Bulls Host Vermont on Tuesday Evening in a Battle Between Unbeatens

Tuesday, November 18

Buffalo, N.Y.

6:30 p.m.

University at Buffalo

Vermont

Tickets

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

Bulls Host Vermont on Tuesday Evening in a Battle Between Unbeatens

11/17/2025 4:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (4-0, 0-0 MAC) are on back home against the Vermont Catamounts (4-0, 0-0 America East). Tip-off time against the Catamounts from Alumni Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Howard Simon and Tony Watson on the call. Josh Whetzel and Bob Gaughan will be on the radio call on Buffalo 1520/Rochester 1280 and on the Varsity Network App.

The matchup between the Bulls and Catamounts on Tuesday will be the only game in college basketball where both teams enter 4-0.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off an 80-64 victory over the RIT Tigers on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Bulls improved to 4-0 for just the second time in Division I history since 1991-92. The only other time the Bulls started 4-0 came in the historic 2018-19 season.

In the win, Daniel Freitag scored a career-high 27 points and five assists. He went 14-of-15 from the free throw line becoming the first Bull to make at least 14 free throws in a game since Javon McCrea (Jan. 16, 2013) when he made 15. Freitag drew a game-high nine fouls. Noah Batchelor had another solid performance for UB as he scored 14 points with seven rebounds. He splashed in a career-high four three-pointers. He finished the day with a plus/minus margin of +33, a game high. Angelo Brizzi rounded out the Bulls who scored in double-figures as he added 10 points. Brizzi, Derrick Talton Jr. and Tim Oboh each led the team with two steals each.

ABOUT THE CATAMOUNTS
• Vermont Head Coach John Becker is in his 15th year at the helm for the Catamounts. In his time at UVM, he has posted a 333-132 (.716) overall record. Prior to Vermont, he spent a pair of seasons at Gallaudet where he went 6-44 (.120).

• The Catamounts were selected as the preseason favorite in the nine-team America East Preseason Poll. They also received seven first place votes. The Catamounts went 21-12 overall and 13-3 in conference play as they saw their streak of consecutive regular season championships end at eight.

• This year the team brings back Preseason All-Conference selections TJ Hurley (15.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg) and TJ Long (11.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg). Hurley was a first-team all-conference pick last year, while Long was a third-team all-conference selection in 2023-24.

• The Catamounts are 16th in the NCAA averaging 12.0 three-pointers per game.

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD
• The Bulls are 7-2 all-time on Nov. 18th. They last played on this date in 2022 when they played Drake in the opening round of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Bulldogs won, 80-72. In 2006, the Bulls defeated the Miami Hurricanes, 60-57, at the America's Youth Classic in Evansville, Ind.

• A Buffalo win would give the Bulls just their second 5-0 start in their Division I modern era since 1991. The only other 5-0 start came in the 2018-19 season when the nationally ranked Bulls started 11-0. The Bulls would also improve to 2-4 over Vermont and 32-24 against

• With a loss, the Bulls would drop to 4-1 on the season. They will have lost their third straight game to a team from the America East as they went 0-2 last year to Bryant and Vermont. Buffalo would be 31-25 against teams from the America East.

• On the week, Buffalo's game against Vermont is just one of four games that will feature a pair of 4-0 teams battling it out.
Tuesday, Nov. 18th - Vermont at Buffalo
Wednesday, Nov. 19th - #5 Arizona at #3 UConn
Friday, Nov. 21st - Virginia vs. Northwestern (Greenbrier Tip-Off)
Friday, Nov. 21st - #12 Louisville at Cincinnati

• Returning to Alumni Arena is Vermont's Ben Michaels who spent last year with the Bulls. In his lone season donning the blue and white, Michaels earned MAC All-Freshman Team honors as he averaged 8.1 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 22.4 mpg. He was the first Bull to earn MAC All-Freshman Team honors since CJ Massinburg did so in 2015-16.

• Buffalo has forced 10+ turnovers in every game to open the season. Dating back to last season, the Bulls have forced 10+ turnovers in 12 of the last 13 games. Buffalo's +5.0 turnover margin average is third in the MAC behind Bowling Green (+13.0) and Akron (+7.75).

• The Bulls average a MAC-best 32.5 free throw attempts per game; Kent State is just behind averaging 32.4.

• Noah Batchelor leads the Bulls with the best +/- on the team at +75. Against RIT, he finished with a game-high +33 in just over 30 minutes of game action.

• After opening the season with four of five games at home, following their two-game home stand, the Bulls will be away from Alumni Arena for six of the next seven including a trip to Florida for the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off. While away from Alumni Arena, the Bull will face two new opponents in VMI (Nov. 24) and East Carolina (Dec. 14).

• Daniel Freitag leads the team in scoring with 18.0 ppg. He is 127th in the country in scoring which is fifth in the MAC. Delrecco Gillespie (Kent State) leads the MAC with 21.0 ppg.

• Ryan Sabol has now made 152 career three-pointers, good for eighth all-time. He is three threes away from passing Jeremy Harris (154, 2017-19) for seventh in program history.

• Ryan Sabol's 11 three-pointers is 86th in the nation and tied for second in the MAC. Morgan Safford of Kent State leads the league as he has made 18 threes so far this season.

• Through four games, the Bulls have had five 20-point performances by three different players. To open the season, Ryan Sabol scored 32 points against Southern Miss. and scored 20 at DePaul. Against Green Bay, both Derrick Talton Jr. and Daniel Freitag scored 21 and 20, respectfully. In UB's last game against RIT, Freitag scored a career-high 27 points.

• The Bulls have recorded back-to-back games with 10+ steals for the first time since Nov. 7th and 12th of 2022 against Colgate (13) and James Madison (16). On the season, they are averaging 9.0 steals per game which is 74th in the NCAA and third in the MAC.

• Buffalo's upcoming Division I non-conference opponents are 20-8 (.714) this season.

• Following their win over RIT, under Halcovage, the Bulls are 15-0 when leading with 5:00 to go.

• Since 2023-24, the Bulls are 12-1 when they score at least 80 points including a 12-game win streak. In their wins, they've outscored the opposition by an average margin of 9.4 points.

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

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