Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball gets trounced by Kent State’s defense late in 77-69 affair

Riding a six game winning streak into their matchup with Kent State, Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball faced a challenge that brought them back down to Earth. Sometimes a loss is just what a team needs, and that’s what happened in this game. The Bulls fell to the Golden Flashes 77-69 after failing to get past Kent’s interior defense for much of the game.

UB’s dribble drive scheme quickly struggled throughout the first half, failing to get the lane penetration in order to kick the ball out for a good look from three. This is where Kent’s Jimmy Hall was commanding.

Hall finished the night with a double-double effort of 26 points and 10 rebounds. What shows the struggling interior defense from the Bulls is his eight attempts from the charity stripe.

Buffalo didn’t shoot the ball at an awful level except from beyond the arc—which isn’t anything new this season. The Bulls did shoot 41%, but give the eyeball test and this was by far the most stagnant and lacking of flow game they’ve had since the winning streak began.

Rebounding also was a struggle as the Bulls lost to Kent by a 39-37 advantage. Getting at the glass is something the Bulls have harped on constantly in order to win games.

Blake Hamilton was the top performer at 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Bulls also saw a strong effort from CJ Massinburg, particularly from the charity stripe. Had UB been able to get more chances at the line, the end result could’ve been very different.

A minor setback for Buffalo as they move to 9-6 in the MAC with the loss. But, UB is still in great position to get a bye to Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. The Bulls are back in action this Friday at Alumni for a rematch with the Akron Zips.