Bulls Travel to Chicago for Clash with the DePaul Blue Demons

Tuesday, November 11

Chicago, Ill.

8 p.m.

University at Buffalo

DePaul

Tickets

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

Bulls Travel to Chicago for Clash with the DePaul Blue Demons

11/10/2025 12:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

CHICAGO – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (2-0, 0-0 MAC) are on the road for the first time this season as they'll play the DePaul Blue Demons (2-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) on Tuesday evening. Tip-off against the Blue Demons from Wintrust Arena is set for 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Evan Stockton and Joel McNeal on the call. Josh Whetzel will be on the radio call on Buffalo 1520/Rochester 1280 and on the Varsity Network App.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off an 83-76 victory over the visiting Green Bay Phoenix on Friday evening. With the win, the Bulls improved to 2-0 for the eighth time since their return to Division I in 1991. They've now started 2-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2017-18 and 2018-19.

In the win, Derrick Talton Jr. scored a career-high 21 points as he went 9-of-13 from the floor. Daniel Freitag recorded a career-high 20 points as he was 3-of-4 from three-point range. Noah Batchelor continued to be a force at the basket as he secured a game-high seven rebounds. He was also perfect from deep as he knocked down a pair of threes as he finished with eight points. As a team, the Bulls shot 53.2% from the field.

Buffalo's seven turnovers against Green Bay were their fewest since Dec. 21, 2023, at Richmond when they only committed six. The Bulls have recorded back-to-back games with less than 10 turnovers for the first time since March 8^th and 14^th of 2019.

ABOUT THE BLUE DEMONS
• DePaul Head Coach Chris Holtmann is in his second year at the helm for the Blue Demons. He has posted an overall record of 16-20 during his time at DePaul, but in his 15-year head coaching career, he is 267-191. He previously coached at Gardner Webb (2010-13), Butler (2014-17) and Ohio State (2017-24).

• Senior wing CJ Gunn was a preseason All-BIG EAST Third Team selection. Last season he averaged 12.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

• The Blue Demons were selected ninth in the 11- team league BIG EAST Conference Preseason Poll.

• Through just two games, N.J. Benson has eight blocks which is the top mark in the BIG EAST and eighth overall in the country. Benson is also just one of 18 players this season to record two double-doubles.

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD
• Ryan Sabol is 79^th in the country in scoring with 20.5 ppg. This mark is second in the MAC behind Kent State's Morgan Safford who is averaging 27.5 ppg.

• Ryan Sabol has now made 149 career three-pointers, good for eighth all-time. He is six threes away from passing Jeremy Harris (154, 2017-19) for seventh in program history.

• Ryan Sabol's eight three-pointers is 25th in the nation and second in the MAC. Morgan Safford of Kent State leads the league as he has made 14 threes so far this season.

• This will be UB's first of two trips to the Land of Lincoln as they'll play Northern Illinois on Dec. 30th.

• The Bulls have drawn 52 fouls through the first two games of the season. This has led to the Bulls averaging 26.0 free throw makes and 38.5 free throw attempts per game. UB ranks 14th in the nation in made free throws per game and seventh in free throw attempts per game.

• The Bulls are 4-2 all-time on Nov. 11th. They last played on this date last season when they played at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the first time in program history. Notre Dame came away with the 86-77 win.

• A Buffalo win would give the Bulls just their second 3-0 start in their Division I modern era since 1991. The only other 3-0 start came in the 2018-19 season when the nationally ranked Bulls started 11-0. The Bulls would also improve to 2-0 over DePaul and 5-19 all-time against BIG EAST opponents.

• The Bulls would drop to 2-1 on the season and it would be their first loss to DePaul.

• Senior Noah Batchelor tallied his third career double-double in Monday's win over Southern Miss. He scored 12 points while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Last year he had double-doubles against Vermont (16 pts, 10 reb) and Western Michigan (10 pts, 12 reb). Batchelor has recorded the Bulls' last three double-doubles.

• During his time at Villanova, Head Coach George Halcovage III helped the Wildcats to a 23-1 record against DePaul since the 2008-09 season.

• In Friday night's win over Green Bay, the Bulls had their first game of the season with two players scoring 20+ points. Sophomore Daniel Freitag scored a career-high 20 points as he went 3-for-4 from three. Grad transfer Derrick Talton Jr. scored a Division I career-high 21 points as he finished 9-of-13 from the floor. He led the Bulls with four assists for the second time this season. The last time the Bulls had a pair of 20-point scorers was March 1, 2025, against Toledo.

• Ryan Sabol started the season with a bang. In Monday's win over Southern Miss., the junior guard scored a career-high 32 points while making a career-high nine field goals. This marked the third time he's knocked down seven threes, tying his career high. He also did so at Bowling Green (2/6/24) and against Fredonia (11/8/24). Sabol's 32 points is tied for the 10th most scored in a home game as he tied Curtis Jones who did so on Dec. 3, 2022, against St. Bonaventure. Jones was also the Bulls' last 30-point scorer when he scored 30 points at Western Michigan on Feb. 4, 2023, 71 games prior.

• Buffalo's upcoming Division I non-conference opponents are 14-5 (.737) this season.

• Following their win over Green Bay, under Holcovage, the Bulls are 13-0 when leading with 5:00 to go.

• Since 2023-24, the Bulls are 11-1 when they score at least 80 points including an 11-game win streak. In their wins, they've outscored the opposition by an average margin of 8.8 points.

• UB is just eight wins away from reaching program win no. 1,300. They would be the final MAC school to reach this milestone.

• Junior guard Ryan Sabol is Halcovage's longest tenured player. Sabol has played in every collegiate game during his time with the Bulls, including 59 starts.

• In the Blue Ribbon MAC Preseason Forecast, sophomore transfer Daniel Freitag was named MAC Newcomer of the Year.

• Ryan Sabol has scored a team-high 41 points this season. His 737 career points is 52^ndin program history.

• Unlike last year when the Bulls had eight freshmen on the roster, they brought in six transfers to Buffalo. Ezra McKenna (Mobile), Derrick Talton Jr. (Oklahoma Wesleyan) and Angelo Brizzi (Longwood) are all grad transfers. Kyle Jones (St. Thomas Aquinas) is a red-shirt junior as Mikhail Pocknett (King) and Daniel Freitag are a junior and sophomore, respectfully. In total, they've scored a combined 4,908 points in their college careers. They have also combined for a 352-158 overall record and a .690 win percentage.

• Ryan Sabol, who posted 14.4 points per game and knocked down 79 3-pointers, comes back to Buffalo as Head Coach George Halcovage III's only third-year player. During his sophomore campaign, Sabol became the fastest player in program history to 100 made 3-pointers as he did so in just 42 games. He's currently eighth all-time in made threes with 148.

• Headed into last season, the Bulls only had 188 collegiate games of experience played as they welcomed eight freshmen. This year the Bulls have 600 games played in college, good for a 412-game difference. The only other program with a biggest difference in games played was San Diego as they went from 425 games played in 2024-25 to 900 this season, a difference of 475.

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