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| Game 1: UB at UT - Arlington | ||
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| Date - November 18th, 2014 | Record: 1-0,0-0 | |
| Time - 8:00 PM |
League: Sun Belt | |
| Venue - College Park Center | RPI - 14 (Tied with pretty much everyone) | |
Buffalo plays their third game in six days when the Bulls head to Texas for a match against the Mavericks of UT Arlington. It is UB's second road game of the season; the first saw Buffalo accomplish equality with #1 Kansas for most of the game before faltering late.
UB is coming off a disappointing road loss at Kentucky. New York was the equal of the nation's number-one team for 27 minutes but eventually the greater depth of Kentucky wore the Bulls down as they pulled away for a comfortable win. While UB can take a lot of positives away form the game it's yet another in a line of "what if" games for a program that has yet to get an earth-shattering win against a top 10 team despite close calls every chance they get.
Fatigue may start to be an issue for Buffalo but the Mavericks are as rested as any team in college basketball. The Mavs have played only one game, an 86-75 win against Bradley played last Friday. Arlington took a 19-point lead into the half and coasted for most of the second.
Against Bradley four Arlington starters scored either 13 or 14 points. Two players came off the bench for nine points. Balanced scoring was the order of the night for UT. They did, however, turn the ball over 19 times.
Being ahead of Kentucky for 27 minutes only to lose by almost 20 can take an emotional toll on any team. I am worried about the emotional toll of what happened at Kentucky combined with the physical toll of playing their third game in six days. The Bulls will have to be careful against an opponent with no one "it" guy.
| Players to Watch | |||
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| Jarryn Skeete |
Skeete came to Buffalo after playing his prep ball for Bridgton Academy under coach Whit Lesure. As a prep player he was ranked as the 39th best point guard in the class of 2012 according to ESPN. In Bobby Hurley's first season The UB coach used Skeete in 25 contests, starting him 11 times. In the Bulls last game against Kentucky Skeete scored 16 points, against South Dakota State Univeristy he had 8 rebounds. |
Johnny Hill |
The Chicago native started his college career playing for Illinois State but transferred to UT-Arlington after the 2012-2013 season. He had a redshirt to burn so Hill spent last year learning the Mavericks offense. He started 26 games as a sophomore including the final 25. In his debut with the 2014 Mavericks he had nine rebounds and 13 points, seven of those from the free throw line. |