Western Michigan Broncos 91, Buffalo Bulls Men's Basketball 71: Takeaways recap

UB lost, and it wasn't close and it wasn't ever - literally ever - in doubt. I'm of the mind that there's not much to learn from this, but we'll do takeaways anyway.

Matt's Takes

1. Better or Worse than 63-61 Ohio?

As I said in the recap, 3-3 is where this program was through six MAC games last year, as well. At that point, UB had just dropped an uncharacteristically sluggish game to a bad Ohio team. For the most part, people accepted that it was an out-of-character showing, and focused more on losses to Central and Western as cause for concern at that point.

I believe that 2015-16 WMU is better than 2014-15 Ohio, but how you feel about this game likely boils down to what you think of that comparison.

2. Anatomy of a comeback

I am a fan of the mindset that when you're down big, it's not wise to go all-out trying to make it all up, at once, but rather to try to chip away, media timeout by media timeout. Over the middle stretch of the first half, we kind of saw that, as UB's defense stiffened and the Bulls got the deficit down to 12 at a few times. But when WMU found a shot or two again, that was the nail in the coffin, with far too much time left.

Player of the Game: Nick Perkins

How much of his production came because everyone was playing out the string? Who knows. But 13 points is nice, just two off his season and career high.

Robby's Takes

1. Wasn't a fan of putting in Lamonte

It was easy to see that the panic button had been hit in this one (much like in women's basketball). I understand that we were down 15-2 but Lamonte did not look like he was at his best, especially when driving through the lane. I rather would've seen him on Tuesday at Ball State, which was Oats' plan after hearing his interview during the pre-game show. I'd also like to point out that this is another game with Lamonte in which we didn't win without at least four assists from him.

2. Where did the three point defense go?

It was known before this game that Tucker Haymond was going to shred the defense and he did. Buffalo just didn't seem to have an answer in this one. I didn't think they were being aggressive enough at all in the perimeter. Also, there were quite a few times where screens in the perimeter killed us and multiple guys couldn't get around them.

Player of the Game: Blake Hamilton

I almost gave this to Willie but Blake had another pretty good stat line. A good effort of 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists would've been very crucial had the team stayed in the game.