Bulls fall at home once again

By Budd Bailey

May we have a moment of silence, please, for the home-court advantage.

It seems to have slipped silently away from Western New York when it comes to college basketball.

The latest example came on Tuesday night at Alumni Arena, as the University at Buffalo dropped its sixth straight home game. UB fell to Northern Illinois, 72-70. Buffalo’s last win in the supposedly friendly confines of the Amherst campus came way back in January 3.

“Every game is a different game,” coach George Halcovage of the Bulls said. “Unfortunately for us, they out-toughed us in the second half. … We didn’t come with the attitude to utilize a home-court advantage by extending our lead by making the physical tough plays and making the stops you need.”

If misery loves company, well, UB can call Canisius to compare notes. The Golden Griffins haven’t won at the Koessler Athletic Center since January 4 (that’s also six straight defeats). The Bulls, however, do have the local market cornered on difficult losses. The last three games have come down to the wire, and they haven’t been able to do enough at certain key moments to pick up a victory.

On Tuesday, the big problem was a weak start to the second half that undermined their chances of winning.

“I thought we played tremendous in the first half, even with guys getting into foul trouble,” Halcovage said. “We just did not impost the physicality we needed in the first 12 minutes of the second half on the offense end. …. We did not have the mentality we needed … to extend our lead in the first four minutes. That gave them great confidence.”

UB played a solid opening 20 minutes against a team it had handled on the road back on December 31. It had a six-point lead at halftime, and usually looked like the better team. But it took only more than three minutes for the margin to disappear, and Buffalo had to play uphill for most of the second half.

It did rally in the last two-plus minutes to cut an eight-point lead down to one, and UB had a couple of chances to score a game-winning basket but didn’t. It didn’t help that the Bulls were missing leading scorer Daniel Freitag once again to injury. He would have been helpful, especially down the stretch. Teammate Ryan Sabol picked up some of the slack with 24 points. He said his role on the team doesn’t change when Freitag is out of the lineup.

“Not really,” Sabol said. “Daniel’s an amazing player and he’s been amazing for us. Obviously, it hurts not to have him. But I play the same way and it’s a ‘next man up’ mentality. … It’s whatever the team needs. I wouldn’t say it changes anything.”

Meanwhile, Angelo Brizzi led the Bulls with 25 points, hitting 9 of 18 from the field. Brizzi has raised his scoring average consistently in recent games, as he has had at least 14 points in his last six games.

“He always had this in him,” Halcovage said. “There’s going to be more shots for these two (Brizzi and Sabol) is you spread the ball around. When Daniel’s in there, you might have a few less points but overall our team is harder to guard. I’m not surprised by how he’s playing. That’s the type of player he is.”

It might have been Northern Illinois’ last basketball visit to these parts for quite a while. The Huskies are dropping out of the Mid-American Conference in the summer. Come fall, NIU’s football team will be part of the Mountain West Conference – even if Northern Illinois’s topography isn’t associated with rugged peaks. The rest of the university’s sports teams will shift to the Horizon League, which probably is a step backwards in terms of competition but will save NIU some money.

The loss was a painful one for Buffalo in terms of the postseason - a missed opportunity. Eight teams qualify for the postseason tournament in Cleveland next month. After Tuesday’s game, the Bulls are 5-8 in MAC play. Seven teams are above Buffalo, while three teams (Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan) have four conference wins each. A sixth win would have been helpful, but Tuesday’s game erased the margin for error.

Yes, it’s a big scramble. There could be some scoreboard watching down the stretch. But in one sense, the Bulls’ job is simple: Win some games, and punch a ticket to play in Ohio. If they don’t, they won’t deserve to be there.

“That’s what we talk about every day,” Halcovage said. “We’ve come up short numerous times. We’ve had a shot to win it in here three straight times at the end. Sometimes games come down to that. Tonight, we put ourselves in a position we shouldn’t have been in.”

Buffalo’s next two games are on the road against teams above them – Massachusetts on Saturday and Akron on Feb. 24. At least the Bulls will have the away-court advantage in their favor.

(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)