At around 2.35 this afternoon myself and a good number of Bulls fans were pumped and ready to go in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University. At about 2:45 we ran out of energy and pretty much had nothing to cheer about the entire rest of the game.
The Buffalo Bulls lost a highly one-sided affair to the Princeton Tigers this afternoon 61-53. I know the score says the loss wasn't so bad, but you're pretty much out of it when you're down 37-16 at halftime. The Bulls came stumbling out of the gate, only getting their 5 and 6th point with 9 minutes left in the first half. One turnover after another, followed by missed open shots deflated the Bulls, and with the way the game was officiated it was a certainty that Bulls had no shot at winning this tough affair. Shooting 6 for 30 from the floor, 4 of 9 from the charity stripe, and 0 for 6 from beyond the arc with 12 turnovers equals a massively disappointed section of Bulls fans.
Hats off to Princeton today, especially on the defensive end. They did their homework and did not give Zach Filzen any space to catch and shoot, totally disrupting the Bulls offense in the first half. Follow that up with quick/smart ball movement and you'll have a very good shot at beating the Bulls. The Tigers were lead by Ian Hummer and sharp shooting guard Douglas Davis who scored 18 and 16 points. The teams size and length gave the Bulls problems on offense all game, forcing them into terrible turnovers, and not giving them too many chances on the offensive boards.
Personally I feel like I am more frustrated than most. Whenever I travel more than 45 minutes to a Buffalo road game the team seems to play terrible. The 4 longer distance games I've attended were a 10 point loss at Akron (they were down 16 at the break in that one), a 2 point win at Army, last years loss at Iona, and today's game that seemed to deflate all of my energy 8 minutes into the game. People better not let me go to the game at Temple in 5 weeks or else the Bulls are bound to get their behind kicked. The Bulls will look to turn it around in very winnable game at home against Canisius this upcoming Tuesday night. Hopefully time proves that this is a very good Princeton basketball team, because a bad loss to an 0-2 opponent makes your team look well below average.