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Bulls Travel to Ball State for Cross-Conference Road Finale

Yassin Idbihi

After a huge night in which he scored a career-high 26 points, senior Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) will pilot the Bulls into Worthen Arena. In two regular season games against the Cardinals last year, Idbihi averaged 22.5 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulls and Cardinals split the contests. Another player to watch is freshman walk-on Byron Mulkey (Wheatfield, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) who, in making his first career start in just his second career game, notched 11 points to go along with four assists a steal and no turnovers in 28 minutes of action as the Bulls beat Northern Illinois, 80-74, on Saturday. Also, senior Parnell Smith (Indianapolis, IN/Pike) enjoyed his best conference performance of the year on his way to 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Ball State is coming off a 70-52 loss at Akron and has lost three of its last four games to drop to 7-15 on the year (3-6 MAC). The Cardinals were led by junior Peyton Stovall who scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds while senior Skip Mills scored 10 points. Mills, along with sophomore Anthony Newell, are the only Cardinals scoring in double figures this season, averaging 13.2 and 10.3 points, respectively. In the three encounters against UB last year, Mills averaged 28.3 points, recording a career high twice, including a 38-point outing at Alumni Arena in the MAC playoff loss.

Buffalo will look to continue its domination of the glass as it comes off a season-high 25 offensive rebounds en route to out-rebounding the Huskies, 47-27. The Bulls could meet their match on Wednesday as Ball State ranks second in the MAC in offensive rebounds with 12.7 per game, which is nearly two rebounds less than Buffalo’s 14.5 per game. The battle of the boards may not be that close, however, as the Bulls grab over seven rebounds more than their opponents at 37.2 per game, while Ball State barely breaks even at 32.9 per game while giving up 32.7.

Tip-off is slated for 7 pm. The game can be heard locally on WWKB 1520 AM or on the web at www.buffalobulls.com.

Game preview written by sophomore guard Sean Smiley