halftime were their third lowest of the season.
Curtis Jones led the team with 27 points. Another 20-point scorer was Armoni Foster finishing with 20 and seven assists. The 20 points set a career-high for Foster. Isaiah Adams (12) and Zid Powell (11) also finished in double figures. The Bulls led wire to wire holding the lead for 39:36.
BSU hit four threes—including three from Jarrion Coleman—and highly-regarded sophomore center Payton Sparks, largely held in check on Tuesday night, scored five of his eight total points in the first six minutes of the second half to cut the UB lead to nine at 56-47 at the 14:08 mark.
The Bulls remained calm and simply hit the gas again. Buffalo went on a 23-8 run over the next 8:22 to stretch the lead out to 24 points, icing the game.
So what are we learning about the Bulls?
Armoni Foster is embracing the role as a distributor. Earlier this season, Foster suffered through abysmal shooting performances—four-of-12 in the loss to Drake, one-of-nine while losing to West Virginia, five-of-19 in UB’s MAC-opening win over Ohio. He was a key culprit in the hot-and-cold nature of the offense. Since Dec. 30, Foster has doubled down on the distribution side of his role as the one-guard and is averaging over five assists per game (including seven per game over Buffalo’s last three). In that stretch, he’s also shooting 45 percent from the field—a major increase from where he’d been earlier in the season—and has room to get to the basket because he’s always a threat to deliver one of his incredibly smooth passes to a cutter or one of the big men. Foster is amazing off the dribble when he gives his man something else to worry about, and he proved this point by going eight-for-eight from the floor for 20 points with seven assists2 in the Ball State dismantling.
When Buffalo holds onto the ball, Buffalo wins. The Bulls are 260th in the country in turnover percentage3, fumbling away the ball on nearly 20 percent of their possessions.4 UB ranks 311th in Division 1 basketball in turnovers, averaging 14.8 per game. Not great! Against the Cardinals, Buffalo only turned the ball over five times in the first half while building its insurmountable double-digit lead (the Bulls finished with 15 total TOs on the game). Since the beginning of December, the Bulls are 5-3 in games in which they turn the ball over 15 times or less. Two of those losses came to West Virginia and Michigan State—the 29th and 40th teams in NCAA NET, a weight class above UB's. The other defeat came to Toledo, a winnable contest until the final moments. Kicking the ball around against weaker Miami and Central Michigan squads 17 and 20 times, respectively, directly led to those disappointing Ls.
Tenacious boardwork is becoming a signature. The Bulls outrebounded BSU, 40-26, and held Sparks, averaging 7.7 per game, to just two. That’s wild—especially since it seemed, at the beginning of the season, rebounding was going to be problem. Fifth year forward LaQuill Hardnett has size (he’s 6’8) and a good nose for ball, but the two new big men were question marks—6’9 Jonnivius Smith was long and agile but doesn’t have the thick frame to consistently impose his will, and 6’11 Isaac Jack was a true freshman used to pushing around Canadian schoolboys. What a difference time and experience make! Buffalo is second in the MAC in rebounds at 38.4 per game, a whisper behind leader Ohio (38.9). The Bulls are fourth in the conference in offensive rebounds (11.5 per game) and first in defensive boards (27 per game). Hardnett is fifth in the MAC in rebounds, and Curtis Jones, Isaiah Adams, and Jo Smith are all in the top 30. Both Smith and Jack average over nine rebounds per 40 minutes, so nothing is lost when the two centers spell each other. UB’s outrebounded its opponents in six of its last 11 games, winning four. Buffalo also destroyed BGSU in a game in which the Bulls were outrebounded by a single board (42-41).
Defense leads to speed. George Washington Head Coach Chris Caputo said something this past weekend that really stuck with me (see more below): “You’re allowed to play fast when you defend. You can play as fast as your defense allows.” In the case of the Bulls, it’s great that they’re a high-speed team (seventh nationally in adjusted tempo, second in fastbreak points), but if speed leads to bad decisions—see the Central Michigan game—or you can’t keep your opponent from draining shots—Toledo shot 51 percent, Miami shot 52 percent, Michigan State shot 50 percent in the second half, West Virginia shot 52 percent, all UB losses—then speed doesn’t matter. You’re just giving the ball back to the other team faster, especially given this team’s proclivity for turnovers. In recent games, Buffalo’s showed signs of changing its stripes. The Bulls are 39th in the country in steals per game (8.6) and 54th in turnovers forced per game (15.2). Zid Powell is second in the MAC with 2.12 thefts per contest, and Curtis Jones is tied for eighth with almost two. Couple that with the increased intensity in the paint and we’re starting to see something potentially lethal defensively round into shape.
Image from ubbulls.com
Get the ball in scorers’ hands, Make good decisions. Work hard on the boards. Slow down your opponent. Dr. Naismith probably figured these strategies out before he took down the peach baskets. Buffalo’s won two of its last three contests after a pair of dispiriting losses following these steps.
Let’s end this long writeup with a bit of praise for Coach Whitesell. The product isn’t always perfect, but it takes effort to win on the boards and to play defense. For the most part, that effort's been there, particularly in the new year, and that’s a credit to the coach.5
UB faces two more very tough games in the next four days—at Kent State on Friday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU, and defending MAC champs Akron on Tuesday at home—and a win in either one would go a long way towards putting more confidence into our postseason chances.
UB Women Take A Swing at Another MAC Contender, Can’t Quite Grab the Crown
Image from ubbulls.com
Kent State. Ball State. Western Michigan.6
Now, add Bowling Green to the list.
The UB women’s basketball team (8-8, 3-4) has battled four of the top six teams in the MAC about as close as you can without earning a victory.
The latest white-knuckler was Wednesday’s 64-61 home loss to the conference-leading Falcons.
The Bulls played BGSU neck-and-neck from the first whistle, and stayed within two points until there were just five seconds left in the game. UB’s Kayla Salmons missed a game-tying jumper with 44 seconds on the clock, and Buffalo couldn’t grab a loose ball after Re’Shawna Stone blocked a layup attempt by Bowling Green’s Nyla Hampton with 17 seconds remaining.
When the Bulls finally did get the ball back,g down three with five seconds left, Stone couldn’t quite get off a contested three before the final buzzer (and may have been fouled, and the official may have whistled it, but it was waved off? Strange).
Image from ubbulls.com
From UBBulls.com:
Despite a fantastic defensive effort in which they held Bowling Green to 18 points below their scoring average, the University at Buffalo women's basketball team (8-8, 3-4 MAC) couldn't score on their final possession to extend the game as they fell to the Falcons 64-61 on Wednesday night at Alumni Arena.
Buffalo's dynamic backcourt trio led the way once again with Zakiyah Winfield pacing the Bulls with 20 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Fifth year guard Re'Shawna Stone (pictured above) scored 19 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals and Jazmine Young added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.Buffalo shot 50% from the floor on the night and matched Bowling Green in the paint with 42 points, but the Falcons held the 34-31 edge on the glass, including 11 offensive rebounds which they converted into 10 points while also scoring 18 points off UB turnovers.
"I am so proud of this team," said head coach Becky Burke. "They come out and believe they have a chance to win every single night. We have handled all the adversity we have faced with a tremendous amount of toughness and that's all that we as a coaching staff could ask. We obviously wish the outcome was a win, but we will take a ton of positives from this game and definitely have some momentum going forward."
Burke continues to make due with a razor-thin bench, which ESPN+ commentator Matt Mattia described at one point on Wednesday as “two freshmen, a walk-on, and a volleyball player.” Latrice Perkins, an increasing valuable swing off the bench, was not available.
Among the starters, the Iron Four of Winfield, Stone, Young, and forward Emerita Mashaire each played a full 40 minutes.
Forward Kayla Salmons came off the bench to play 30 minutes. The two freshmen—forward Hattie Ogden and guard Caelan Ellis—appeared for 11 total minutes (10 by Ogden), and the walk-on (guard Briyanna Baron) and the volleyball player (Olivia DeBortoli) did not play.
Experience, Size Too Much to Overcome
Image from ubbulls.com
It’s tough to nitpick the Bulls in this one—they shot 50 percent from the floor, hit 77 percent of their free throws, and lost the battle of the boards by just three rebounds (34-31). UB was only two-of-10 from three, but held BGSU to five-of-22.
Bowling Green has a tough frontcourt featuring Allison Day, a fifth-year transfer from Loyola Chicago, where she was a two-time All-MVC selection, and high-scoring Aussie forward Elissa Brett, a senior. UB had to counter this combo with Ogden and sophomore transfers Mashaire and Salmons, who have less than four full seasons of combined D1 experience.
Nyla Hampton is a third-year team captain and one of the premier defensive guards in the conference. Lexi Fleming is also a third-year captain. Swing Jocelyn Tate has been a steady contributor for the past two seasons.
The difference probably came down to second-chance points; Bowling Green scored 10 points off 11 offensive rebounds, while Buffalo had six points on just four offensive boards. At some point, size matters—6’2 Sophie Dziekan scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Day (6’1) had 10 points and six boards. Brett (5’10) had a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds; Tate (5’10) went six and six.
What can you do? It’s a credit to the heart of this Buffalo team that they came within a last-second shot of tying or winning this game.
The road doesn’t get easier. Up next is a trip to Akron to face the former Bulls point guard Dominique Camp and the Zips (13-5, 4-3), who’ve fallen out of the Mid-Major Top 25 following three losses in four games. Tipoff is 5 p.m. on Saturday at Rhodes Arena (ESPN3).
NOTES FROM THE FIELD: CHECKING IN ON OLD FRIENDS; GW PROGRAM ON THE RISE?
Editor’s Note: Moving forward, we’ll occasionally look at snapshots of other mid-major hoops programs as a measuring stick for our own Buffalo Bulls. Long-term, I’d like to start a separate mid-major newsletter and get this out of the UB feed. Stay tuned. In the meantime, all feedback is welcome, and hopefully you find some of these little portraits of similar-sized teams and their broader national context interesting. Always welcome your thoughts on Twitter or by emailing editor@ubuffaloin5.com. - BK
The Syracuse women’s basketball team has myriad ties to the University at Buffalo, as we are all too well aware.
Felisha Legette-Jack was a legend on the court for the Orange before she became a coaching legend in Western New York, taking UB to four NCAA tournaments and the 2018 Sweet Sixteen while winning over 200 games.
Star guard Dyaisha Fair averages 19 points per game (27th in Division 1) and is among the top 100 nationally in assists. She left Buffalo, of course, as arguably the best player in school history, a former MAC Freshman of the Year, 1st-Team All-MAC selection, an All-MAC Defensive Team member, and the fastest player to score 1,000 points in the Blue & White.
Swing Georgia Woolley has played her way into the starting lineup after beginning the season on the bench for the Orange. She’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and over two assists per game, numbers slightly below what she posted as MAC Freshman of the Year for Buffalo last season.
Forward Saniaa Wilson has struggled with injury issues but, like Woolley, has played her way into the starting lineup. She’s averaging four points and three boards, similar to her stats as a freshman for the Bulls in 2021-22, but against ACC competition—arguably the best women’s basketball conference in the country.
Guard Cheyenne McEvans, who’s appeared in 15 games, spent time in Buffalo. Freshman Lexi McNabb, who’s played 33 minutes in seven games, never donned the UB uniform, but was briefly a highly-touted Bulls recruit before flipping to Syracuse. Sophomore forward Kyra Wood has no connections to UB, but is a Buffalo native who graduated from City Honors.
These connections made a trip to Durham, North Carolina to watch the Orange (14-7, 5-5) face #16 Duke too interesting to pass up.
Pictured above: Dyaisha Fair (left), Georgia Woolley (center)
It was the right decision. Syracuse gave the Blue Devils (18-2, 8-1) all they could handle in a physical, hard-fought battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
From goduke.com:
Behind a balanced offensive attack and solid defense down the stretch, No. 13 Duke women's basketball registered a 62-50 victory over Syracuse Sunday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Five different Duke players scored in the opening period for the Blue Devils, but it was the visitors who held a 15-10 lead at the end of one. The Blue Devils commanded the second period and outscored the Orange 19-9, including a 14-2 run to close the quarter.
A 7-0 run capped by a Shayeann Day-Wilson triple from the top of the key deadlocked the score at 22, then Celeste Taylor cashed in a three-pointer from the slot to give Duke its first lead of the game, 25-24, with 4:01 to go in the quarter.
Taylor added a pair of free throws and Elizabeth Balogun finished a transition bucket to push the Duke advantage to five, 29-24, heading into the break. A transition basket by Reigan Richardson and a jumper from Taya Corosdale gave the Blue Devils their biggest lead of the game at 13 (39-26) at the 6:01 mark.
The Orange issued a response of their own, battling back to pull within four, 41-37, with 56 seconds left to play in the third. Richardson connected on another jump shortly afterwards, giving Duke a six-point advantage heading into the fourth.
Syracuse pulled within two early in the period but never got any closer, as the Blue Devils strung together several stops leading to an 8-1 run to give the home team a 51-42 lead with 3:47 to go. Later in the fourth, Taylor scored six straight to push Duke's advantage to a dozen – including a fastbreak layup off the feed from Reigan Richardson after she picked the pocket of the Orange's Dyaisha Fair, swinging momentum completely in the Blue Devils' favor.
Image from goduke.com
Fair finished with 12 points and four steals but shot four-of-18 from the floor and went 0-for-five on three-point attempts—a very un-Fair-like performance. She seemed content to facilitate for much of the game before attacking late in the third and fourth quarters.
Woolley started the day on fire—she seemed to be everywhere, forcing turnovers, grabbing rebounds, and finishing a fast break that helped ‘Cuse build an early lead. She faded a bit, however, battling the physical Duke guards, and was hit with a pair of questionable traveling calls that seemed to throw off her attacking game. Georgia had just two points in the game, but did collect six rebounds in 23 minutes.
The Buffalo-based combo of Wilson (6’0) and Wood (6’3) proved to be the most effective defense against Duke bigs Kennedy Brown (6’6), Corosdale (6’3), and Balogun (6’1). The duo helped the Orange back into the game after the Blue Devils went on a 24-4 run over the second and third quarters, flipping a seven-point Syracuse lead into a 13-point deficit.
With Wilson and Wood in the frontcourt, the Orange inched within two points early in the fourth quarter and trailed by just five with 2:22 remaining in the game before Duke sealed the deal. It was Syracuse’s third loss in a row.
Image from cuse.com
“I was disappointed we backed down,” she said in the postgame presser. “I thought we backed down. You come to a fight, you fight. We came to a tough game, a physical game, and we didn’t fight.”
Coach Jack discussed the performance of her two high-profile expats, Fair and Woolley, who each had frustrating games in their first visit to the legendary Duke gym.
“I asked (Dyaisha) to shoot more,” she said. “I told her, you’re a star. They can’t get their hands on you. (But) she can really put the ball in the hole. She’ll be better…
“Dyaisha, as you know, has already dropped 25 on some teams, and so has Georgia. (Georgia’s) still got to grow a little bit, get bigger. I believe in that weight room…She’s still getting better.”
Coach Jack was expansive on the play of her young bigs, who held their own against the size and experience of the nationally-ranked hosts.
“Our bigs are getting better,” she explained. “Our sophomore class is really going to be fun to watch in the future. I thought we really matched their inside play well, but after a while, 6’6 becomes 6’6, right? We’re going in there at 5’11…
“(Saniaa’s) healthy now, and we’ve been able to put her in our rotation. We’re fortunate to have her health right now. She’s been wanting to play, and we’ve been wanting to play her, but you know, if you’re not healthy, you can’t be out there. You can’t put people in harm’s way. Her game was good, but her life is more important. She’s getting healthier, and will really be another important post player for us.”
Image from cuse.com
Tough stretch aside, Coach Jack remains confident about the future.
“I don’t look at (the three-game losing streak) as losses. I think we’re getting better,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to grow. We don’t think about wins and losses, we think about winning and learning, and we learned a lot of lessons versus Duke. You’ve got a very good team here. This team is really going to represent us really well in postseason play. So will Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech, and NC State…and right now, we’re just Syracuse, and we’re just growing.
“But I promise you one thing. We’re going to be a name that you’re going to hear. One day, you’re going to be proud to wear orange because we’re going to build this program to newfound heights. That’s my word.”
That journey’s already started—on Thursday night, Syracuse flattened Virginia at the JMA Wireless Dome, 90-72. Fair scored 36 points, her first 30-point performance for the Orange. Woolley added 17 points and four rebounds.
Program on the Rise? A Thumbnail Sketch of George Washington Basketball
Image from nbcsports.com
George Washington had itself a nice little upset this past weekend, taking out Atlantic 10 rival Dayton, 76-69, at the Charles E. Smith Center in Foggy Bottom. That victory—coupled with another home win on Wednesday night over St. Joseph’s, a tough 92-91 OT decision—now has the Colonials at 5-2 in the A10 and 11-9 overall.
There’s a definite sense this team is trending up under first-year head coach Chris Caputo, a longtime assistant under Jim Larrañaga during successful stints at George Mason and Miami (Florida). GW hasn’t had a winning season since 2016-17 and has just one NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006-07.
“Absolutely,” said star guard James Bishop IV, an LSU transfer who hails from nearby Baltimore, when asked if the Colonials could win the A10 this season. “I don’t see anyone in the locker room who says we can’t. I think it’s very possible. Very possible.”
Image from gwsports.com
That kind of talk would have seemed crazy before the season began, when SI.com picked George Washington to finish 12th in the 15-team conference, or as recently as December, when the squad lost five out of six games—three by double digits.
After that stretch, and heading into conference play, Caputo doubled down on the team’s need to increase its defensive intensity.
“We’ve been trying to get better defensively every day,” Caputo said after the Dayton win, a game in which his team held the Flyers (13-8, 5-3) to 35 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounded the tallest unit in Division 1, 34-32. “And for us, we’ve had incremental improvements at moments. Most of the game today. But you know, it’s going to give you a chance most nights to beat a team if you can defend them. Tonight, we could. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen next week. But tonight, we gave ourselves a chance.”
Image from gwsports.com
It’s a work in progress. GW is still statistically last in the A10 in points allowed per game, surrendering an average of 73.7. Fortunately, the Colonials are second in team scoring, knocking in 76.4 points per game. The ferocious backcourt of Bishop (22 points per game) and Brendan Adams (17.5 points per game) are number one and five in A10 scoring, and Bishop is third is assists (5.4 per game).
“We’re a good offensive team,” Caputo said. “If we can get stops, then we can run.7 It allows you to play in the open court. And so, I think it works for us. We have a pretty good half court offense with our guard play, and then if we can get stops, we can get into the open court. It’s easier to score in the open court. So that’s been a big emphasis for us. As I’ve said to you guys before, sometimes you think I’m lying about it, we spend about 80 percent of our (practice) time on defense to try to improve in that area."
Image from gwsports.com
Swingman Max Edwards (pictured above), a Kansas State transfer, is averaging 11 points and six rebounds per game, and shoots 36 percent from three. Against Dayton, Edwards (15 points, six rebounds) knocked down two early threes and hammered home a pair of dunks to help GW jump out to a 24-12 lead with six minutes remaining in the first half while inflaming the student section known as George’s Army.
Forward Ricky Lindo, Jr. is a Washington, D.C. native who transferred in from Maryland after the 2019-20 season. A crowd-pleaser with his own fan club, Lindo averages 10 points and five boards—and, against Dayton, provided critical defense on the Flyers’ 6’10 sophomore scoring and rebounding leader, DaRon Holmes II.8
The aforementioned George’s Army is a student section worth aspiring to—packed shoulder-to-shoulder, loud, relentlessly positive, the kids kept the emotion in the building high and helped drown out an equally large contingent of Dayton fans that swathed the opposite side of the arena in red. Great atmosphere all around. After the win was in the books, Edwards did a Lambeau-style leap into the crowd.
“I mean, it was a long winter break,” laughed Edwards. “It was great to see them when they got loud. They showed out.”
“It’s always amazing to play in front of a big crowd,” Bishop added. “We’ve been blessed this year to play in front of big crowds, and tonight was one of them. We love George’s Army.”
What does the future hold for GW? Currently rated 174th by KenPom.com, the analytics site predicts the team will finish the season 5-6 over its final 11 games for a 16-15 record and a 10-9 conference mark. Honestly, that wouldn’t be terrible for a team under a first-year head coach that hasn’t won anything in years.
It does not seem, at this point, anyway, that the Colonials and their fans are ready to settle.
“You’ve got to take it game by game, not get too far ahead,” Edwards said. “Thinking about winning the conference means thinking about every game that will get you there. That’s what we’ve got to handle first.”
“I think our group has done a great job taking whatever the game plan is and executing it as we play,” Caputo concluded. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect or it’ll always be right or it’s going to work, but we try to give it a shot…You want to be able say, hey, no matter who comes into our arena, we’re going to have the ability to compete and hopefully win those games.”
From kenpom.com: “Effective field goal percentage is like regular field goal percentage except that it gives 50% more credit for made three-pointers.”
Buffalo is 43rd in the nation in assists with 15.5 per game. Foster is seventh in the MAC at 3.7 assists per game.
The Bulls have climbed the charts in terms up assist/turnover ratio and are now in the black at 1.05. Their total number of assists (310) are on par with #1 Purdue (309) and Indiana (311), which is even more impressive when considering those two teams have legit big men who are regularly fed the ball—Purdue’s 7’4 center Zach Edey takes 30.6% of the Boilermakers’ shots while on the floor, while the Hoosiers’ Trayce Jackson-Davis takes over 27%.
The national average is 18.7, which is less to say that the Bulls aren’t that big of an outlier and more to acknowledge there are a lot of teams having trouble holding onto the ball.
Also, I like Whitesell’s haircut this season. It looks good!
Terrible news out of Kalamazoo: High-scoring Lauren Ross, ninth in D1 with 21.8 points per game, will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury sustained against Buffalo last Saturday.
Sound about right, UB fans?
Holmes is a native of Goodyear, Arizona, which is also the home of former UB great Mitchell Watt.