Strong Second Half Falls Short At Nationally-Ranked Michigan

Wednesday, November 10

Ann Arbor, MI

6:30 pm

0-1,0-0MAC

Michigan

1-0,0-0Big Ten

Buffalo

Michigan

Strong Second Half Falls Short At Nationally-Ranked Michigan

11/10/2021 10:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, MI – Behind a career high 32 points from senior Jeenathan Williams, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team outscored #6 Michigan, 40-37 in the second half, but a slow start led to an 88-76 win for the Wolverines in the season opener for both teams.

Michigan, who unveiled their Big Ten Championship banner pregame and played in the Elite Eight last season, led by as many as 24 points in the first half as the Wolverines shot over 57% from the floor, while UB struggled offensively, shooting just 37.1%. The Bulls were able to make a late run though in the as they went on an 11-2 run over the final two minutes, cutting the halftime deficit to 51-36.

Just three minutes into the second half, the Bulls had already trimmed the Michigan lead to single digits as a bucket from Ronaldo Segu cut the score to 55-47. Michigan would go back up by 13, but a 12-4 run got the Bulls as close as they had been since the game started, as they trailed by just five at 70-65 following a three from Keishawn Brewton with 7:13 left.

Buffalo continued to trail by just five with six minutes remaining, but Michigan went on to score the next five and went on a 12-2 run to regain a 15-point lead. Williams scored the final two of his 32 points with 16 seconds left, for the final score.

"Give Michigan credit, they are so good and they really got after us in the first half and outexecuted us, but I thought we did a good job at the end there getting it to 15," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "And then in the second we played really well for a big stretch, but just needed a few more stops that we were unable to get."

Williams led all scorers in the game with his career best 32 points, as he was 14-of-22 from the floor. He added eight rebounds. Segu added 15 points and a team-high four assists.

Senior Josh Mballa added 13 points, including going a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. David Skogman had a tough matchup on the night as he was matched up against 7-footer and second-team All-American Hunter Dickinson, but the sophomore finished with six points and five boards.

Maceo Jack had five points and four rebounds in his Buffalo debut, while Brewton added three points and Tra'von Fagan had two.

The Bulls had a solid performance from the free throw line, going 15-of-18 from the charity stripe and UB was narrowly outrebounded by its Big Ten foe, 39-37.

Dickinson had 27 points to lead the way for Michigan.

Buffalo remains on the road Monday night when they face North Texas at 8pm ET in Denton, TX.