Bulls Basketball Takes on Indiana State Thanksgiving Weekend
11/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TERRA HAUTE, IN - The Buffalo men's basketball team will face the Indiana State Sycamores for the team's third road game of the season. The team comes into the game at 3-1 after two straight wins, and the Indiana State game marks the second of four straight road games Buffalo will have.
The Bulls are coming off an emotional win over Big Four rival Canisius Tuesday night, with the 81-64 victory marking the largest margin of victory in the storied history of the two teams. Senior guard Byron Mulkey set the tone with a career-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and an important 8-of-8 from the free throw line to ice the win.
For the season, Buffalo has benefited from balanced scoring, with five players averaging over nine points per game and three different players have led the team in scoring through four games. The offense, currently lighting it up to the tune of over 77 points per game, has blossomed early on thanks to the outside scoring presence of junior Zach Filzen, who leads the team with 15.5 points per game and has made 14 of Buffalo's 26 total three pointers made.
On defense, active hands have led to 79 turnovers forced and a nearly 2-to-1 turnover to assist ratio for opposing teams. Mulkey leads the defensive front with a conference-leading 20 steals through four games.
The Sycamores come into Saturday's game with a 2-3 record and, most recently, a 74-69 win over Oral Roberts last Saturday. ISU averages a hair over 67 points per game but has given up 68 points after five games. The team's leading scorer is Jake Kelly with 12 points per game, but the player to watch overall is Carl Richard, who averages nearly a double-double per game this season (11.2 points, 9.6 rebounds). The win over Oral Roberts snapped the Sycamores three-game losing streak and Saturday's game will be Indiana State's first home game of the season.
In the all-time series between the two teams, Buffalo has a 2-1 advantage and has won the past two games. In the most recent game, in the 2004-05 season, the Bulls cruised to a 92-64 win at Alumni Arena.
Be sure to tune into the game on WECK 1230, tipoff is set for 1 pm.
