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Buffalo Bulls Men's Basketball Preview: Bowling Green Falcons

UB Athletics

After a promising start to MAC play, the men's basketball team is at a crossroads just like it was last year. This is the second consecutive year that the Bulls are 7-6 in MAC play and it's going to take another fairy tale comeback to win the MAC championship again. The first priority is to get that top-four seed and that starts with UB's first meeting of the season with Bowling Green.

Quick Facts

Opponent: Bowling Green

Head Coach: Micheal Huger (13-12, 1st year with Bowling Green)

Date/Time: 2/20/16, 12:00 PM (say goodbye to attendance)

Home/Away: Home

Opponent's Mascot: A Birdie

Current Record: 13-12 (4-8 MAC)

2014-15 Season Record: 21-12 (11-7 MAC)

Postseason: Did not receive postseason bid

All-Time Series: Bowling Green leads 18-12

Opponent's Roster and Stats

Player Position Height MIN PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 3P%
Spencer Parker F 6'7" 28.9 14 5.5 1.8 0.459 0.701 0.4
Zack Denny G 6'2" 29.2 11.8 7 0.9 0.404 0.65 0.393
Wesley Alcegaire G 6'5" 25.3 9.9 3.1 0.7 0.404 0.722 0.375
Antwon Lillard G 6'5" 20.3 7.7 3.2 0.7 0.49 0.63 0.216
Rasheed Worrell F 6'7" 19.9 7.5 4.2 0.5 0.513 0.571 0.667
Ismail Ali G 6'1" 21.4 6.2 2.2 3.9 0.402 0.713 0.304
David Joseph G 6'0" 20.7 4.7 2.5 2.8 0.357 0.73 0.441
Demajeo Wiggins F 6'9" 14.3 4.1 4.4 0.1 0.554 0.405 0
Matt Fox G 6'4" 8.6 3.2 0.8 0 0.414 1 0.429
JD Tisdale G 6'4" 10.4 2.3 1.8 0.5 0.321 0.667 0.167
Totals -- 71 38 12 0.435 0.656 0.37

Ok, I really applaud Nate Oats for almost entirely minimizing the damage this season. The thing is that Micheal Huger deserves A TON of credit for what he did for Bowling Green over the offseason. Huger inherited an absolute dumpster fire of an off season (no offense to the Falcons) as a result of the Chris Jans firing. A ton of BG players transferred out with Huger's hiring and for him to have a record above .500 is astonishing. I was expecting a single digit win season for them so kudos to Huger.

For the first game in a while, UB is going to have a height advantage. Ikenna Smart and Nick Perkins should be able to be a duo of bullies down in the post. BG plays a lot of guys and balances out the scoring pretty well. Sending them to the line shouldn't be too much of a concern considering they only make 65% of their free throws. It looks like the best way to stop this team is a nice full team effort on defense.

Notable Games

  • Won at Ohio 91-75
  • Won at EMU 84-79
  • Won at WMU 79-78

Can We Win?

BG has lost their last six games. With that being said, they aren't taking down Buffalo. This is a very crucial game for the Bulls.