Bulls Down Northern Illinois to Continue Record Start

UB off to best start in Division I history with 68-46 win over Huskies

Rodney Pierce

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's basketball team downed Northern Illinois, 68-46, at Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon. With a 16-5 record, the Bulls are off to their best start in Division I history and their best overall start since the 1964-65 season.

The Bulls relied on defense and rebounding to win their eighth straight game. Buffalo held the Huskies to 46 points - marking the second time in the last three games a UB opponent failed to score 50 points. Buffalo forced 20 Northern Illinois turnovers and was able to score 26 points off those turnovers.

Buffalo dominated the glass, outrebounding the Huskies, 44-28. The Bulls had 20 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second chance points.

With the game tied at 12, the Bulls scored 10 unanswered points to take a 22-12 lead and control of the game. Buffalo led 31-24 at the half. The Bulls held a double-digit advantage for much of the second half. Buffalo held the Huskies scoreless for the final 5:26 of the game.

Rodney Pierce scored a team-high 15 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Andy Robinson and Vadim Fedotov also reached double-figures in the scoring column with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Robinson added a season-high seven rebounds.

Max Boudreau

All 11 players that saw action in the game scored for the Bulls and 10 different players grabbed at least one rebound. Max Boudreau had eight points and five rebounds in only 12 minutes of action.

Jake Anderson led Northern Illinois (6-15, 2-7 MAC) with 16 points.

"I thought our guys bounced back from last game," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We shot free throws much better and I thought we passed it better. We had the effort and the energy that we may not have had in the last outing and I think that was exemplified with what we did on the glass."

Buffalo will next play at Eastern Michigan on Thursday night.