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BUFFALO, NY - If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Bobby Hurley didn't have anything nice to say, but also didn't care what the old cliche said. Despite his team's 65-55 victory of Delaware State on Saturday afternoon, Hurley expressed his dissatisfaction in the way his Buffalo Bulls played.
"Outside of (winning the game), there's not much that I'm happy about," said Hurley. "We didn't shoot well in the first half and we let them shoot a really high percentage and we never really did anything to separate ourselves from our opponent tonight."
Freshman Shannon Evans led the Bulls with a career-high 13 points off the bench, while Jarod Oldham and Will Regan chipped in 12 a piece.
Defensively, the Bulls were able to force 17 turnovers and edged the Hornets on the glass by one, 32-31. Facing a type of offense unfamiliar to the Bulls, the flex offense was something they prepared for.
"They had a little dribble-weave going," said Hurley. "We obviously went over it in scouting and they've done this in their other games where they want to use 20 seconds of the shot clock, and then try and score late. So it puts a heavy emphasis on really containing the dribbler and making them shoot a tough shot late in the clock and then securing the rebound. And we didn't do that all the time."
Kendall Gray led Delaware State with 15 points while going 7 of 11 from the field. DeAndre Haywood was the only other Hornet in double figures with 11 points.
Javon McCrea came into the game averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds. He was held to just nine points and eight rebounds in just 26 minutes. He came into foul trouble in the second half, but even when in the game, the guards of Buffalo struggled to get him the ball with one-on-one coverage down low.
The Bulls led by seven at halftime 32-25. The Hornets were able to cut the deficit to one early in the second at 34-33, but Buffalo went on a 19-7 run to pull away from their MEAC foe.
UB improves to 3-2 and are winners of three straight with their next contest set for December 7th at home when they host St. Bonaventure. This is the first time in the Bobby Hurley era that the Bulls are over .500.