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Ohio @ Buffalo (1/14 @ 7:00 pm)


Jeseph

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Yeah Bulls!  That's more like it.  A tough, tough win tonight.  They played sloppy in the first half but somehow were only down 5 at halftime.  I thought the intensity was higher second half, and they clawed into a lead down the stretch.  I loved the competitiveness today, I loved hitting shots in the paint, I loved better free throw shooting (even when Graves tried to miss at the end!).  This team has plenty of ups and downs (more to come), but they have responded after a bad game or two so far.  Enjoy the ups right now.

Williams - he's moving so much more smoothly with the ball this season.  Taking a huge leap forward as a sophomore and becoming a more consistent player.  Both ends of the court.  Uses that long reach to get around defenders at the net.
Graves - a frustrating night for him but a big defensive play at the end to seal it.
Jordan - I expect a lot from him because he's a senior.  And he makes a bunch of dumb turnovers and bad shots a game that you'd expect from a freshman.  Then a couple really smooth buckets.  I was upset that he was getting repeatedly torched by a sophomore who looked like he's 12.  Come on man.
Mballa - didn't get a ton of points today but was so active under the net.
Johnson - credit when credit is due - he competed today, he hit a couple shots, double digits, well done
Grant - credit when credit is due, earned a charge at a time when they needed it first half
Brock - needs to box out if he wants to get more of those rebounds

Ohio - they have two players.  But they're really good.  Preston and Vander Plas are the real deal, and they're going to be a problem for us for a while.  Vander Plas can shoot from anywhere, and Preston had an annoying propensity for hitting layups from weird angles.  Ogbonda (transfer from Georgia Tech) wasn't as much a factor as I thought, though he was a big body inside.  I love beating Ohio, I'm still growling about some high profile losses in the past.

Crowd - a decent showing on a weeknight.  Props to a couple students who showed up and tried making some noise, I heard and saw you. 

I don't like to do this too much, but those refs were awful tonight.  Hesitant on calls, perplexing on many of them.  That foul near the end on Mballa that we all thought was a clean hit out of Ogbonda's hands, I was afraid those 2 points were going to decide the game.

Enjoy this tonight, this was a good, tough MAC win.

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3 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

 

I don't like to do this too much, but those refs were awful tonight.  Hesitant on calls, perplexing on many of them.  That foul near the end on Mballa that we all thought was a clean hit out of Ogbonda's hands, I was afraid those 2 points were going to decide the game.

 

That call (which was wrong and EXTREMELY late) was made by DJ Carstensen, who has done many games at UB over the years, but none recently (as he seems to get a lot of Big 10 games). His most famous game at UB was the infamous "no Goddamn socks" game vs Bowling Green back in our early days of the MAC. Probably my most memorable UB home game ever. A classic of epic proportions!

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4 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

That call (which was wrong and EXTREMELY late) was made by DJ Carstensen, who has done many games at UB over the years, but none recently (as he seems to get a lot of Big 10 games). His most famous game at UB was the infamous "no Goddamn socks" game vs Bowling Green back in our early days of the MAC. Probably my most memorable UB home game ever. A classic of epic proportions!

YES!  What a fun game in the end.  Run, Dakich, run!!!  When Yassin was shooting those technicals to tie it, that's the quietest I have ever heard that place for a free throw.  We contacted MSG to see if they had any old footage of that game (from Empire Sports) and Dakich's hilarious interview afterwards, they said they'd look but never responded further.  Unfortunately when people are this incompetent they don't tend to get retained as coach, so we didn't get a chance to heckle him about it again.

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I know always back him, but I thought Whitesell showed a lot of the passion and energy people on this board were questioning.

He was trying to fire the crowd up multiple times and he smacked the scorer's table after an Ohio offensive rebound.

Was good to see that energy in such a competitive game.

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I rewatched the game from yesterday and it seemed like Antwain Johnson woke up a bit on that first dunk of his. A lot of rage went into that dunk. The guy has got to be so frustrated with himself to this point. HOWEVER, what a good performance from him yesterday. Best offensive performance by far from him and he was good defensively. Stepped up big while Graves had an off shooting night. You have to imagine Johnson is relieved. Credit to him for continuing to work at it and get better. I have been harsh as hell on here about him but last night he showed me a lot and what he is capable of.

For me, the star of the show was Jeenathan Williams and for good reason. That huge game winning bucket. Great offensive showing by him getting 26 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. He still needs to work on his jump shot and at times can be a liability on defense, but my god, what a step forward he has taken. Both Williams and Segu have taken a great step in the right direction and have improved mightily since last season.

I hope that we can soon get Josh Mballa help inside for the purpose of rebounding and giving him the ability to play the 4 position. The guy has been so solid for us to this point and last night came close to another double double. He has had at least 5 games this season where he’s come so close to getting a double double, on top of his already 4 double double games. 

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10 hours ago, enrique14150 said:

Yeah Bulls!  That's more like it.  A tough, tough win tonight.  They played sloppy in the first half but somehow were only down 5 at halftime.  I thought the intensity was higher second half, and they clawed into a lead down the stretch.  I loved the competitiveness today, I loved hitting shots in the paint, I loved better free throw shooting (even when Graves tried to miss at the end!).  This team has plenty of ups and downs (more to come), but they have responded after a bad game or two so far.  Enjoy the ups right now.

Williams - he's moving so much more smoothly with the ball this season.  Taking a huge leap forward as a sophomore and becoming a more consistent player.  Both ends of the court.  Uses that long reach to get around defenders at the net.
Graves - a frustrating night for him but a big defensive play at the end to seal it.
Jordan - I expect a lot from him because he's a senior.  And he makes a bunch of dumb turnovers and bad shots a game that you'd expect from a freshman.  Then a couple really smooth buckets.  I was upset that he was getting repeatedly torched by a sophomore who looked like he's 12.  Come on man.
Mballa - didn't get a ton of points today but was so active under the net.
Johnson - credit when credit is due - he competed today, he hit a couple shots, double digits, well done
Grant - credit when credit is due, earned a charge at a time when they needed it first half
Brock - needs to box out if he wants to get more of those rebounds

Ohio - they have two players.  But they're really good.  Preston and Vander Plas are the real deal, and they're going to be a problem for us for a while.  Vander Plas can shoot from anywhere, and Preston had an annoying propensity for hitting layups from weird angles.  Ogbonda (transfer from Georgia Tech) wasn't as much a factor as I thought, though he was a big body inside.  I love beating Ohio, I'm still growling about some high profile losses in the past.

Crowd - a decent showing on a weeknight.  Props to a couple students who showed up and tried making some noise, I heard and saw you. 

I don't like to do this too much, but those refs were awful tonight.  Hesitant on calls, perplexing on many of them.  That foul near the end on Mballa that we all thought was a clean hit out of Ogbonda's hands, I was afraid those 2 points were going to decide the game.

Enjoy this tonight, this was a good, tough MAC win.

Thanks for this write-up.  It helps.

Certainly Williams has a high ceiling and, by his senior year, he will be a MAC POTY candidate.  He is progressing on offense, obviously (only 1 turnover).  On defense...it seems it is another story (judging from this thread).  He had one block, one steal and was not even close enough to his man on defense to commit a foul!

What was up with Segu?  A quite 15 minutes from the stat sheet (and the game thread).

I think we have to live with the fact that Graves and Jordan are not going to be the consistent players we projected for this year.  They are complimentary players...guys who can have good games and lead the team, but can also have their fair share of off days.  When that happens, you need other guys to step up (like Williams today).  If not, you lose on the road by 20 to Ball State.

On to the next one...in Mt. Pleasant this Saturday.

 

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38 minutes ago, UB92 said:

What was up with Segu?  A quite 15 minutes from the stat sheet (and the game thread).

It was reported that Segu had the flu and was well enough to play but I think it obviously limited his ability to play major minutes. 

 

Graves posted about being sick on social media this morning as well. Could definitely explain why he looked off last night too.

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What a close one. I only watched the last 5 minutes of the game. We looked good. I think we got lucky on some calls at the end. In particular, the Johnson charge I think he was still moving his left foot. Also the last shot by Ohio, Mballa played great defense but Johnson swiped his arm after the shot. I thought for sure they were going to call it because it was a similar play that happened before.

I know I was mentioning Johnson in a negative light but Damn, he looked completely different out there. He looked like a leader. Ironic that Harris was in the audience too. Maybe he turned the corner!

Great team win. Clean up the first half mistakes, play like we did in the second half (and intensify our defense a little) we are good. 

 

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