Vanderbilt
Bulls Travel To Music City For Tuesday Night Affair At Vanderbilt
12/2/2019 5:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Buffalo (5-2) at Vanderbilt (5-2)
December 3, 2019
Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, TN) - 8:00 pm ET
Radio
Buffalo - ESPN 1520
Rochester - Fox Sports 1280
Hornell - 1480 WLEA
Television
SEC Network+
10 Things To Know About Today's Game
1. Buffalo will look for their first ever win over an SEC opponent on Tuesday night when the Bulls head to Vanderbilt for a game that will air on SEC Network +. Both teams are 5-2 on the season. Tuesday's game will be Buffalo's first against an SEC opponent since they faced Kentucky in the Round of 32 of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. This will be Buffalo's first trip to Tennessee since the opening game of the 1968-69 season.
2. Buffalo is currently eighth in the nation in offensive rebounding, averaging 15.4 offensive boards a game. Individually, sophomore Josh Mballa is ninth in the nation in offensive rebounds, averaging 4.3 per game. He had six offensive boards in the win over William & Mary on Saturday afternoon.
3. UB head coach Jim Whitesell has won five of his first seven games as UB head coach. Now in his 25th season overall as head coach, Whitesell has 392 career wins, which is tied for 51st amongst all active head coaches with Sean Miller.
4. According to KenPom, Buffalo is currently seventh in shortest possession length as Buffalo averages just 14.3 seconds per possession, the shortest in the MAC. In comparison, Vanderbilt is 226th nationally in average possession length.
5. Senior Davonta Jordan recorded seven steals in the win over William & Mary, tying 10 other players for the national lead for steals in a game. He is the second MAC player to accomplish the feat.
6. Buffalo was picked to finish second in the MAC East in the preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches. UB, who was picked behind Bowling Green, received three first-place votes.
7. Junior Jayvon Graves was named to the preseason All-MAC East Team.
8. For the second time in the last three games, Graves recorded at least 24 points in a game. He had 25 points in the win over Towson followed by 24 in the victory over William & Mary. Graves has scored in double figures in all seven of Buffalo's games this year.
9. UB opponents has recorded 16 or more turnovers in six of seven games this year. Buffalo recorded 15 steals vs. W&M the second time they have had 15 or more steals in a game.
10. UB is looking to do something no MAC program has ever done before and thats win a third straight MAC Title. UB is also looking for its fifth tournament title in six years.
UB Heads To Nashville For Meeting With Vanderbilt
The Bulls will play their first true road contest of the year on Tuesday night when UB heads to Vanderbilt, looking for their first ever win against a program from the SEC. Under first year head coach Jim Whitesell, the Bulls have won five of their last six ball games as they begin a tough two-game road trip at Vanderbilt and Sunday at DePaul. The Bulls most recently defeated William & Mary on Saturday afternoon, 88-77. UB shot 54.8% from the floor, its highest total against a D-I opponent.
Vanderbilt is 5-2 on the season after falling to Tulsa 67-58 on Saturday night, its first home loss of the season. Both the Bulls and Commodores are under the direction of first-year head coaches this season.
You Get A Win, And You Get A Win
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team has won 64 games, tied for seventh most nationally with Cincinnati. Virginia leads the nation with 73 wins during that time period, tied for first with Gonzaga. As for MAC programs, the second most wins over the last two plus seasons comes courtesy of Toledo, who has 53.
Dance Dance Revolution
The Bulls have reached the NCAA Tournament four times in the last five years (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019). UB is one of just 28 teams that have played in four NCAA Tournaments over the last five seasons. Of those 28 teams, UB is one of just five to have earned their league's automatic bid each time joining Gonzaga (WCC), Kentucky (SEC), Iona (MAAC), and New Mexico State (WAC).
Whitesell Back In Charge
For the first time since the 2010-11 season, UB head coach Jim Whitesell is back in charge of a basketball program. Whitesell, who served the last four years as associate head coach for the Bulls, was named the 14th head coach in program history this past April.
Whitesell brings a long and accomplished resume into the season. His previous head coaching job was at Loyola (Chicago) where he was in charge of the Ramblers' program from 2004-11, finishing with a 109-107 record in seven seasons in charge. He is one of only five coaches in the history of Loyola Basketball with more than 100 wins. Prior to his time at Loyola, Whitesell also served as head coach at Elmhurst College and Lewis University, where he had his most success, going 214-126 in 12 seasons. Recently he was inducted into the Lewis Hall of Fame.
Following his time at Loyola, Whitesell made assistant coaching stops at Saint Louis and St. John's where he worked for a pair of legendary head coaches in the late Rick Majerus and Steve Lavin before joining Nate Oats in Buffalo. Whitesell picked up his first career UB win on Monday night against Nazareth and now has a career record of 389-302 in his tenure as a head coach. The 392 wins are 51st amongst all active head coaches.
Air Jordan
The Bulls will look to the veteran presence of senior point guard Davonta Jordan who is entering his fourth year with the program. Over the last two seasons, Jordan has played in 71 of the 72 possible games. He has started in all of those contests except two, one of those being senior day last season.
Jordan has been named the MAC's all-defensive team each of the last two seasons as he has recorded 93 steals over the last two year. In each of his three seasons, Jordan as constantly increased his scoring, capped off by averaging 7.4 points per game last year. In the season opener, Jordan led the Bulls with 17 points, 13 of those coming over the final 12 minutes of the game. He tied his career high with four three-pointers, while adding six rebounds and four steals.
In the Charleston Classic, Jordan had a double-double with 10 points and tied his career high with 10 assists in the win over Towson. In the final game against Missouri St., Jordan set a new career high in scoring with 25 points, hitting 5-of-6 shots from three point range. Jordan had seven steals against William & Mary, fourth in school history in a single game and tied for the most by a player this year. He also moved into fifth place on UB's all-time list for career assists.
From Beyond The Graves
Junior Jayvon Graves was named to the preseason All-MAC East Division team as he is coming off a sophomore season where he started in 35 games and averaged 9.7 points per game. He added 4.2 rebounds per contest and 67 assists. He scored in double figures 17 times last season, including a career high 26 points against Ohio. He finished with 17 points in the MAC Championship win against Bowling Green and added 13 points in Buffalo's NCAA Tournament First Round victory over Arizona State.
Graves had 528 career points through two seasons, just a shade off the team lead, which is held by Davonta Jordan. Graves is a native of Malvern, OH where he played his high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, the same school as Lebron James. He opened the 2019 season with 15 points against Dartmouth and added 17 more against Nazareth. Graves had 17 points in the win over Harvard, including a buzzer-beating three. He had his best night in Charleston against Towson where the junior finished with 25 points and eight rebounds. Graves added 24 points on a career-best 10 made field goals and he leads Buffalo in scoring at 17.7 points per game.
No Sophomore Slump
The Bulls will rely on a pair of sophomores this season, who both saw action in all 36 games last year, but played limited minutes. Both Jeenathan Williams and Ronaldo Segu will be looked upon to take a huge leap this season as sophomores and through three games, Segu looks to possibly be the top talent on the team
Segu came off the bench against the Wildcats, playing the role of Sixth Man, something that former Bulls have done with much success. Segu continued that trend as he finished with 12 points and 14 assists in the win over Daemen as well as four steals. Playing the sixth man roll, Segu had 17 points against Nazareth and a career high 21 against Harvard. He has shot just under 87% from the floor in those two games as well. He had 12 assists and just two turnovers in those games.
Williams started UB's exhibition game against Daemen and he finished with 16 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes of action. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds in Buffalo's win over Harvard. Williams was named to the preseason All-Big 4 second team prior to the year.
Williams scored a career best 17 points in the victory over Missouri State as he went 6-of-12 from the floor, including a pair of three pointers. On the defensive end he chipped in two blocks and three steals. So far this season Segu and Williams have scored the same amount of points, both averaging 9.4 per contest. Segu has eclipsed his three-point total from last season as he had 10 last year and already has 11 this season.
Newish Faces Emerge
Two players that were a huge part of the team's success, but were unable to see action were senior transfers Antwain Johnson and Gabe Grant. Both players sat out the 2018-19 campaign due to NCAA Transfer rules, but served as valuable members of the scout team.
Now with their transfer year in the review mirror, both players are ready to give it their all for one final season.
Johnson, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, started in Buffalo's exhibition win over Daemen and had 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Johnson lit it up from three against Harvard as he finished with 19 points, including going 5-of-7 from three point range. In two seasons at Middle Tennessee State, Johnson averaged 7.3 points per game, including 10.3 points per contest in 2017-18. His career high in scoring came on Feb. 3, 2018 at Charlotte when he scored 23 points. Johnson hit a pair of game-winning free throws in the victory over Missouri St., while also claiming the Blue Collar hard hat against the Bears.
Grant, who came to the Bulls from Houston, was impressive off the bench in the exhibition opener, leading the Bulls in scoring with 19 points and six rebounds. He went 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range against the Wildcats. Grant played in 24 games in his lone season at Houston, scoring a career best 12 points against East Carolina on Feb. 25, 2018.
It's Still Brock And Roll To Me
Junior Brock Bertram readies for his third season of action this upcoming year. Bertram, who redshirted his first season, has continued to improve each year. Last season, the Apple Vally, MN native played in 20 games, averaging 1.1 points per contest. He shot over 61% from the floor when he was out there. More impressive was the performance of Bertram on the scout team over the last three years, a big reason for the success of three-time MAC Sixth Man of the Year, Nick Perkins.
Bertram started Buffalo's exhibition opener against Daemen and he had three points, four rebounds, and three blocked shots in the contest. He is currently out with a foot injury.
We've Got Experience Too!
In all, this year's men's basketball team has five players who have been a part of another Division I institution during their careers.
- Antwain Johnson - Middle Tennessee St.
- Gabe Grant - Houston
- Josh Mballa - Texas Tech
- LaQuill Hardnett - Cincinnati
- David Nickelberry - Memphis
Mballa was a member of the Texas Tech squad in 2018-19 that finished as national runners up. Mballa and the Red Raiders met up with the Bulls in the NCAA Round of 32 in Tulsa. He played in 17 games at Texas Tech with his career high in scoring coming against the Kansas Jayhawks on Feb. 2, 2019. Mballa had a career best 15 points against UConn and followed that up with his first double-double of the year, scoring 13 points and adding 11 rebounds against Towson.
Hardnett redshirted his freshman season at Cincinnati and has four years of eligibility left for UB. Nickelberry, who played last season at Trinity Valley CC, began his collegiate career at Memphis, where he played in 33 games as a freshman for the Tigers. He scored 14 points in a game twice during that year, first against Loyola (MD) and then in the AAC Conference Tournament in a 79-77 win over USF.
Home Sweet Home
Buffalo had a 26-game home winning streak snapped in the season opener, which had been the second longest streak in the country. Despite the loss, UB has had much success at Alumni Arena.
Last season the Bulls went 14-0 at home and over the previous two seasons, Buffalo went 28-1 at Alumni Arena. Dating back to the 2016-17 season, UB had won 30 of its last 31 games at Alumni Arena. Going back even further to the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Buffalo is 72-15 at home.
History On The Horizon
The Bulls are looking to accomplish something this season that has never been done in Mid-American Conference history as no MAC school has ever won five conference tournament titles in a six-year period. Last season, the Bulls became the first MAC team to win four conference titles in a five year period. The MAC Tournament dates back to the 1979-80 season.
Young Guns
The Bulls welcome in a pair of freshman that complete the class of newcomers for Coach Whitesell and company in David Skogman and Savion Gallion.
A native of Waukesha, WI, Skogman was a second-team All-State selection this past year for Waukesha West High School. He averaged 18.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game during his senior season, while shooting 38.6% from three-point range. SN Connect voted Skogman as its top post player in the state of Wisconsin, while 247 Sports has Skogman listed as its second best player in the state of Wisconsin for 2019.
Gallion is a 6-4 guard from Washington, DC who played last season at Mt. Zion Prep where he averaged 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. Prior to his one year of prep school, Gallion played basketball and competed in track and field at Thurgood Marshall High School, where he was a Washington Post All-Met team honorable mention selection on the hardwood. As a senior, Gallion averaged 22.0 points per game, while averaging 6.0 boards per contest.
Injury Report
Junior Tra'Von Fagan, who played in 22 games last season for the Bulls, will missed the 2019-20 campaign after suffering an offseason knee injury. Junior Brock Bertram missed the season opener with a foot injury and he is currently week-to-week.
