Bulls Travel to Baltimore for Showdown Against the Retrievers

Tuesday, December 9

Baltimore, Md.

5 p.m.

University at Buffalo

UMBC

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

Bulls Travel to Baltimore for Showdown Against the Retrievers

12/8/2025 3:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

BALTIMORE, Md. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (8-1, 0-0 MAC) are back on the road for three straight games including four of the next five. The Bulls will play the UMBC Retrievers (6-3, 0-0 America East) on Tuesday evening from the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena with tip-off coming at 5 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 fourth all-time meeting between the Bulls and Retrievers and the first meeting since Jan. of 1992. UMBC won the three previous meetings.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off their first loss of the season to Big 4 rival St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon, 77-69. Buffalo's eight wins to open the season is the second-best start to a season in their Division I history since 1991-92 as the 2018-19 nationally ranked Bulls started the season 11-0.

In the loss, Ryan Sabol led the Bulls in scoring for the fourth time this season and 20th time in his career with 21 points. He knocked down a game-high five three-pointers. Daniel Freitag scored 17 points and added a career-high seven assists. Angelo Brizzi added 12 points for the UB. For the first time this season, Tim Oboh led the Bulls with five rebounds. The Bulls shot 54.0% from the floor, marking their season high.

ABOUT THE RETRIEVERS
• UMBC Head Coach Jim Ferry is in his fifth year at the helm for the Retrievers. In his time at UMBC, he has posted a 66-71 (.482) record. In his 25-year career, he has an overall record of 391-350 (.528) as he spent time at Plymouth State (1998-99), Adelphi (1999-02), LIU (2002-12), Duquesne (2012-17) and Penn State (2020-21).

• The Retrievers were selected seventh in the nine-team league in the America East Conference Preseason Poll. Josh Odunowo earned Preseason All-Conference honors as he averaged 11.1 ppg and 5.2 rpg as he shot .565 from the floor last season. Last season, they went 13-19 overall and 5-11 in conference play.

• The Retrievers lead the America East in scoring defense (70.3), scoring margin (+4.8) and fouls per game (12.9).

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD
• The Bulls and Retrievers pulled massive upsets in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. On Thursday, March 15th, the 13-seed Bulls beat the No. 15 and 4-seed Arizona Wildcats in the First Round, 89-68. The next day, 16-seed UMBC beat the overall 1-seed Virginia, 74-54, to mark the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed.

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

• Buffalo is 3-10 (.231) all-time in the State of Maryland. Their last win and game played in "The Free State" came against Towson on Nov. 21, 2009, in a 78-69 overtime decision. UB's first game played in Maryland dates back to Feb. 20, 1957, when they played at Navy. The Midshipmen won, 80-50.

• The Bulls moved to No. 8 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 poll last Monday evening.

• Buffalo is seeking their first road win in the month of December since they beat Western Kentucky on Dec. 8, 2021.

• Buffalo has forced 8+ turnovers in every game to open the season, including forcing 17 turnovers in their last game against St. Bonaventure. Last season, the Bulls did so in 17-straight games from Jan. 7th-March 4th. Buffalo's +2.8 turnover margin average is fifth 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 19.8 ppg.

• Daniel Freitag (161) and Ryan Sabol (140) have accounted for 45.6% of Buffalo's 699 points on the season.

• 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 15th-most free throws in the NCAA with 75.

• The Bulls are 10-10 all-time on Dec. 9th. They last played on this date in 2024 when they hosted the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers won the contest, 82-65. Buffalo also hosted No. 2 Pittsburgh on this date in 2006. The Panthers won in a nailbiter, 70-67.

• A Buffalo win would give the Bulls a 9-1 start to the season. The Bulls would earn their first win over the UMBC Retrievers and improve to 33-24 all-time against teams from the America East.

• The Bulls would drop to 8-2 on the season. Buffalo would drop to 0-4 against UMBC and 32-25 against teams from the America East.

• 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 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 nine game this season. This has led to an average of 8.1 steals per game which is fourth in the MAC and 105th in the NCAA. The Bulls score an average of 15.9 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 66 starts.

• 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.

• Ryan Sabol has scored 140 points this season, the second most on the team. He's currently 42nd in program history in scoring. After a 21-point performance on Saturday against St. Bonaventure, he passed Lou Johnson (1991-95, 819), Willie Conner (2015-17, 828) and Horace Brawley (1972-74, 835).

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