Buffalo Basketball has a huge opportunity for a marquee win against the West Virginia Mountaineers. What are the biggest keys to an upset?
There has not been a shortage of great games during this first week of College Basketball and Friday’s match up of the Buffalo Bulls and the No. 13 West Virginia Mountaineers is certainly no different. The Bulls are coming into the season as a top team in the Mid-American Conference and are a real threat to make noise nationally. The Mountaineers are coming into the season as the No. 13 team in the country and with their veteran leadership and star players are looking to make an impact in the Big 12 and in the postseason this year.
Buffalo is 1-0 on the year as they kicked off their season on Tuesday, defeating St. Francis (PA ) 82-67. They struggled a bit throughout this match up and St. Francis kept it close until late, but ultimately the Bulls pulled away in the final 5 minutes and won convincingly.
One of the reasons the Bulls struggled was Jeremy Harris. Harris is their star forward who can shoot the ball better than anyone, but he was held to just 8 points on 3-for-15 shooting. Luckily Nick Perkins and Jayvon Graves picked up some of the slack, scoring 16 and 12 respectively.
As for West Virginia, this game will open up their regular season. They lost to Penn State 84-82 last Saturday in a charity exhibition, but with exhibitions they can really only be taken with a grain of salt. This is a fantastic team with experience and serious talent and they will be tough to beat.
Last season, the Mountaineers finished 26-11 and were taken out in the Sweet 16 by the eventual national champions, Villanova. Even though they lost star point guard Jevon Carter, they return Esa Ahmad and Sagaba Konate and will be a name in the national debates throughout the season.
With that being said, let’s take a look at three keys needed if Buffalo wants to pull off the upset in Morgantown.