Bulls tip off tonight
If the University at Buffalo revealed anything during its exhibition victory over Daemen, it's that it can be quick and dangerous in transition. But that was nothing more than a dress rehearsal; opening night begins against Vermont at 5:30 tonight at Alumni Arena.
The Bulls, who finished last season as the runner-up to Akron in the Mid-American Conference, play host to a Vermont team that returns three starters from last year's 23-7 team.
Canisius opens its season at Loyola on Tuesday in Chicago. Niagara (0-1) lost to Auburn on Friday night, 69-65, after allowing a seven-point lead with 2:24 left evaporate. The Purple Eagles will try to bounce back against Drexel (0-1) at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Gallagher Center.
St. Bonaventure (1-0) defeated Cleveland State on Friday, 72-62, behind Jonathan Hall's 20 points and 77 percent shooting in the first half. The Bonnies play St. John's (1-0) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.
Vermont (0-1) started its season on the road Friday with a 79-66 loss to Loyola (Md.). Vermont was led by senior Marqus Blakely and his game-high 26 points, but the Catamounts shot only 33.9 percent from the floor.
Blakely finished the night 7 for 15 from the floor and 11 for 13 from the free-throw line, while he added seven rebounds, five blocks and three steals. Senior Maurice Joseph was the only other Catamount to reach double figures with 16.
The player to watch is the 6-foot-5 Blakely, the two-time America East Conference Player of the Year. Blakely was also named to the CollegeInsider.com preseason mid-major All-America team and the America East preseason all-league team.
In the Bulls' 78-70 loss to Vermont last February, Blakely had 15 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
"They return the Player of the Year in the conference, and that's rare," UB coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "And the guy is really good."
Vermont was also one of the few teams that outrebounded the Bulls (38-33) last season.
"We have to establish that we can [keep] them from getting easy shots," Witherspoon said. "We have to stop them, rebound and get into what we want to do. We have to eliminate them from getting point-blank shots around the basket."
The Bulls have a slightly different look from a year ago. Gone is point guard Greg Gamble, who led the Bulls in assists the last three seasons and also triggered a defense that held opponents to 43.4 percent shooting. Guard Andy Robinson, who provided scoring and defense off the bench last season, also has to be replaced.
UB apparently will play more up tempo this season. Senior John Boyer takes over at the point and his strength is initiating the offense at a quicker pace. Throughout the Daemen game, Witherspoon encouraged his guards to push the ball up the floor quickly.
"We're trying to get our guys to be more alert and when you're more alert, you can run a little bit," Witherspoon said. "You can get out and know we're you're supposed to be instinctively. We had problems with turnovers coming into last year and we had to play at a slower pace to prevent that."
The Bulls may be just as deep as last season when 10 players averaged at least 14.5 minutes a game. Witherspoon will start Boyer, senior Rodney Pierce (Hutch-Tech) at shooting guard, senior Calvin Betts at small forward and sophomores Mitchell Watt and Titus Robinson in the post.
Coming off the bench will be senior forward Max Boudreau, who starred during the team's run in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, junior forward Jawaan Alston, and senior guard Sean Smiley. The newcomers are freshman point guard Tony Watson and sophomore Zach Filzen, who came off the bench during UB's exhibition game and whistled in 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc.
"I anticipate playing a lot of people," Witherspoon said. "We have guys who are coming off the bench and can score quite a bit, or have done that. We have guys who are essentially starters but just not playing at the beginning of the game."
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