Bulls and Bonnies Meet for Saturday Clash at Alumni Arena

Saturday, December 6

Buffalo, N.Y.

2 p.m.

University at Buffalo

St. Bonaventure

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Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

Bulls and Bonnies Meet for Saturday Clash at Alumni Arena

12/5/2025 12:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (8-0, 0-0 MAC) are back home as they host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (8-1, 0-0 A10) on Saturday afternoon from Alumni Arena with tip-off coming at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. Paul Peck and Pete Lonergan will have the TV broadcast call as Josh Whetzel and Bob Gaughan will be on the radio call on Buffalo 1520/Rochester 1280 and on the Varsity Network App.

The Bonnies lead the all-time series, 13-6. This will be the 20^th all-time meeting between the Bulls and Bonnies as they will have met in 15 of the last 16 seasons. The lone season they did not meet in during that stretch was in 2020-21.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off a 71-53 victory over the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday evening. With the win, the Bulls improved to 8-0 for just the second time in Division I history since 1991-92. The only other time the Bulls started 8-0 came in the historic 2018-19 season.

In the win, Ryan Sabol led the Bulls with 24 points as he knocked down five three-pointers. He also added four rebounds and four assists as he made all seven of his free throws. Daniel Freitag scored 21 points as he made a career-high six threes with six rebounds. This was the second time this season the Bulls had a pair of 20-point scorers in the same game. The last time two Bulls made at least five three-pointers was on March 11, 2021, when Jeenathan Williams and Ronaldo Segu each made five against Miami (OH). Derrick Talton Jr. led the team with five assists as Tim Oboh had three blocks. The Bulls held the Golden Griffins to 3-for-20 (.150) from three-point range.

ABOUT THE BONNIES
• St. Bonaventure Head Coach Mark Schmidt is in his 19th year at the helm for the Bonnies. In his time at St. Bonaventure, he has posted a 332-239 (.581) record. In his 25-year career, he has an overall record of 414-329 (.557) as he spent six seasons at Robert Morris (2001-07) prior to St. Bonaventure.

• The Bonnies were selected eighth in the 14-team league in the Atlantic 10 Conference Preseason Poll. Last season, they went 22-12 overall and 9-9 in conference play. Dasonte Bowen earned Preseason Second-Team Atlantic 10 honors. Last season he averaged 11.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg and 4.0 apg.

• The Bonnies are top-50 in the NCAA in scoring defense (65.7, 42nd), three-point percentage offense (.376, 44th) and blocks per game (6.1, 12th).

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD

• Daniel Freitag was tabbed MAC Player of the Week on Monday afternoon for the second consecutive week.

• Buffalo received one AP Top-25 vote in Monday's poll for the second week in a row. The last time they received votes was in back-to-back polls were the final two polls of the 2018-19 season when they finished at No. 15.

• Of the 107 college basketball games on Saturday, there are only 17 games where both teams are in the top-100 of the NCAA NET rankings. The Bulls check in at 96th as the Bonnies are 89^th as of Dec. 4th.

• Buffalo has forced 8+ turnovers in every game to open the season. Last season, the Bulls did so in 17-straight games from Jan. 7^th-March 4^th. Buffalo's +3.1 turnover margin average is fifth in the MAC.

• The Bulls average a MAC-best 30.0 free throw attempts and 22.4 free throws made per game. They're sixth in attempts and fourth in makes per game in the NCAA.

• Noah Batchelor leads the Bulls with the best +/- on the team at +115.

• Daniel Freitag leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring with 20.1 ppg.

• Daniel Freitag has accounted for 25.6% of Buffalo's points on the season as he has scored 161 of Buffalo's 630 points. Ryan Sabol's 119 points makes up 18.9% of Buffalo's points.

• Daniel Freitag's 33-point performance against the Vermont Catamounts is the third-most points scored in the MAC in a single game.

• Daniel Freitag has attempted the 11^th-most free throws in the NCAA with 72.

• A Buffalo win would give the Bulls just their second 9-0 start in their Division I modern era since 1991. The only other 9-0 start came in the 2018-19 season when the nationally ranked Bulls started 11-0. The Bulls would improve to 7-13 all-time against the Bonnies and 11-27 against teams from the Atlantic 10. Buffalo would snap their 12-game losing streak against Division I opponents in the month of December.

• The Bulls would drop to 8-1 on the season. Buffalo would drop to 6-14 against St. Bonaventure and 10-28 against teams from the Atlantic 10. Buffalo's losing streak against Division I opponents in the month of December would move to 13.

• As of Dec. 4th, the Bulls are just one of 12 Division I programs that are undefeated with at least eight wins. They are the only MAC program that is undefeated with eight wins.

• Ezra McKenna surpassed 1,600 points in his collegiate career on Saturday at Canisius with six points. Ryan Sabol cleared the 800-point mark after his 24-point performance at Canisius. He's 45th all-time in program history in scoring and was the 48th Bull to reach 800 points wearing the blue and white.

• The Bulls check in at No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll on the evening of Monday, Dec. 1st. UB was ranked No. 13 in last week's poll. Teams in the poll on Buffalo's schedule are No. 4 Miami (OH), No. 9 Akron, No. 14 Kent State, RV Vermont (17), Toledo (6), Southern Miss (4).

• The Bulls have recorded 8+ steals in six of the eight game this season. This has led to an average of 8.4 steals per game which is fourth in the MAC and 85th in the NCAA. The Bulls score an average of 15.5 points off of turnovers this season.

• Through eight games, the Bulls have had nine 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. In their last game, Sabol and Freitag scored 24 and 21 points at Canisius, respectfully.

• 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 13-1 when they score at least 80 points including a 13-game win streak. In their wins, they've outscored the opposition by an average margin of 9.0 points.

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

For all the latest on UB men's basketball, follow @UBuffaloMBB on Twitter/X, @ubuffalo_mbb on Instagram and like the UB Men's Basketball Facebook page.

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