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Kent St. @ Buffalo (1/24 @ 6:30 pm)


Jeseph

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2 minutes ago, Erie County said:

That's right.

The refs are letting them play. only 4 FTs (one Williams couldn't stand there for). Completely different than the officials last game. Let them play and this is your outcome.

The tougher team will win a game Iike that. We did not look like the tougher team.

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21 minutes ago, Erie County said:

A much better stretch there for the offense. 15 points in 5 minutes is fireworks.

Effecting the team defense, Kent has score 19 in the last 8 minutes, but I guess we have to find tradeoffs. 

Also pushing a bench player is a T?

Should have got a T for that missed by refs

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10 minutes ago, SGBull said:

Free throws are going to lose us the game.

Crazy how in a game with so few free throws, it still managed to cost us. Couldn't finish a 3 point play to save our lives tonight. And you can even add an extra "miss" in there for the lane violation on Segu's at the end of the 1st half.

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Expect us to get smoked next game at Akron, pathetic performance on home court. Turnovers were embarrassing, we can’t shoot free throws including jayvon who should be a much better ft shooter. National TV game and didn’t show up. Kent state hit multiple lucky shots, but we shouldn’t have been in that position. Pippen a better free throw shooter than anyone on our team. And where the hell was jeenathan williams in second half! Really pissed we needed that game, was a really bad loss and predicting it will bite us in the end. 

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I don't think either of these teams will be pleased with their performances today.  Neither shot the ball well and both turned it over 18 times.  Hate to say it, but UB is probably gonna get murdered by Akron next week, and after having watched Akron a little bit, I don't see any way this team can get past them this season.  Tonight, the Bulls looked squarely like a middle-of-the-road MAC team.  That's not the end of the world, considering the youth, but it's a realistic outlook.  Before the year, my opinion is that a top-4 seed and a bye to Cleveland would be a successful season; at this point, my expectations are a home first-round tournament game.

In terms of bright spots tonight, I thought Hardnett looked fantastic, Segu had a quality performance, and Jordan played his ass off.  Hardnett has had back-to-back strong performances and deserved all of his minutes tonight and perhaps more.  This is a "growing pains" year.  I like that I continue to see the 3 sophomores and Hardnett making strides.  These losses will pay off in the next year or two, I think.

Edited by UBlearns
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9 minutes ago, UBlearns said:

I don't think either of these teams will be pleased with their performances today.  Neither shot the ball well and both turned it over 18 times.  Hate to say it, but UB is probably gonna get murdered by Akron next week, and after having watched Akron a little bit, I don't see any way this team can get past them this season.  Tonight, the Bulls looked squarely like a middle-of-the-road MAC team.  That's not the end of the world, considering the youth, but it's a realistic outlook.  Before the year, my opinion is that a top-4 seed and a bye to Cleveland would be a successful season; at this point, my expectations are a home first-round tournament game.

In terms of bright spots tonight, I thought Hardnett looked fantastic, Segu had a quality performance, and Jordan played his ass off.  Hardnett has had back-to-back strong performances and deserved all of his minutes tonight and perhaps more.  This is a "growing pains" year.  I like that I continue to see the 3 sophomores and Hardnett making strides.  These losses will pay off in the next year or two, I think.

Agree with most of your points here. But can’t think of this as just a “growing pains” loss. It’s a lack of focus loss where they didn’t come out strong in the first half, and just couldn’t execute. 
 

Player who needs to be called out to me is Jayvon, for a leader of this team he has had way too many no shows in big moments of the game. Another piss poor offensive performance, he’s put up numbers this year, but overall just has had too many bad games for what I was expecting coming into this year.

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Mind boggling that Nate Will, AJ and Mballa were glued to the bench the last 7-10 minutes. Was it tough love/teachable moment? Forgot his starters were on the bench? Mballa had probably his toughest game as a Bull, but still. Nate is an all-conference quality player at the moment and he was glued.

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8 minutes ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Agree with most of your points here. But can’t think of this as just a “growing pains” loss. It’s a lack of focus loss where they didn’t come out strong in the first half, and just couldn’t execute. 

I agree with this specifically re: today's game.  Too many times this year we've seen lapses early in the game or in the last 4-5 minutes of the first half.  

I'll admit that some of my post is wishful thinking on my end as I ready myself for what may end up an 8-10 win MAC season.  It's a far cry from where this team has been, especially in what most would consider a down year for the MAC compared to the last few, save for Akron.  But I would be much more worried if I didn't see Williams/Segu/Mballa/Hardnett clearly showing growth, which they all are.

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I rushed home after the game to watch the replay of the foul with 23 seconds left in a tie game. It looked weak live and couldn't really see anything on the tv. I love that one of the biggest moments of the game, they tv network fails to show a single replay of the call. The refs stayed out of the game the entire game, then with 23 seconds left, they decide to make a crucial call that was unneeded. 

Regardless, UB needs to make free throws to win games like these. Kent games are always a knock down, drag out fight and tonight's game was no different. 8-8 for Kent vs 4-9 for UB just isn't going to cut it. Segu with a lane violation was not a bright spot in the game.

Interesting lineups played tonight, some with success while others were quite ugly. UB had it's shot, just couldn't get over the hump. 26 points in the first half, 4-9 FTs and 18 turnovers overall isn't a recipe for wins in MAC play.

Pretty solid crowd tonight. I was pleasantly surprised. They brought some good energy in the 2nd half as well. Next Friday should be full or else it's a real shame (although I'd wager that Tuesday's result might play into the number of attendees).

Tuesday's game is big. Going 0-2 vs. Kent and Akron wouldn't bode well heading into the BG game next Friday at home. One game at a time, fingers crossed for a road win at Akron.

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League games are tough battles.  Especially against Kent, who usually has a physical team.  The Bulls were awfully sloppy in the first half, but cleaned things up and stepped back into the game in the second half.  A nice little run with 5 and a half to go gave them a chance, but just like in the game here vs Northern, the last shot was rushed and didn't drop.  The work rate was there tonight, but Kent was a team that was able to score a lot of points in the paint.  And it seemed like they shot well from outside - including those two annoying three's down the stretch that they banked in.  Ugh.  I think Whitesell just rolled with the guys at the end who make that little run to get them back into it, I thought the same thing - when do they put Williams, Johnson, and Mballa back in.  Sometimes I guess it's rolling and you don't mess with it.  While the Bulls didn't have many free throw attempts, poor shooting came back to bite them tonight (as it inevitably would at some point).

Jordan - a couple turnovers first half, but he had some great drives to the hoop down the stretch, and oh that tying three at the end.
Segu - he competes well at both ends, and doesn't go overboard with the razzle-dazzle, just enough to beat his man and make something happen.  He has that fadeaway jumper down right now, it feels automatic when he releases it.
Mballa - he had some good competition in those Kent guys underneath tonight.  He had a bit of a sloppy night for him, a couple rushed turnovers in transition, and he's got a lot to sharpen up on defensively.  Wily veteran inside players aren't afraid to post up and drive around him, but I think he'll improve as he gains experience.
Hardnett - as others have said, another solid game at both ends.  He's playing tougher, he's getting a better touch around the net, and like Johnson, picking his shots better
Grant - you go, Gabe Grant, picked up a charge and hit his one three of the day, and gave us some good minutes down the stretch
Williams - one of the guys in our group said that he's kind of a second half player, he gets better as the games go on.  Getting so much smoother and more confident going to the net.
Brock - yoinked an inbound pass out of the air in the first half.  I wish he could give us some more tough minutes in a game like this.

Kent - well, Senderoff is still there.  Pippen doesn't miss his free throws.  They slowed down too early with an 8 point lead and 5:30 to go, UB defense forced 2 shot clock violations and changed the momentum.  Those two banked three's saved them there.  They're a tough team and were desperate after 3 straight losses.  They looked prepared for what UB would do, they were in the right spots to pick off passes several times.

Crowd - there is life!  People found their voices, thanks to some students showing up in the end zone, and the place came alive down the stretch to really help the team.  More of that please.  And the band should be back next Friday, can't wait.

Glass half empty - they're just not quite sharp enough every time to beat some tough, good teams
Glass half full - they have a lot of potential going forward, they work hard, and a lot of what they're doing wrong can be improved.

Overall - man, when the run gets going and the team gets back into it, and the crowd is cheering, and it's Friday night, even with a loss, it's fun, I'm buzzing, can't wait for the next game.

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I thought that Jordan had a pretty good game. Kenpom gives him the highest offensive rating amongst the Bulls with significant minutes in this game. He had 6 assists vs 2 TOS, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, and shot 3 of 6 from two and 2 of 5 from three. He is a poor free throw shooter.  Once again the Bulls had an uninspiring first half. If anything that and 2 banked three pointers led to their demise. Is Graves still sick? He had another subpar game. I’ll say this: the Bulls never quit, and, except for a few times where Mballa tried to go coast to coast (and promptly turned it over), they were unselfish - sometimes too unselfish. It seemed as though there were 4 or 5 times when a Bull was under the basket with only one defender but instead of going for the shot, the ball was passed out for someone else to shoot. Unfortunately the Bulls are not a particularly good 3 point shooting team. On to Akron. It should be another close game.

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Johnson and Mballa had subpar games too, at least on offense. Why Whitesell had Grant in at the end instead is a head scratcher. Why Williams wasn’t in also interesting. Jordan, Graves, Grant, Segu, and Hardnett...is that who were in for the last 7 or so minutes? Grant grabbed an offensive rebound that I recall. Segu hit a 3 after missing one in the same set. Jordan hit a 3 from the corner to tie it at 64. Johnson’s game just seemed to disappear in this game. Mballa had a poor game statistically and made bad decisions several times. Grant hit one 3 and then reverted to Grant. Graves just didn’t get it done at all.

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8 hours ago, squire17 said:

Johnson and Mballa had subpar games too, at least on offense. Why Whitesell had Grant in at the end instead is a head scratcher. Why Williams wasn’t in also interesting. Jordan, Graves, Grant, Segu, and Hardnett...is that who were in for the last 7 or so minutes? Grant grabbed an offensive rebound that I recall. Segu hit a 3 after missing one in the same set. Jordan hit a 3 from the corner to tie it at 64. Johnson’s game just seemed to disappear in this game. Mballa had a poor game statistically and made bad decisions several times. Grant hit one 3 and then reverted to Grant. Graves just didn’t get it done at all.

We had significant trouble with their size, length and athleticism. Jordan was 0 for first half, Mballa, Graves, Johnson all struggled mightily around the offensive hoop. 

Edited by UB85
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1 hour ago, Erie County said:

UB is now in the 7 seed, drop to the 8 seed if Toledo beats BG. Not quite the place you want to be 7 games in (40%). 

It’s not looking good to get a top 4 seed which is what you ultimately need to get that bye game. Kent state game was kind of a must win considering the games they playing now. Expect them to get beat by Akron on the road and back to .500 in conference.

Edited by Ubbulls84
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On 1/24/2020 at 10:04 PM, squire17 said:

I thought that Jordan had a pretty good game. Kenpom gives him the highest offensive rating amongst the Bulls with significant minutes in this game. He had 6 assists vs 2 TOS, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, and shot 3 of 6 from two and 2 of 5 from three. He is a poor free throw shooter.  Once again the Bulls had an uninspiring first half. If anything that and 2 banked three pointers led to their demise. Is Graves still sick? He had another subpar game. I’ll say this: the Bulls never quit, and, except for a few times where Mballa tried to go coast to coast (and promptly turned it over), they were unselfish - sometimes too unselfish. It seemed as though there were 4 or 5 times when a Bull was under the basket with only one defender but instead of going for the shot, the ball was passed out for someone else to shoot. Unfortunately the Bulls are not a particularly good 3 point shooting team. On to Akron. It should be another close game.

Just a terrible time for Johnson, Mballa and Williams combined to have bad games. Close games usually come down to a few plays during and at end of games. UB’s poor 3 point shooting, poor free throw shooting, two lucky 3 pointers from Kent throwing up shots as the shot clock was due to expire and of course one terrible call by the official who is one of the worst officials of the bunch, along with I agree some very curious subs in the game by Whitesell. All spells defeat. Are we going to see the team that beat CMU or the team that plays very inconsistent in games against teams like Ball St, Army and Dartmouth?? Go Bulls!!!!

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