Bulls Basketball Weekly!
Buffalo Bulls Basketball Weekly (14-8, 5-4):
With two games this week, UB once again has an opportunity to separate itself from the middle of the MAC pack. Coming off a close home lose to Bowling Green the Bulls have two winnable games this week. A road matchup at Eastern Michigan, which is as winnable as any game this season and another matchup with Central Michigan. In theory the Bulls have a great opportunity to win their next 4 games before their matchup against Kent State.
So far, the Bulls have struggled to figure out who gets the ball and win close games against tough competition. The struggle seems to come from the back court as Jordan, a senior, tries to take control of the game but lacks the shooting and foul shooting ability to make consistent plays. There is Graves who is clearly the Bulls best shooter but cannot dribble at a consistent level and then transfer Johnson, who is as streaky a shooter the team has and like Jordan, can struggle at the free throw line.
The team is also very careless with the basketball with over 14 turnovers per game. Graves with 48 turnover this season has already eclipsed his season total from the 2018-2019 campaign and Jordan is at 72 turnovers for the season which is 15 less than what he had in all of last season. The carelessness the Bulls have with the ball causes them to waste possessions for a team who is not scoring at the clip we are used to seeing.
The defense continues to get better throughout the season which is held down by Mballa. With Brock coming back from injury that should be able to keep Mballa out of foul trouble which is a major concern for the team. When he is not on the court it takes Jeenathan out of position and makes him have to play in the post more. With only giving up 76 points per game, the Bulls have an opportunity to play even better defense, which will translate to more transition points which the Bulls excel at.
With that said, this season is not yet lost. The Bulls have proven they can beat any team in the MAC. They have already beaten the top seed on the Western side of the division and have lost by a combined 6 points to three of the top teams in the conference. This next 4 game stretch should teach us a lot about how this season will end and how good of a coach Jim Whitesell is. If the team is able to figure out its turnover struggles, the offensive end of the floor should automatically get better.
Key Stat: The Bulls are 10-1 when shooting 30% or better from Three this season. The lone loss coming at home vs Kent State where they had 18 turnovers.