Game 21, 2025-26: at Buffalo (1/23)

[MikeUMA]

Next up for UMMBB: a road game in Amherst.
UM will visit Buffalo with their arena in Amherst NY.
A rare Friday game for us, courtesy of CBS Sports Network picking up the broadcast rights. 7 PM start. CBS getting it means ESPN+ won't be an option.

Buffalo was 13-2 / 3-0, but lost their 4th straight tonight. Both teams will be looking for the W to stay out of the danger zone in the MAC standings.

[Sheck]

Their best player Daniel Freitag was out against Akron. Not sure if he will be back for Friday or not. But Buffalo seems highly dependent on him.

[69MG]

Their best player Daniel Freitag was out against Akron. Not sure if he will be back for Friday or not. But Buffalo seems highly dependent on him.

He was out with a concussion so there is no way to know how long it will keep him out.

[69MG]

As Mike said, Buffalo has lost 4 in a row. However, their 4 losses were to Ohio, Kent State, Miami and Akron, the top 4 teams in the MAC standings. Here's a post from their message board. It shows how much they depend on Freitag and how down they feel after their great start (13-2).

Miami finally cracked the Top 25 on the strength of their double-miracle OT win vs a middle of the pack UB team. Then followed that up with another OT win tonight over Kent, who led by 4 with under a minute to go and tied it up on a mere layup with 0:06 to go.

Also UMass beat Toledo by 2. Seems the Minutemen are starting to play up to expectations winning 3 of their last 4, or maybe Toledo isn’t that good. Either way, we need Freitag playing Friday night to get the Bulls back in the winning column or it’s gonna get even uglier around here

[bunkerhill87]

Big game. This might be an indicator how the season goes. big test for sure. We are certainly capable of winning. Free throws will be huge as well as ball security. there were so many silly turnovers against Toledo. Offensively we can play its whether we can get a stop when needed. Hoping for the best. im sure ill be frustrated at various moments. i hope Clerc gets some minutes. We was playing well and his size certainly helps. Love to see Bettiol and Clerc together at certain times. Jayden and Daniel are huge X factors. When they play well we do well. We seem to be a 2nd half team hoping thats not the case tomorrow.

[inthescoop]

UMass open up as -1.5 point favorites on the road.

[MikeUMA]

We're showing as 2 point favorites. That's a bit of a surprise, for being 1-3 on the road and shitting the bed at NIU.

More matchup numbers: https://bracketologists.com/matchup/NDAxODE0NTM4

Game notes
UM https://umassathletics.com/news/2026/1/ ... vs-buffalo
UM https://ubbulls.com/news/2026/1/22/mens ... inst-umass

[69MG]

I like our chances a lot if Freitag doesn't play. It's hard to replace 20 points per game. He is listed as "questionable" on a few betting sites. If he's OK and can play, I'm not sure we're better than Buffalo and it's on their court.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

just saw on the Buffalo Bulls message board - the last post said Frietag will play tonight - couldn't tell if that was a hopeful prediction or if that was a definite thing. For what its worth - the few posts on there say with him they think they win - without they think they lose

[MikeUMA]

A look at the Bulls...

MAC member since: 1998, the youngest member until we came along

MAC titles, regular season (outright or divisional): 6, last 2021
MAC tournament (began in 1980) titles: 4, last 2019. UB won 4 out of 5 in the back half of the 2010s. The first was under Bobby Hurley in 2015, who parlayed that into the Arizona State upgrade. Nate Oats won the other 3, and he parlayed that into the Alabama job.

NCAA Tournament (D-I) appearances: 4, 2-4 record. They notched a first round upset in '18, then got an impressive 6-seed in '19 and the NCAA matched them up against old coach Bobby Hurley. Buffalo won that matchup before bowing to eventual finalist Texas Tech.
Last bid: 2019
Farthest run: Round of 32

Current coach: George Halcovage (3rd season)
He played at Babson in EMass, then got on Jay Wright's staff at Villanova. Stayed thru 2023 until he got the UB job.
Started out rough with 4 and 9-win seasons in his first two years, but has already bested that with the 13-6 record so far this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Halcovage
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... age-1.html

With that short tenure, Halcovage has no prior meetings with UM or Frank.
UM has faced Buffalo only once before, with John Calipari willing to go out there for a one-off game in 1993, when Buffalo was trying to get their D-I footing, playing as an independent.
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... nt_buffalo
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... ffalo/men/

UB's last four seasons:
2021-22: 19-11 / 13-6 (5th, lost in the Quarters to eventual champ Akron)
2022-23: 15-17 / 9-9 (6th, lost in Quarters). The overall regression cost Jim Whitesell his job. He's now an assistant at Albany for Dwayne Killings.
2023-24: 2-16 / 4-27 (12th, DNQ). UB's worst season since upgrading to D-I in the early 90s. Former Minuteman Sy Chatman was that team's leading scorer.
2024-25: 9-22 / 4-14 (11th, DNQ)

This season...
Buffalo had a good start. Waking up on January 4, they were 13-2 / 3-0, and a NET of 132.
Since then, they've stumbled with an 0-4 run, but those included a tight one at red-hot Miami, and a loss to (NET 54) Akron in which they were missing their leading scorer Daniel Freitag.

Leaders for the Bulls...

• Freitag (6-2 195 So G), with 20.4 ppg (leads MAC), 4.8 reb, 3.6 assists (team leader and 13th in MAC). Shooter is 7th in the MAC in FGAs, and hits at a .422 rate. He also puts up over six 3s per game, hits .395 (top 20 in MAC). He was a Wisconsin Badger last season but barely played. This year with UB he was starting every game.
• Ryan Sabol (6-2 195 Jr G), with 17.6 pts, 2.6 r, 3.2 a. Shoots almost as much as Freitag, more from 3, and connects at a .409 rate from deep (13th in MAC). He's been a UB loyalist so far.
• Angelo Brizzi (6-3 193 G). Sports Reference shows him as a Junior, his UB bio says he's a Grad Student, but whatever, he's in year 4, and on his 4th school. We saw him two years ago when he was with Davidson, when he scored 7 points off the bench against us. He averages 11.9, 2.5, 1.4. Good shooter at .493 overall and .385 from 3.
• Tim Oboh (6-11 230 So C from the UK), with 8.3 pts, a relatively low 4.0 rebs for a big, and 0.4 assists.
• Noah Batchelor (6-6 185 Sr G), 6.8 pts, 4.9 r, 1.3 a. He played his first two at Maryland before transferring. Got about 7 mpg with the Terps, now getting nearly 30 with UB.

UB is good from deep, at .388 as a team, 2nd in the MAC.

As a team they're .743 from the line, but most are better than us at .675. We can't put their guards on the line. Sabol hits at .903 (2nd in MAC), Brizzi at .857 (4th), Freitag at .819 (11th). Our K'Jei Parker would be on this list, but I guess he's under the minimum threshold that the MAC uses. He is 39-41 (.951)

Glass is where we have an advantage. Our average is 38.1 per game (2nd in MAC), theirs is 32.5 (12th).

[bobolink]

Thinking about recent past seasons for UB, we learned a couple weeks ago that at least some wasn't on the up-and-up. Quoting from the indictment:

"On or about February 24, 2024, in the NCAA men's basketball game between Buffalo and Western Michigan, defendant SHAWN FULCHER, Isaiah Adams, and Person #5, helped ensure that Buffalo failed to cover the spread in the first half as they had agreed. Western Michigan outscored Buffalo 47 to 32 in the first half, and the fixers won their bets."

not a great look for their coach's first season, although he's had them playing well this season

[Plano Minuteman]

Apparently Bettiol is also calling this game.

https://goduquesne.com/sports/mens-bask ... uono/10653

[Sheck]

^
He did call Bettiol his fellow Paesano.

Great start. Playing well on both sides of the ball and having their way with Buffalo so far.

[Floyd]

That dude has a monster sized head

Look good so far this half. Look energized and more intensity defensively

[MikeUMA]

Ndjigue and DHS taking consecutive 3s. #Facepalm

I hate it and I am not going to stop saying it.