Buffalo Men’s Basketball to participate in Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off

UB Men’s Basketball will play in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament next season. It’s the second time in the last four years that the Bulls will participate in the tourney.

Unlike in the 2015 edition of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off, Buffalo will stay home at Alumni Arena for the campus rounds of the tournament in exchange for $150,000. If the tournament layout stays the same, Buffalo will be placed in the Naismith bracket, which typically has two or three Power-5 teams in it.

After hosting two games with teams from the Springfield bracket, UB will then play two neutral-site games in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a chance at the Naismith bracket title. Those two games will take place on November 30 and December 1 respectively.

At this moment, not much has surfaced about other opponents. Jon Rothstein has reported in the past that the host teams will be Michigan, South Carolina, Providence, and George Washington...but that doesn’t make sense now that UB is in the mix. Chances are one of the teams backed out.

The last time UB played in the Tip-Off was in Nate Oats’ first season. The Bulls fell in both of their games against Naismith bracket teams Old Dominion and Saint Joseph’s. But, Buffalo rebounded once they reached the neutral-site games and defeated Vermont and North Carolina A&T to win the Springfield bracket title.

In other UB scheduling news, the non-conference game at Marquette is confirmed for December 21. Marquette will pay $100,000 to the University at Buffalo. UB also has a game under contract to play Canisius at the Koessler Athletic Center. That game will likely sell out due to the size of the arena.