Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball Recap: Bulls smash Nazareth thanks to phenomenal three-point shooting, Pino ties career high

Starting the season in sloppy fashion, the Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball team made their way back to Alumni to face Nazareth in hopes to restore some confidence. Nick Perkins and Willie Conner would have a field day over the Golden Flyers. Thanks to an electric display from beyond the arc, the Bulls destroyed their Division III opponent 85-38.

The Bulls came out rusty in the first ten minutes of the game. They failed to take care of the ball and played lazy defense all around. But once the Bulls held a slim 15-13 lead over the Golden Flyers, everything started to click. UB made it rain from beyond the arc as the Bulls went into the half shooting 78% from that distance.

With the dominance from three, Nazareth had to focus their defensive efforts on the perimeter and it opened up the post and UB excelled. This is how this year’s team is going to win games.

The star of this half was Nick Perkins. The sophomore brought in an impressive 13 points on perfect three-point shooting and two more buckets from the field. Perkins is proving to be UB’s biggest offensive threat this year. The Bulls entered halftime with a 41-25 lead.

The second half saw Buffalo run away with this game. The fantastic beyond the arc shooting continued and when Nick Perkins cooled down, Willie Conner took over. Conner is the sneakiest scorer I’ve had the pleasure to watch. He seems to be able to rack up double digits in scoring without causing a huge ruckus.

Thanks to locking down on defense, Buffalo held Nazareth to 13 points in the half—a gigantic win for a struggling defensive corps. Nazareth failed to make it past 38 points on the night, something you will rarely see as long as Buffalo plays uptempo.

Nick Perkins lead the way with a final stat line of 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. The sophomore is playing the best basketball of his life as of late. Conner’s 15 and Smart’s 9 also deserves mentioning. Blake Hamilton also had an eye-popping eleven assists.

Finally, there’s Quate McKinzie. McKinzie took only three shots tonight — all from beyond the arc — and sunk every single one of them. The freshman has found his place.

The best part of tonight’s game: Christian Pino’s two points — tied for his career high — and a filthy behind the back pass that lead to a David Kadiri score.

The Bulls are off North to Alaska for the The Great Alaska Shootout tournament next week. On Nov. 23 they’ll take on Division II Alaska-Anchorage to kickoff the tourney. Tip-off is 11:00 PM EST and will be broadcasted nationally on CBS Sports Network.