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Hopefully people saw some good signs of progress today. A really good all-around win for the Bulls. Statistically, they were better at a lot of the things they need to do: rebounding was about even; shooting percentage was in the high 40's; hit their foul shots. As one of our group pointed out, they were intense on defense but were reading things a little better, which meant fewer fouls. The Bulls went to a zone defense for a lot of the second half, which was interesting and ended up being effective. This was a close game first half until the Bulls opened up a double-digit lead off some defensive stops. They started finding more passes underneath like they want to in the second half. Curtis - had some great steals off high pressure and was hitting from three. Possibly his best all-around game as a Bull. Powell - went hard to the net like he tends to. Dunks with authority. Smith - he's big but he seems to have no strength. Which means he has to get better at positioning. Today he played with more forceful confidence, went hard to the net a few times and battled better underneath for rebounds in the second half. Hardnett - it's taken years but he finally has enough touch and strength to be effective at his position. Caesar - the sparkplug off the bench. Had a couple baskets early when they needed them. Adams - FOUR travels in the first half! But had a couple nice buckets and rebounds in the second half. Glad to see him focus and get better. Blocker - lived up to his name with a HUGE block at the end of the second half. (I'm guessing that Isaac Jack was hurt?) Canisius - they made 8 of 36 from three. I felt like some good old-fashioned Reggie ball (grinding half-court offense, suffocating defense) would've given UB a problem, but they kept jacking up three's. The turnovers must've been driving Reggie nuts. Their nearly-deceased fanbase, what's left of it, didn't look happy at halftime. Lots of crossed arms, wondering "we used to be a big deal 60 years ago, what gives?" Beating those Little Three teams never gets old. Bona will be a lot tougher than this. But UB is starting to look like a team out there. Crowd - about what you expect during break, on a rainy day, when there's football on TV. The program really needs to figure out how to engage the significant portion of the student body that commutes from within the area. It can't just be the people on campus. I hope more people start to notice that this is an interesting team that, while they're still figuring it out, plays very hard. Also, please don't schedule an event at the Center for the Arts letting out at the same time as a basketball game - it's a mess getting out of there.

The black socks strike again! 😆

Present tense - we are indeed playing well right now. No guarantee we continue to for the last seven minutes, but it's been a good day so far (minus Adams and his unbelievable penchant for TOs.) Curtis Jones is a MAC-level star, so that's fun for all of us who saw it coming.

I think the Bulls win by 10 today. Time to put this "rivalry" to bed with this new squad.

I’m starting the thread and wearing my black socks. Let’s go Bulls! Opening as a 6.5 favorite.

Agree nice to get a comfortable win. Hoping the team can continue to develop, a tough one with St. Bonaventure next. I am happy to see Jones development. Lots of balance after that. My main concern is the status of three bigs, Chatman, Mading and Jack. Good time for Smith to have a solid game, but hoping we get some reinforcements soon.

A lot to like about this game. Nice to see an easy win for a change, in a game we were supposed to win. Nice to see the Bulls out-rebound their opponent. Nice to see more assists (19) than turnovers (16, still too many). Nice to see that we don’t have to jack up a ton of 3’s to win, and nice to see UB hitting a more respectable % from 3 (37.5%) and from the floor overall. Also good to see Curtis Jones emerging as the leader of this team and finding his groove from behind the arc at 39% (11 for 28) over the last 3 games.

Absolutely agree regarding the lack of internet access. I placed a call to the AD several weeks ago but to no avail.

Just would like to see UB win a game they should win fairly easily, win it fairly easily