Defense deserts UB in first-round loss
Wichita State’s attack is too much for Bulls
WICHITA, Kan. — Getting to 70 points seemed to be the magic number for the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team. In the 12 games in which they have scored 70 points or more, the Bulls are 9-3.
So, if coach Reggie Witherspoon would have been told his team would score 73 against Wichita State in their first-round game in the College Basketball Invitational, plans for a quarterfinal matchup at either Stanford or Boise State would have been in order.
However, one area where Witherspoon could always turn to — the Bulls’ pressure defense — suddenly disappeared Wednesday night.
Scoring 70 was no problem but stopping a Wichita State offense that ranks eighth in the 11-team Missouri Valley Conference was another story in UB’s 84-73 loss.
The Shockers shot 60 percent from the floor and ran most of their half-court sets to perfection.
“After so much time, if you have a leak in a boat, it starts to overflow,” Witherspoon said. “All those guys hurt us. When a team shoots 60 percent, it’s not one guy.
“We didn’t have the energy tonight. We were a step late on everything.”
Not much solace could be taken about the growth the program had made this season. The fact the Bulls won 11 more games this year and made their second postseason appearance since becoming a Division I program just didn’t matter once the final buzzer sounded.
“We let things get to us tonight that we don’t usually let happen,” Calvin Betts said. “What Wichita State did and what their crowd did was impressive but we had to keep playing and we didn’t do that.”
When a team plays the kind of schedule UB does, the crowd or arena atmosphere can never be used as an excuse. But in the early stages of the first half, the raucous crowd at Charles Koch Arena seemed to rattle the Bulls.
Wichita State jumped out to a 14-3 run and Buffalo turned the ball over on five of its first seven possessions.
“That building may be the loudest building I have ever been in,” Witherspoon said. “We didn’t respond very well to it.”
The lack of defensive energy — or energy altogether— was never more evident than on the offensive and defensive glass. The Bulls, who led the Mid-American Conference in rebounds per game at 37, were outhustled and often seemed outmanned, despite having a size advantage.
Both teams brought down 30 rebounds apiece. Three times Wichita State grabbed an offensive rebound, made a layup and was fouled.
Witherspoon made the decision to force the ball out of the hands of Wichita State post player J. T. Durley. The 6-8 sophomore had scored in double figures the last five games.
The defensive strategy worked early as Durley scored six points on 3-of-8 shooting in the first half. But while the Bulls held Wichita State’s interior offense in check, the Shockers’ guards were a different story.
Wichita State hit five three-point shots in the first half and finished 8 of 16.
“I don’t want to take anything away from their guards, but we let them do whatever they wanted,” Betts said.
The most points Buffalo strung together was four and every time it cut the deficit to 11 or 12, Wichita State responded with five or six points in a row.
The closest the Bulls got was the final score.
“Their shots were too easy,” said Rodney Pierce, who scored a game-high 17 points. “We needed to come out with determination and we didn’t do that.”
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