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WMU @ Buffalo (1/21 @ 7:00 pm)


Jeseph

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20 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

After being at the game and coming home to read what was written, you'd think we lost by 20.

Same here.

I'll be honest, I felt like UB was never really in danger in this one.  Even in the first half, when WMU was shooting lights out (71% from 3 in the first half, per the postgame radio on the drive home) and super hyped on their bench, UB never wavered and just played their game.  The only thing that gave me pause was the refereeing, not because I thought it was egregiously in favor of Western, but because it ruined the entire rhythm of the first half.  Unlike the Ohio game, where I felt like the Bobcats were gonna break it open, I never really felt like Western was going to put UB away.  UB was in a rhythm, and over time the fouls evened out and Western's shooting came down to earth, and it doesn't surprise me that UB cruised to a relatively comfortable win when all was said and done.

I know Western isn't very good, but I find it difficult to critique too much of an 11 point win, especially when two of their best players (Jordan and Williams) spent what seemed like the entire game on the bench in foul trouble.  I do continue to be concerned about the subpar 3 point shooting, 5/22 today.  Part of what makes this offense so dynamic is giving everyone the green light, and the free-flowing offensive style makes for an exciting brand of basketball.  But tonight should serve as a lesson as to why this team should be attacking the rim more.  They've got 3 super physical guards who can get to the rim, a freakishly long slasher in Williams, and two athletic bigs who can either put the ball on the floor or work the post.  Someone above said that UB would've won by 20 if they'd hit some more 3s, and that's true, but they also would've won by 20 if they'd worked the ball inside and just simply bodied Western down low.

I'd like to call out Hardnett as having another quietly impressive performance tonight.  He looks so much more natural playing the 4 alongside Bertram or Mballa than he does trying to fit as a square peg in a round hole at center.  When he took that Western defender off the dribble from the 3 point line and scored - when's the last time you saw a 6'8" freshman smoke someone off the dribble like that?

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This team is gelling and I am optimistic with their chances from here on out. 

One thing to remember, is this team is much younger than last year's team.  That team typically got contributions from one to several seniors (out of the five) game in and game out plus contributions from a junior and a sophomore.  This year's team just recently is getting  reliable contributions from two seniors, and a junior.  However, they are also getting contributions from several sophomores and a freshman. 

I do like what I am seeing.

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Tonight we did what we had to do and that’s take care of business. Wasn’t easy but it’s another conference win. The offense was great. Limited turnovers, high assist and contributions from many. To me the most impressive thing about this win streak is that we are doing it despite not hitting 3s. If those ever fall watch out. But that also points out that we attack the boards and get buckets around the rim. Yes our defense was bad in the first half but I’ll attribute that to foul trouble and a mix mash of the rotation. Yes we need to improve on that end but it’s a work in progress. 

Now our schedule gets hard. Now comes some good test. Games in which we will be punched in the mouth. Games that will be physical. A game or two that we might lose. But this team seems to be learning. They are buying in. The MAC is wide open. Any team can win on any day. I’m glad to see us find some positive consistency. Onto Kent St. Go Bulls! 

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Definitely like winning 4 in a row after the 0-2 start. Overall Im fairly happy. Can't always have perfect turnover every coach change. For the most part I think we can compete every night with what we have.

That being said Akron and BGSU coming up will be the real barometers. Kent also probably will be tough having lost 3 in a row. 

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We are seeing Hardnett starting to get comfortable. 12 minutes, 8 points and 6 rebounds. Talk about production and making the most out of what’s given to him. He’s being more physical bringing in the rebound too. And to think he’s only a freshman still. 
 

I was a fan of the Hardnett/Mballa combo and that’s something we may see a lot of in the future.

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10 hours ago, enrique14150 said:

Some nights I don't care what the records are, it's a conference game and it's going to be tough.  I thought the Bulls competed really well again tonight, we've seen them lose focus for stretches of games (and down the stretch) and that didn't seem to happen tonight.  Western shot really well in the first half but the Bulls played well enough to be tied at the half, and UB kept getting better as the second half wore on.  I'm impressed by the workrate overall (which shows up in the rebounding numbers), they're not as slick and skilled as the past two years but they're competitive.  A much more complete game tonight than in most others this season.  Assist to turnover rate was awesome tonight.  Even when the 3's weren't dropping, they were finding the wide open man.  If anything to work on, it's the inside  motion to the hoop, they got burned a few times tonight on that.  But I expect guys like Mballa will get experience and won't get burned someday.

Mballa - battled so well underneath, and he runs the floor with and without the ball well for a big guy
Jordan - a truncated first half due to two quick fouls, but Segu picked up the slack
Graves - a quiet first half, followed by a really strong second half at both ends
Antwain - credit when credit is due, he's picked up his defensive intensity and he's picking his shots better on offense.  Showing what he can do, hitting his free throws, growing in confidence
Grant - by all that we saw, should've earned a charge in the first half, but these guys weren't going to call anything on Brandon Johnson
Brock - still doesn't use his size well underneath.  Has to move quicker, has to get position and box out if he's going to be effective
Segu - not a ton of points but a lot of solid minutes running the show
Williams - I wonder if Western made a point to focus on him defensively tonight
Hardnett - as others said, some solid minutes and made some nice put-backs underneath

Western - Hawkins is still there.  They looked a lot tougher tonight than their record said.  Johnson is good anywhere on offense, but he doesn't get dirty on defense, even towards the end when he had fouls to use.  Flowers often just chucks up shots to try to get to the foul line.  They use a lot of screens to try to open up shots and bang around defenders.

Crowd - a light crowd on a cold January weeknight.  A few students are trickling back and made some noise down there.  Hopefully more of them on Friday.

Say what you want about the execution at times, this team is trying, and they're an interesting group to watch.

Some good recaps above of the game. Way better team chemistry with no players hanging their heads when things are not going our way. Better overall offensive flow in most aspects of the game. Would love to see Segu use that step back jumper more. It does seem like more fouls are called on Jordan this year when he is charged into and flops on the floor. Kudos to Johnson for making improvement on both sides of the ball especially with sub par games from Jordan. Hope that Grant can give us a few productive minutes in a reserve role. Lower turnovers and better assist rates the last couple games bode well for the upcoming games. Go Bulls!!!!

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1 hour ago, mikescherrer8 said:

We are seeing Hardnett starting to get comfortable. 12 minutes, 8 points and 6 rebounds. Talk about production and making the most out of what’s given to him. He’s being more physical bringing in the rebound too. And to think he’s only a freshman still. 
 

I was a fan of the Hardnett/Mballa combo and that’s something we may see a lot of in the future.

100%.  He looks so much more natural when he's not forced into playing the 5, now that Bertram is back.  Really looking forward to him developing in his natural spot.

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2 hours ago, mikescherrer8 said:

We are seeing Hardnett starting to get comfortable. 12 minutes, 8 points and 6 rebounds. Talk about production and making the most out of what’s given to him. He’s being more physical bringing in the rebound too. And to think he’s only a freshman still. 
 

I was a fan of the Hardnett/Mballa combo and that’s something we may see a lot of in the future.

Have you seen Hardnett’s field goal percentage this season? It’s somewhere up near 80%. He’s been very efficient near the rim. His best play last night was a pick and roll set play with I believe Graves. Who gave him a nice bounce pass in traffic and Hardnett scored. 

One thing we are seeing is the rust being shaken off by guys who sat out last year. Mainly Johnson and Hardnett. Hopefully Grant knocks off his shooting rust eventually. 

Edited by DooleyBull06
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8 hours ago, Erie County said:

I constructively added that WMU shot 61% in the first half. I have no idea how that can be skewed. It might not be what you want to hear but it's what was happening.

Also, here is me commenting on things I like while watching on my screen from Hamburg....

I guess I just don’t understand why people run here to spew negativity at the first sign of anything not going perfectly. The most we were down by yesterday was like 5 points, and it was from atrocious reffing and western being on fire shooting. You’d think we were getting blown out based on your incessant complaining. Then as soon as we take over in the second half it’s sunshine and rainbows. Maybe you use this as an outlet to vent your frustrations, and maybe I shouldn’t let it bother me. But as someone who comes here for objective discussions about the team and players, the plot gets old and annoying real quick. Bulls losing: everything terrible! Everyone suck! Bulls winning: everything great! Go team! 

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31 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I guess I just don’t understand why people run here to spew negativity at the first sign of anything not going perfectly. The most we were down by yesterday was like 5 points, and it was from atrocious reffing and western being on fire shooting. You’d think we were getting blown out based on your incessant complaining. Then as soon as we take over in the second half it’s sunshine and rainbows. Maybe you use this as an outlet to vent your frustrations, and maybe I shouldn’t let it bother me. But as someone who comes here for objective discussions about the team and players, the plot gets old and annoying real quick. Bulls losing: everything terrible! Everyone suck! Bulls winning: everything great! Go team! 

I think Whitesell has done a good job recently of making halftime adjustments which is nice to see.

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1 hour ago, UB05 said:

I guess I just don’t understand why people run here to spew negativity at the first sign of anything not going perfectly.

People point out positives and negatives throughout the ebbs and flows of games (and seasons). It's a forum, people are going to disagree... and that's fine.

There's no reason for it to always turn into a "who is the right kind of fan" discussion here...

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Hardnett has been extremely efficient in his minutes.  He plays so much better at the 4 lets hope he stays there.  Jeenathan had an off game scoring but still got 4 assists so was productive.  Johnson seemed much more confident and was taking better shots.  Maybe it took him a little while to get in his groove but better late than never!  This game looked like a step back for Brock.  While he was never expected to be a big minute player, the past few games he contributed a solid couple of mins with some points and rebounds.  Here, he struggled to get position and use his size to his advantage at all.  Lets hope he can play some meaningful minutes next game.  

 

Overall there were some lapses on defense for layups, and they shot lights out from 3 in the first half.  Free throw shooting was much improved (shoutout to Johnson as he was 7/7). Way too many fouls called on both sides which hurt game flow.  This was a must win conference game at home against a week opponent and while it wasn't the overall great performance they had against Central Michigan, they came away with a double digit point win. Go Bulls

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24 minutes ago, Jeseph said:

People point out positives and negatives throughout the ebbs and flows of games (and seasons). It's a forum, people are going to disagree... and that's fine.

There's no reason for it to always turn into a "who is the right kind of fan" discussion here...

While I generally prefer to post positives and when I do post feedback for improvement, I avoid singling anyone out and talk more in terms of what the team needs to do.  However, I agree 100% with you.  If I don't like a post, I simply move on and think... hmmm, I would not have said that.  My only suggestion, for what it is worth, is to think about if that person were you or a friend / family member, would you want your comment to be said about you.

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19 minutes ago, Gxtrex said:

 

 

Way too many fouls called on both sides which hurt game flow.  This was a must win conference game at home against a week opponent and while it wasn't the overall great performance they had against Central Michigan, they came away with a double digit point win. Go Bulls

I agree that there were too many fouls called.  UB plays a more aggressive defense than WMU, so more are going to be called against us.  Can't help but think that the taller of the 2 bald guys is a frustrated player that didn't get as far as he had hoped as a player.  Somebody needs to tell him that NOBODY came to see him.  He wanted to be the focal point last night.  

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15 hours ago, Erie County said:

Is that a burn? I share the disdain for Grant with that guy but thats about where it stops. 

We can call everybody someone different based on the side of the fence they are on.

You post just like that BIE guy, is that you?

Erie County...I appreciate your passion for the Bulls!  We need as many passionate fans as we can.

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15 hours ago, 961819 said:

This is the Johnson that I was so positive about based off of the summer practices. Just like last year, when a player is having a down game (Williams) someone else steps up in a big way (Johnson)

I recall you being positive about Johnson from the summer.  To be honest, I have only watched a handful of games and didn't think he was that bad.  In fact, I think I wrote that his performance (and scoring) will be a key for UB based on what I saw.  Unfortunately, he must have looked horrendous in some of our losses that I didn't personally observe.  I am glad he has played better lately.  We really do need him to be good.

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2 minutes ago, UB92 said:

Give me a few examples, recently, of the halftime adjustments and their impacts.  I am curious about this.

I was basing my statement off the fact that in the last 4 games we have outscored our opponents in the second half by 12, 8, 11, and 11 respectively. 

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1 minute ago, SGBull said:

I was basing my statement off the fact that in the last 4 games we have outscored our opponents in the second half by 12, 8, 11, and 11 respectively. 

I'm not sure if this is because of adjustments, or just because our pace of play wears the opposition down over time.  Either way, I like it.

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Same as last game, AJ has totally revamped his distance shooting form in-season, which is no small feat. He's essentially shooting a set shot from 3 now, as opposed to his max-jump form from before.

And the banter is fun. Poking fun at the chicken littles who refuse to comprehend that basketball is a game of runs, good and bad, is (unfortunately) one of the most enjoyable parts of following the sport and going to games.

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