Bulls Battle Pirates on Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, December 14

Greenville, N.C.

1 p.m.

University at Buffalo

East Carolina

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

Bulls Battle Pirates on Sunday Afternoon

12/13/2025 5:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (9-1, 0-0 MAC) are back on the road for the second straight game. The Bulls will play the East Carolina Pirates (3-7, 0-0 American) on Sunday afternoon from Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum with tip-off coming at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. Josh Whetzel will be on the radio call on Buffalo 1520/Rochester 1280 and on the Varsity Network App.

This will be the first meeting between the programs. The Bulls are 6-19 all-time against teams from the American Athletic Conference.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off an 83-79 victory over the UMBC Retrievers on Tuesday evening. With the win, Buffalo improved to 9-1 overall on the season and 3-0 in true road games on the year. Their nine wins through 10 games is the most since 2018-19 when the nationally ranked Bulls started 11-0.

In the win, Tim Oboh led the Bulls in scoring for first time in his career as he scored 19 points, finishing 8-for-10 from the floor. Daniel Freitag scored 17 points and added six rebounds, two assists and three steals. Ezra McKenna buried a game-high three three-pointers leading to a season-high 13 points. Ryan Sabol added 11 points and four assists for the Bulls. Angelo Brizzi continued to be a threat on defense as he had a game-high four steals. The Bulls shot 54.5% from the floor, marking their season high.

Buffalo has shot 54% or better from the floor over the last two games for the first time since Jan. 30th and Feb 2nd of 2018. In 2018, the Bulls went on to shoot 50% or greater in that stretch in 10 consecutive games.

ABOUT THE PIRATES
• East Carolina Head Coach Michael Schwartz is in his fourth year at the helm for the Pirates. In his time at ECU, he has posted a 53-56 (.486) record.

• The Pirates were selected 10th in the 13-team league in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. Jordan Riley earned Preseason All-Conference First Team honors as he averaged 14.6 ppg and 6.0 rpg as he shot .497 from the floor last season. Last season, East Carolina went 19-14 overall and 10-8 in conference play.

• The Pirates are led by Jordan Riley who is averaging 20.4 ppg, good for 26th in the NCAA and first in the AAC. Giovanni Emejuru has 9.3 rpg which is the second-best mark in the ACC and 31st in the nation.

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD
• Wilmington native Mikhail Pocknett returns to his home state on Sunday. During his time at Flight Prep 22, he earned Star News Player of the Year.

• The Bulls and Pirates both participated at the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off this season.

• Buffalo is 3-9 (.250) all-time in the State of North Carolina. Their last game in the state was on Dec. 5, 2015, when the Bulls visited the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils. The Blue Devils won, 82-59. UB's last win in the state was on Dec. 7, 2004, in overtime at Elon, 70-63.

• The Bulls remain at No. 8 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 poll from Monday evening.

• UB has recorded 10 20-point performances this season through 10 games. Last year they finished with just 16 such games.

• Buffalo has forced 8+ turnovers in every game this season. Last season, the Bulls did so in 17-straight games from Jan. 7th-March 4th. Buffalo's +2.6 turnover margin average is fourth in the MAC.

• Angelo Brizzi leads the team with 2.4 steals per game, good for 26th in the national and second in the MAC.

• Noah Batchelor leads the Bulls with the best +/- on the team at +98.

• Daniel Freitag leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring with 19.5 ppg.

• Daniel Freitag (195) and Ryan Sabol (151) have accounted for 44.2% of Buffalo's 782 points on the season.

• Daniel Freitag has made the fifth-most free throws in the NCAA with 69.

• Ryan Sabol recorded his 11th game of his career with five or more three-pointers in a single game on Saturday against St. Bonaventure when he went 5-for-10. He has 29 games with at least three three-pointers in his time in the blue and white.

• The Bulls are 6-8 all-time on Dec. 14th. They last played on this date in 2019 when they hosted Army West Point. The visitors won the contest, 89-76.

• A Buffalo win would give the Bulls a 10-1 start to the season and exceed last year's win total through just 11 games. The Bulls would win the series opener against the Pirates and improve to 7-19 against teams from the American Athletic Conference. Buffalo would go to 4-0 in true road games on the season for the first time since 2018-19.

• The Bulls would drop to 9-2 on the season and to 6-20 against teams from the American Athletic Conference. They'd fall to 3-1 in true road games this season.

• Ryan Sabol recorded his 11th game of his career with five or more three-pointers in a single game last Saturday against St. Bonaventure when he went 5-for-10. He has 29 games with at least three three-pointers in his time in the blue and white.

• The Bulls remain at No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll on the evening of Monday, Dec. 8th. Teams in the poll on Buffalo's schedule are No. 4 Miami (OH), No. 6 Akron (1), No. 13 Kent State, RV Bowling Green (24), Toledo (2), Vermont (2).

• The Bulls have recorded 8+ steals in seven of the 10 game this season. This has led to an average of 8.3 steals per game which is third in the MAC and 89th in the NCAA. The Bulls score an average of 15.6 points off of turnovers this season.

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

• Through nine games, the Bulls have had 10 20-point performances by four different players. To open the season, Ryan Sabol scored 32 points against Southern Miss. and then scored 20 at DePaul. Against Green Bay, both Derrick Talton Jr. and Daniel Freitag scored 21 and 20, respectfully. Against RIT and Vermont, Freitag has scored a combined 60 points. He buried a career-high 33 points against the Catamounts. Angelo Brizzi scored a career-high 25 points against Bucknell. At Canisius, Sabol and Freitag scored 24 and 21, respectfully. Sabol then scored 21 points against St. Bonaventure.

• Junior guard Ryan Sabol is Halcovage's longest tenured player. Sabol has played in every collegiate game during his time with the Bulls, including 67 starts.

• Buffalo's game at East Carolina will be their second to last non-conference game against a Division I opponent this season. Their final regular season game against such opponent will be on Saturday, Feb. 7th as the program will take part in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. All MAC schools will be on the road for this contest.

• Following their win over Canisius, under Halcovage, the Bulls are 18-0 when leading with 5:00 to go.

• Since 2023-24, the Bulls are 14-1 when they score at least 80 points including a 14-game win streak. In their wins, they've outscored the opposition by an average margin of 8.4 points.

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

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