Bulls Visit RedHawks on Saturday

Saturday, January 17

Oxford, Ohio

1 p.m.

University at Buffalo

Miami (OH)

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

1/16/2026 2:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Zach Monell

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball program (13-4, 3-2 MAC) will travel to Oxford, Ohio to face the Miami (OH) RedHawks (18-0, 6-0 MAC) on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off from Millett Hall will be at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. Josh Whetzel will be on the radio call on Buffalo 1400 and on the Varsity Network App.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulls are coming off a tough 87-81 home loss to the Kent State Golden Flashes on Tuesday evening. With the loss, Buffalo dropped to 13-4 overall on the season and 3-2 in MAC play.

In the loss, Daniel Freitag had his fourth 30-point performance of the season as he tallied 33 points while dishing out seven assists. In his effort, he tied his career-high in made three-pointers as he went 6-for-13. Ryan Sabol added 16 points as he made four threes on the evening to go with his six assists. In doing so, he moved to fifth all-time in three-pointers made in a UB career with 195. He passed Jayvon Graves (2017-21, 191). Tim Oboh rounded out the top scorers for the Bulls with 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks.

ABOUT THE REDHAWKS
• Miami Head Coach Travis Steele has spent the last four seasons with the RedHawks where he's led them to a 70-46 (.603) overall record. Prior to his time in Oxford, he spent four seasons at Xavier from 2018-22. In his career, he holds an overall record of 140-96 (.593). He is 4-1 against Buffalo in his career.

• The RedHawks were selected second in the 13-team league in the Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll. Peter Suder and Eian Elmer were named to the Preseason All-MAC Team. Last season, Miami went 25-9 overall and 14-4 in conference play. They fell to Akron in the MAC Championship game, 76-74.

• The RedHawks have five players averaging over 10.0 ppg with Brant Byers leading the way with 15.6 ppg. Elmer leads the team with 6.0 rpg as Luke Skaljac has 75 total assists on the season.

THE BULL-ETIN BOARD
• The Bulls and RedHawks are the only MAC teams to receive votes in the AP Top-25 this season. The Bulls were in the AP Poll in Weeks 4 (Nov. 24) and 5 (Dec. 1) as the RedHawks have been in the last six polls since Dec. 8th.

• Dating back to 2004-05 on available records, this is the first time the Bulls have had six 30-point performances in a single season as Daniel Freitag has done so four times as Ryan Sabol has done it twice this season. The 2012-13 squad finished with five such performances. Over the last three previous seasons, Buffalo only had four 30-point performances.
• The Bulls have made 10+ three-pointers in five of their last six games, averaging 10.8 per game. In that stretch, they're 65-of-156, good for a .417 three-point percentage. On the season, Buffalo has made at least eight three-pointers in 13 of their 17 games as they're averaging 9.5 per game.

• Ryan Sabol is 15 points shy of reaching 1,000 in his career. He will become the 27th Bull in program history to reach this milestone and the first since 2021 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Josh Mballa did so from 2019-22 as he tallied 1,045 points.

• Buffalo has made 310 free throws this season. Of their 1,359 points this season, 22.8% have come from the free throw line, that is a conference best as Kent State (21.3%), Bowling Green (21.3%) and Northern Illinois (20.8%) are the only other schools above 20%.

• UB has made 161 three-pointers so far this season. 35.5% of their points have come from three-point range, the second-best mark in the MAC behind Miami's 36.6%.

• The Bulls moved to No. 9 in the most recent College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 poll.

• Ryan Sabol is the only Bull to score 10+ points in every conference game this season. He's averaging 17.6 ppg, good for ninth in the MAC.

• UB has recorded 17 20-point performances this season. Last year they finished with just 16 such games.

• Daniel Freitag leads the MAC in free throw makes and attempts with 108 and 134, respectfully. He's top-15 in the country in both categories.

• Daniel Freitag (345) and Ryan Sabol (289) have accounted for 46.7% of Buffalo's 1,359 points on the season. They are the highest scoring duo in the MAC as UMass's Leonardo Bettiol (298) and Marcus Banks (291) make up 40.5% of the Minutemen's points.

• In conference play, the Bulls are averaging the fewest turnovers per game at 9.4. At Western Michigan on Dec. 20th, they tied a program record for fewest turnovers in a game with four. Against Kent State on Tuesday, they finished with just five turnovers, tied for the third fewest in program history. Their +3.2 turnover margin is the best in the MAC.

• Following his 31-point performance against Penn State Behrend, Ryan Sabol surpassed the 900-point mark in his career. He became the 36th Bull to reach 900 points. He's currently at 985 points in the blue and white. Being just 15 points shy of 1,000 in his career, he would be the 27th Bull to reach this milestone.

• On the season, Noah Batchelor has the best +/- on the team at +127. Daniel Freitag is just behind at +121 with Ryan Sabol third with +118.

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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