Buffalo Basketball: Bulls look to carry magic into round of 32

Following a 21 point victory over Arizona in the first round, the Buffalo Bulls are a win away from making a sweet sixteen appearance. Next up, the mighty Kentucky Wildcats.

TV Schedule: 5:15 p.m. on CBS

Location: Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho

The MAC has been well represented thus far in this year’s NCAA tournament, enjoying the conference’s largest margin of victory in history on Thursday night when Buffalo defeated Arizona on Thursday night 89-68. The win was stunning to just about everyone except the Bulls themselves, whose belief never wavered despite coming in as heavy underdogs.

That belief, instilled by head coach Nate Oats, is not going anywhere as the MAC champions move on to the round of 32 and face Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats stumbled through their opening round contest with Davidson, but still come in as one of the more talented and well-coached teams in the nation.

Oats and the Bulls have one major strength that they will need to put on display yet again, that being their sharp three-point shooting. The Bulls hit 15 of their 30 attempts from beyond the arc on Thursday, and spread the ball around well in doing so. Even center Nick Perkins hit two from downtown. Their 45 points from three stood against Arizona’s six off of just two three-pointers, the major determining factor in the upset.

But to the Bulls, it was hardly an upset at all. Averaging almost 90 points a game, Oats and company believe that they can compete with anybody because they can shoot. Guards Jeremy Harris and C.J. Massinburg have the ability to take and make contested shots, meaning that they can put up a lot of points against even the strongest defenses.

Kentucky is fairly strong on defense, but they are also one of the youngest teams in the history of college basketball. This is somewhat offset by the fact that head coach John Calipari is one of the best in the business and always has his 18 and 19-year-olds ready to play at the highest level. Still, no matter how well coached the team is, they are likely more vulnerable to become frustrated and discouraged if the Bulls can have the repeated success shooting from the field like they did on Thursday.

There are a few factors going for Buffalo in this game that many analysts and fans are overlooking. First of all is Buffalo’s depth, especially offensively. They are capable of getting a slew of points from anyone on the floor, as is evident based on Wes Clark’s 25 points on Thursday. Opponents never know who is going to step up for the Bulls, but each of their starters are very capable and natural scorers.

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Also, despite Kentucky’s talent, the Wildcats may be thrown off just a bit having to face the 13th seed when all the talk coming into tournament play was how exciting an Arizona/Kentucky matchup was going to be. Even a slight letdown as a result of this could spark Buffalo just enough early in this contest to give them a significant edge.

Even though Kentucky can play at a wide variety of levels, as consistency has been an issue for the young Wildcats, this game is going to be determined by how the Bulls play. Not only did Buffalo upset Arizona, they downright outplayed them in every facet if the game. The Bulls are able to do the same to Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, but they must shoot at the same high percentage, defend relentlessly once again, and quite possibly most importantly, take care of the basketball.

The Wildcats would like nothing more than to get out in transition and disrupt Buffalo’s offensive sets. In doing so, the pace would favor Kentucky and they would control the game. But if the Bulls continue to take care of the ball, and keep their turnovers in single digits following their ten on Thursday, they actually appear to be the better team.

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Another dominant performance from Buffalo is unlikely, but a game that comes down to the wire is almost certain. Kentucky won’t underestimate the Bulls, but they still won’t quite be ready for the offensive barrage that awaits. Buffalo will pull this one off and punch an unlikely ticket to the sweet sixteen.

Prediction: Buffalo 81, Kentucky 78

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