After a much needed break, the Buffalo Bulls Men’s basketball team is back in action against the Maine Bears. Buffalo comes in to this game at 5-7 after it’s two most disappointing losses of the season. Maine enters at 4-9. This feels like a much win in the sense of finding the “W” column, but at this point, all that matters is MAC play.
So how should we feel about this team after such a bad loss to Robert Morris. I think there are some areas of concern, but in the end after today’s game the record goes back to 0-0. The Bulls still have a lot of talent on this roster. The talent just has to gel together and everything will be okay. Hopefully these two bad losses will hit them hard and they used their holiday break to evaluate if they want to be good, bad, or 3 time MAC champs. Let’s take a look as to what we can expect from today’s game.
The First Ten Minutes are Huge
I cannot stress this enough. When coming off of bad losses how quickly you respond speaks volumes about mental toughness. If the team can get off to a quick start, and sustain it and not lay off, then I will have full confidence in them heading in to a tough start of MAC play. If they come out sloppy, I expect a lot of substitutions until Nate Oats finds the guys that want to play.
Can the Defense Find a Flow
Maine is not good. They’re around Coppin States level. A loss here would be catastrophic. That being said, much tougher games are coming and to win those games defense is everything. Buffalo has been shaky on defense the past couple games so I’m eager to see if they can use this game in order to build confidence. I look to see active feet from the guards, strong positioning from the forwards, and a team wide drive and desire to attack the ball.
More Even Scoring
Recently the offense has felt like it’s been too much Blake Hamilton. While I think Hamilton is a good player, I think recently he’s been forcing too many shots and trying to be the “it” guy every possession. If he uses his weapons of CJ Massinburg, Willie Conner, and Nick Perkins, scoring will become much easier. I’d love to see a game where role players all put up 5-10 and the big 4 all put up 15-20. That’s a team game and one that is hard to stop.
End Thoughts
I can’t stress this enough. The Bulls need to win this game. Yes in the end it means nothing towards Cleveland and beyond, but you can’t lose a game to a team like this. So let’s stay optimistic, cheer loud, and believe that the Bulls will get the job done tonight. This is a momentum game and Buffalo needs everything it can get before MAC play starts.