The Big Picture: Bulls can claim mantle as the best team in Mobtown, after surviving overtime scrap with an experienced Towson to emerge victorious 78-69. Coach ‘Spoon’s squad stands at 2-1 and seems to be officially over both woulda, shoulda, coulda, opening loss to Vermont and slopfest of a win at Navy. Although this was a game UB should’ve put away in regulation, it’s difficult to find much fault with today’s effort. There were too many turnovers (18), but overall this has to be considered a quality win for the Bulls. Towson has already beaten Miami and will be a middle of the pack team in the Colonial Athletic Association; one of the best Mid-major leagues in the county. Unlike the game at Navy Thursday night, where the gathered guests seemed as likely to go for a post-game skinny dip in the Chesapeake as they did to cheer for the Midhshipmen, the fans at Towson got loud and the student was vociferous the entire game.
Any road win is a good win, but even more so when you win the type of games the Bulls won today. This road trip will help the Bulls come MAC play.
The Good: Senior point guard John Boyer really seems to be getting better with each game. Despite a hot-shooting, ankle-breaking performance from sophomore Towson guard Tony Franklin, Boyer never got rattled. In fact, dude just seemed to get more motivated, but just played harder and more intelligently. Boyer finished with 12 dimes, 8 boards, and 3 steals. Buffalo will win lots of games when Boyer’s assist-to-turnover ratio is 4-to-1. In the three seasons since Boyer walked on, the guy has made strides so enormous that his play today was almost good enough to take my mind off the stripperfied Towson dance squad. Almost being the operative word.
Beyond Boyer’s superlative effort, this was a team win, and the most impressive aspect of it was the steadiness of the Bulls’ defense and rebounding today. UB survived a nearly six-minute drought in the first half and trailed 33-27 at the half due entirely to their defending and rebounding in the first half. Unlike past Buffalo teams where the concentration and effort on defense and the boards would noticeably flag when the shots didn’t fall, the 2009-10 edition never has those sorts of lapses. Come MAC play, 40 minutes of D and rebounding will win lots of games. Especially in Clevo.
The Bad: Three-point shooting continues to be a major concern. UB was 4-of-17 today, their third straight game of shooting less than 30% from behind the arc. While the threes they made came at important times, the simple fact is that they have to shoot better from the three-spot. Not to sound like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, but soph would-be sniper Zach Filzen continues to struggle. In a taut contest, he got only five minutes of burn, in which he fired up two ungainly looking Js. At some point this season, a team, like Bowling Green, will zone-up the Bulls and force them to make perimeter Js. Let’s just hope that when that time comes, Pierce, Betts, Filzen, Boyer, and even Sean Smiley, or one of them, will be making shots.
The Ugly: Did UB bring MAC refs with them on this Charm City foray? Because I can’t really think of any other explanation for the complete awfulness of the officiating both on Thursday and today. As brutal as the officiating was Thursday, it was even worse this afternoon. That the Bulls and Coach ‘Spoon kept their collective poise in the face of such wildly inconsistent reffing is a testament to their character and determination.
Who’s Got Next: Even though they aren’t on the UB schedule, let’s just assume that Loyola, Morgan State, and UMBC want no part of the Bulls at this point. That leaves Canisius (1-1) and the Buffalo derby this Tuesday. Tom Pecora’s Golden Griffins are (supposedly) much improved from Canisius squads of recent vintage. And that’s great for them and their dwindling fanbase. They still aren’t good enough to beat UB.
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