#23 MIAMI V BUFFALO PART 2-GAME NOTES AND GAME THREAD

Men's Sports Men's Basketball
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#23 RANKED MIAMI travels to Buffalo on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. The Red and White enter this game with a 22-0 (10-0 MAC) record, its best start to a season in program history. The RedHawks have also secured the best start for a program in MAC history (originally set by WMU in 1975-76 at 19-0) and the longest win streak in MAC history (originally set by Kent State in 2001-02 at 21-0).

Miami ranks among the top of the nation in numerous statistical categories heading into this game, which includes being first in the country in effective field goal percentage (0.627), first in field goal percentage (53.5), first in scoring offense (93.7), sixth in
three-point percentage (40.1), eighth in scoring margin (19.3), 10th in threes per game (11.1), 27th in defensive rebounds per game (27.64), 28th in free throw percentage (77.1), 29th in assist/turnover
ratio (1.60), 38th in assists per game (17.2) and 58th in bench points per game (28.73).

Buffalo is currently 14-8 (4-6 MAC), as the Bulls most recently dropped to Ohio (83-95) last Saturday afternoon. Buffalo went 9-22 (4-14 MAC) last year. Head coach George Halcovage III
is in his third season with the Bulls. Heading into the 2025-26 season, Buffalo was selected to finish 11th overall in the 2025-26 MAC Preseason Men’s Basketball Poll. Sophomore guard Daniel Freitag (20.1/game), junior guard Ryan Sabol (18.5/game) and graduate student Angelo Brizzi (11.7/game) lead the Bulls offense in points. Freitag (3.8/game) and Sabol (3.5/game) lead the team in assists as well. Senior forward Noah Batchelor has produced the most rebounds (4.8/game), sophomore center Tim Oboh has the most blocks (1.2/game) and Brizzi has recorded the most steals (1.9/game).

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I went back and watched the 1st game to see if we were as bad defensively as I thought we were when watching it live. We were better defensively in the half court than I thought, Buffalo is that good offensively. Where we were bad was off out-of-bounds sets. Our communication was poor, not jumping out on shooters when the situation called out for it. That’s one of my keys to tomorrow night. Buffalo is skilled offensively, they will score. But if we can cut how much they get off out-of-bounds plays in half, that will be an improvement.

Offensively, the game plan is pretty straightforward. Put their 4s and 5s in ball screens and attack downhill. Not just attack for layups. When the 10-14 footer is there, take it. Otherwise, reverse the ball and attack whoever Brizzi or Batchelor is guarding. Their defense is lackluster. We can’t just come down and fire up quick 3s like we have the last few games. Work the ball, get it moving, reverse it, then attack. Let the 2s early set up the 3s as the game goes on.

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Insightful as always!

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Agree - well done - we need more of this type of analysis on this site- in addition hopefully we shoot our 3 ‘s with more accuracy and block out better on rebounding

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Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

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4.5 point favorites

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Bortz gave us all they had last month. It wasn’t enough. We smack them around tonight.

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We need defensive intensity from Tip to final horn. And let’s not try to drive between two defenders. Good ball movement and this is the recipe for a win. I wonder what they are expecting for a crowd?

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UB had a hot start and one of the MAC’s better OOC wins over Depaul back in November, but they are in total free fall. They have lost 6 of their last 7 MAC games, including to Kent, OU and UMass at home in Buffalo. Despite that, with a PoY candidate in Freitag, that have to be taken seriously. He is of the quality that he can win any MAC game if he goes off.

This shouldn’t be the game that stumbles us, but there are no easy MAC road games. I’d love for the team to start making statement in these games like Akron has been (Zips went into Buffalo and won by 19).

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Last game Brizzi was a difference maker for UB. Freitag will get his points. Need to shut down defensively their secondary options. Freitag not likely to score 40.

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If you watch the highlights of UB last game, a loss to OU, OU was just pounding it inside, the entire game. OU had 50 points in the paint. Only made 5 threes. Won by 12.

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Adding to Blues excellent scouting report but looking at last 10 games comparison.

Last 10 games: Miami (OH) RedHawks vs Buffalo Bulls

1) Last-10 results snapshot (games played through Jan 31, 2026)

Miami (OH) last 10: W @ Ball St 86–77, W @ Bowling Green 93–83, W vs Akron 76–73, W vs W Michigan 87–76, W @ Toledo 87–73, W vs C Michigan 100–61, W vs Buffalo 105–102, W @ Kent St 107–101, W vs UMass 86–84, W vs N Illinois 85–61.

Buffalo last 10: W @ W Michigan 88–71, W @ N Illinois 81–67, W vs Ball St 85–72, L @ Ohio 80–91, L vs Kent St 81–87, L @ Miami OH 102–105, L vs Akron 63–82, L vs UMass 67–68, W @ Bowling Green 89–78, L vs Ohio 83–95.

2) Side-by-side: estimated last-10 “advanced” efficiency

Because true possession counts vary game-to-game (and TeamRankings’ “Win-Loss Trends” table is JS-rendered), I estimated MAC-style efficiencies using:

  • Last-10 Avg Points For/Against from the last-10 scores above

  • Team possessions per game (season) from TeamRankings’ possessions leaderboard

  • Off/Def Eff (per 100 poss) ≈ (Pts per game á Possessions per game) × 100

Tempo anchors (season possessions/game):

  • Miami (OH): 74.3 poss/gm

  • Buffalo: 69.6 poss/gm

Last-10 efficiency table (estimated)

Metric (Last 10) Miami (OH) Buffalo
Record 10–0 4–6
Avg Pts For 91.2 81.9
Avg Pts Against 79.1 81.6
Avg Margin +12.1 +0.3
Est. Off Eff (pts/100) 122.7 117.7
Est. Def Eff (pts allowed/100) 106.5 117.2
Est. Net Rating (per 100) +16.3 +0.4

How to read it: Miami’s last-10 profile is elite offense + good-enough defense at a fast tempo; Buffalo’s last-10 is solid offense, but defense slipped, especially during that mid-January skid.

3) Context: season four-factors style indicators (not last-10)

These help explain why the last-10 efficiency looks the way it does:

Miami (OH) season indicators

  • eFG% 59.9%, TO% 13.4%, OR% 24.0%, FTA/FGA 0.406

  • Opp eFG% 50.8%, Opp PPG 75.9

Buffalo season indicators

  • eFG% 56.4%, TO% 13.8%, OR% 26.7%, FTA/FGA 0.434

  • Opp eFG% 53.9%, Opp PPG 76.9

Quick matchup takeaways (based on last-10 + season indicators)

  • Tempo: Miami is meaningfully faster (74.3 poss/gm vs 69.6). If Buffalo can turn this into a half-court game, it narrows the margin.

  • Shot quality: Miami’s season eFG% edge is real (59.9% vs 56.4%). If that holds, Buffalo has to win extra possessions (OReb/FT rate) to keep up.

  • Defense trend: Buffalo’s last-10 est. Def Eff ~117 is the red flag—Miami will stress that, especially if the game gets into the 80s/90s.

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We handle business. 87-78.

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We will beat the Bortz out them.

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We are due for a game where we start out on fire and the opponent starts ice cold instead of the other way around.

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And then don’t let up after we build a lead.

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The best part of being ranked is I don’t have click 38 times on the ESPN app to find the damn game.

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Skaljac needs to remain in Sabol’s grill on D.

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Launching a three 5 seconds into the shot clock probably won’t be our best shot selection today. Remember OU abused the shit out of this UB team last game by pounding inside. Which in turn will open the three