By Budd Bailey
One question seemed particularly relevant after the University at Buffalo’s 87-74 win over Toledo in Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Is good shooting contagious?
“I think so,” UB men’s basketball coach George Halcovage said after what he called the team’s best performance of the season. “I think guys are getting confident and comfortable out there – making plays off each other. It was great to see guys making the right plays offensively for the most part. We shared the ball – 18 assists.”
Here’s how good a day it was for the Bulls. They shot 62.5 percent on all field goals. They shot 56.6 percent in three-pointers. They even pulled a lucky student out of the stands for a half-court shot in the second half, and he sank it to earn $1,000 in free gasoline.
Put up those numbers, and you have an excellent chance of ending a painful four-game losing streak that ended any hopes that Buffalo had of reaching the MAC’s postseason tournament in Cleveland in a bit more than a week. You also have a chance of knocking off Toledo for the first time in five years.
The Bulls did all that, and improved their record to 9-20 overall, 4-12 in conference play.
The star of the shooting show was Tyson Dunn, a senior guard who set a career high with 26 points. Dunn was 10 for 14 from the field, and 6 for 9 in threes.
“He’s had great games, but for him to be that efficient – and he didn’t force it in the second half. It freed up the other guys. That’s a credit to him as a great leader of a point guard.”
Here’s how good Dunn was on Saturday: With four minutes gone in the second half, UB had scored 43 points as a team. Dunn had 24 of them.
The team’s only senior had some help. Bryson Wilson came off the bench to throw a perfect game – 8 of 8 from the field, 3 of 3 on threes, 1 for 1 from the foul line. That adds up to 20 points in less than 17 minutes. Ben Michaels was only a step behind him, going 6 for 6 from the field (2 for 2 on threes) for 14 points. Ryan Sabol added 13. While Anquan Boldin Jr. only finished with seven points, two of them came on a spectacular dunk that was NBA-worthy.
Toledo shot 51.9 percent from the field, which often is good enough. But the Rockets only picked up 15 points from way downtown as opposed to 39 by the Bulls, and it’s tough to compensate for that sort of deficit.
It was an impressive performance in which UB seemed to improve as the game went along. The Bulls and Toledo were tied at 32-32 after 20 minutes, and Buffalo only needed nine minutes in the second half to score another 32. The team had an 11-0 burst in the middle of that stretch, which broke the game open.
After taking a double-digit lead, the Bulls had all sorts of fun in closing out the game. It’s been a long season in some ways, so the opportunity to have a relatively easy win against a traditional MAC power was welcome.
“In the situation we’re in, we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Halcovage said. “We had a couple of unfortunate games that didn’t go our way so we could vie for a conference tournament spot. We can knock off anyone if we play up to our standards, and tonight we did that.”
The victory came right after the women’s team cruised to a 71-54 win over Eastern Michigan in the first part of the twin-bill. The Bulls improved to 22-5, and have a good chance at qualifying for some March Madness via the MAC tournament.
“We’re all in this for each other, we’re all in this together,” the second-year head coach said. “Becky (Burke, the women’s coach) is going one heck of a job with a great team. We’re excited to see what they can do in postseason play. … You’re excited for the University when good things are happening for other teams.”
As for women’s male counterparts, the calendar’s flip means the end of the season is in sight. The Bulls host Miami on Tuesday and play at Akron on Friday night. UB has been playing since (late) October, and even four months later it seemed like it went by in a blink in some way.
“Time flies,” Halcovage said. “The days feel long to get to the season, and then you look back and say, ‘Wow. Where did all that time go?’ And once you play, you’re on a hamster wheel. You go to practice, prepare, and play who you are going to play. And do it all over again. It goes like the snap of a finger.”
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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