On Saturday evening the Buffalo Bulls will host the Youngstown State Penguins for their final game before they take a 10 day break from basketball games. This will be the 4th meeting in the last 5 years for these opponents.
Buffalo is coming off of a 82-74 victory against local rival Niagara, while Youngstown State stands at 6-2 on the year winning their last contest against SUNY Fredonia. Youngstown State has 4 players who average double figure scoring, 2 of them being starting guards from the state of Florida. Kendrick Perry also adds 3.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists, while Blake Allen is second on the team in rebounding despite his small stature. Youngstown State is usually a team that finds themselves at the bottom of the Horizon League, but with less power at the top of that conference, and a young roster that keeps improving I think we can see the Penguins being a serious player this year.
Buffalo has not seemed to find its stride yet this year. One game they can look like a dominant mid-major and the next they look like an extremely young team that cant hold onto the ball. Last year Buffalo went into Youngstown Ohio after an impressive opening game, and then stunk up the joint against the Penguins who proved to be a highly inferior team last season. This year the Penguins are improved and the Bulls are still highly inconsistent, so expecting an easy victory would be foolish. Sophomore guard Jarod Oldham needs to get back to his early season form, and McCrea needs to consistently have his presence felt on the offensive end. A Buffalo victory would put the team at 6-2 going into their longest break of the season which would help Bulls fans regroup and start to feel good about their team again.