Buffalo Basketball: Auraum Nuiriankh Senior Salute

Buzz Before He Got Here: Nuiriankh was a Baltimore-area standout in high school who averaged 20+ points and 10+ rebounds a game in his senior season at Arundal High, after which he was named to the All-County First Team. Rather than jump straight to college, he played a year of prep school in North Carolina and secured an offer from UB.

Breakout Performance and First Three Seasons: The guard didn't really have a breakout performance in his sophomore year, when he became a regular contributor, but was always good for a bunch of stats in the Calvin Betts/Rod Middleton '3' role in Coach Witherspoon's system, sometimes sliding up into the '2'.

It was Nuiriankh's junior year where he really established himself with the Bulls, contributing on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He averaged a touch over five rebounds a game, and they always seemed to be those loose-ball, 'hustle' rebounds that can swing momentum. He recorded two double-doubles, against Central Michigan and Northern Illinois, and added a couple of blocks to his usual jack of all trades statline in a MAC tournament game against CMU.

Senior Moment: It might be the transition to a new coach and new system, and it might be the influx of new forward talent, but Auraum has struggled to find the floor this season: his high in both points and minutes came int he most recent contest against Northern Illinois, when he scored 5 in 14 minutes of floor time. In the following game against WMU, Nuiriankh pulled down 6 rebounds in just 8 minutes. Unfortunately those two games represent the high point of his season so far, but I'm choosing as Senior Day approaches to remember the high points during his Sophomore and Junior campaigns.

Thank You Auraum! Go Bulls!