Coming back from a successful road trip, Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball now sits at .500 in MAC play thanks to back-to-back wins. The Bulls now have a chance to redeem themselves from an earlier point in the conference slate. With a home matchup against Central Michigan on the docket, we’ll see if the team has improved enough to take down the best team in the MAC.
Last Time
Buffalo exposed their hand to Central Michigan and the Chippewas had no racking up the points. UB did enough to get to their standard of 70 points and also won the rebounding battle, but they turned the ball over 19 times and both of their defenses were ineffective. Presley Hudson and Tinara Moore walked all over the Bulls with 21 and 22 points respectively while Jewel Cotton wasn’t that far behind with 17.
Buffalo was led by freshman Theresa Onwuka with a double-double effort of 15 points and 10 rebounds in the 88-71 loss.
CMU since we last met
Central Michigan is rolling through MAC play and they aren’t looking back. The Chippewas are still a perfect 5-0 on the conference season and are playing the best basketball the MAC has to offer. After their 88-71 crushing of Buffalo, the Chips have rattled off wins over a good Ball State team, Bowling Green, and Miami (OH)—pushing the tempo to the point where those teams couldn’t keep up.
What to watch for
1. UB’s offensive performance
It’s clear that the Bulls focused heavily on their defensive intensity in their last game. UB’s 61-50 and 68-51 games were the best two game stretch since the Bulls won against Hofstra and Canisius earlier this year. Now that the Bulls appear to be working defensively, they’ve got to get their role players back into the thick of it on offense.
2. Bade, K. Ups, Morrison
This trio of players were all big in helping the Bulls get off to their best start in program history and they’ve been quiet as of late. If the Bulls want to win, they’ll need at least one or two of these players to score more than they have since conference play started.
3. Can UB control the pace?
All three of Buffalo’s losses so far in MAC play have seen the other team play very comfortably. If UB wants to win this game, they have to slow the pace down, especially when the Chips try to speed it up and catch the Bulls off guard. CMU thrives from taking a ton of shots and outrunning the other team.
4. Reid v. Hudson
Presley Hudson going unchecked is bad news for Buffalo’s chances and the Bulls got a taste of that medicine in their last game with the Chips. Stephanie Reid should have this matchup and she needs to execute the best on-ball defending she’s got to stop Hudson. Hopefully Katherine Ups can also bring some sound defense as well to lock down CMU’s leading scorer.