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The Bulls are back in action today, playing on a Saturday for the first time in weeks. As fans, we've become spoiled to getting Friday night games, something that will happen again next week However, the Bulls flew out to Dekalb last night, to be prepare for a match up between the MAC's best and worst teams.
Despite currently being the 12 seed in the MAC tournament, the NIU Huskies are not necessarily a push over team. They're led by the conference's leading scorer Eugene German, who can be a tough player to guard. This task will be given to Davonta Jordan and Dontay Caruthers as usual, as they both seem to still be the toughest Buffalo defenders.
As for the Bulls side, the name of the game is once again pace. The first time these two teams played, the game went in to halftime competitive, before the Bulls went on to run the tired Huskies out of Alumni Arena. If UB can follow the same game plan, Buffalo should not have any problems today. Let's take a look at some of the details of today's game.
What to Watch For
Second Half Defense
A lot of reader’s recently have expressed some displeasure with the defense in the second half. I personally haven’t had as many issues with the defense, rather the amount of free throws that the Bulls have allowed. This is the type of team that the Bulls should be able to control the entire way, so look for that in the second half.
Davonta Jordan
Jordan has been as streaky a player as ever this season, with more good than bad. I think that Jordan can really be a dominant player, and I believe that he will have a very strong game today attacking the rim against the Huskies.
Ikenna Smart
Smart has been struggling just a little bit and that may be an issue if these problems linger. Smart needs to be strong inside to help relieve Nick Perkins with handling some of the MAC bigs. Hopefully he gets out of his funk today against NIU.
Final Thoughts
The Bulls should win this game. Plain and simple. The Bulls are a much stronger team than the Huskies and I can’t stress that enough. I normally don’t like to be upset with wins under 10 points, but I feel like today I would be. The Bulls should be able to control the pace and dominate all aspects of the game. I hope everyone enjoys the game today, and Go Bulls!