SECOND HALF
FIRST HALF
PREGAME
FINAL … Buffalo 71, Kent State 60.
Two completely different halves for the Golden Flashes. Devareaux Manley had an impact on both ends, scoring 17 points, grabbing four rebounds and playing good defense for most of his 34 minutes.
The rest of the efforts were pretty inconsistent. Kris Brewer couldn't build on his big finish at Northern Illinois. He ended up with 11, but had to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to do it after large stretches when he struggled to have much of an impact. Derek Jackson scored seven points and shot just 3-for-9.
With 8 minutes to play in the game and KSU trailing by double figures, Brewer and Jackson were both 1-for-8. While they put up some late offensive numbers, it was too little and too late.
Poor free-throw shooting also hurt Kent State. The Flashes connected on just 6-for-13 compared with Buffalo's 21-for-23.
3:21 … Kent State just can't crack into this lead. Henniger missed two free throw with a chance to cut Bulls' lead inside 10 points.
Buffalo offense operating at high efficiency … At half, Bulls had 6 assists and just 9 turnovers. In 2nd half 8 assists and just 2 turnovers.
6:41 … This one is starting to get away from Kent State.
Two minutes ago, the Flashes were within nine and had an inbound under their own basket. A miss three by Manley turned into a three-point make for Regan, who now has 19.
The Bulls have continued to pull away, now up 57-43.
In this half alone, Regan is 5-for-7 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range, and has seven rebounds.
11:14 … The Bulls have caught fire from three-point range and are now leading 49-40.
Buffalo is 4-for-6 from three-point range in first nine minutes of this half. Also leading the rebounding battle now 24-21… a 9-4 advantage in this half.
Assistant coach Eric Haut had some fiery words for the Flashes in the bench before Rob Senderoff drew up the play during this timeout. KSU will have the ball with 15 seconds on the shot clock after a kicked ball.
Need a score … but won't get it … A five-second violation.
Will Regan has 14 points and six rebounds. Josha Freelove has a 12 points.
And Kris Brewer just picked up his fourth foul
14:55 … Buffalo leads 37-36 after a Freelove 3-pointer.
Two completely different halves for the Golden Flashes. Devareaux Manley had an impact on both ends, scoring 17 points, grabbing four rebounds and playing good defense for most of his 34 minutes.
The rest of the efforts were pretty inconsistent. Kris Brewer couldn't build on his big finish at Northern Illinois. He ended up with 11, but had to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to do it after large stretches when he struggled to have much of an impact. Derek Jackson scored seven points and shot just 3-for-9.
With 8 minutes to play in the game and KSU trailing by double figures, Brewer and Jackson were both 1-for-8. While they put up some late offensive numbers, it was too little and too late.
Poor free-throw shooting also hurt Kent State. The Flashes connected on just 6-for-13 compared with Buffalo's 21-for-23.
3:21 … Kent State just can't crack into this lead. Henniger missed two free throw with a chance to cut Bulls' lead inside 10 points.
Buffalo offense operating at high efficiency … At half, Bulls had 6 assists and just 9 turnovers. In 2nd half 8 assists and just 2 turnovers.
6:41 … This one is starting to get away from Kent State.
Two minutes ago, the Flashes were within nine and had an inbound under their own basket. A miss three by Manley turned into a three-point make for Regan, who now has 19.
The Bulls have continued to pull away, now up 57-43.
In this half alone, Regan is 5-for-7 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range, and has seven rebounds.
11:14 … The Bulls have caught fire from three-point range and are now leading 49-40.
Buffalo is 4-for-6 from three-point range in first nine minutes of this half. Also leading the rebounding battle now 24-21… a 9-4 advantage in this half.
Assistant coach Eric Haut had some fiery words for the Flashes in the bench before Rob Senderoff drew up the play during this timeout. KSU will have the ball with 15 seconds on the shot clock after a kicked ball.
Need a score … but won't get it … A five-second violation.
Will Regan has 14 points and six rebounds. Josha Freelove has a 12 points.
And Kris Brewer just picked up his fourth foul
14:55 … Buffalo leads 37-36 after a Freelove 3-pointer.
The Flashes have committed a few careless turnovers in this half and missed some easy shots right on top of the rim.
Dev Manley has it going, though with 14 points. He is playing extremely well on both ends.
FIRST HALF
HALF … Kent State 29, Buffalo 27
Kent State's first three-pointer of the game arrived with five seconds to go and put the Flashes in the lead at halftime. Derek Jackson with a great drive and find set up Dev Manley for the three from the right wing.
The Manley three ended an 8-0 Buffalo run late in the half after KSU had grabbed a 26-19 lead and appeared to have momentum.
Javon McCrea has been held to just six points and three rebounds in 17 minutes. The Bulls big man also has two fouls at the break.
Dev Manley leads the Flashes in scoring with seven, but his defense has been excellent. He has been very active.
Melvin Tabb has four points, both on offensive rebounds and stick-bakcs.
The Flashes offense has been effective despite going just 1-for-8 from three-point range. Take away those numbers and KSU is 12-for-18 inside the arc. That's a big reason the Flashes own a 22-14 advantage in the paint.
0:37 … Kent State holding on to a 26-24 lead, missing a chance to build from the foul line as Khaliq Spicer is 0-for-3 from the stripe in the last couple of minutes.
McCrea has two fouls. Kris Brewer also two fouls for KSU.
3:35 … Kent State building momentum, up 26-19 with the ball coming out of timeout after forcing another Bulls turnover… No. 7
Darren Goodson is playing the facilitator role. He just set up Spicer for another layup on a perfect pass.
KSU is 0-for-5 from three-point range, but KSU offense is operating very well. Not settling for threes.
In last 8 minutes, KSU has 5-1 advantage on offensive boards.
7:30 … A pretty entertaining game. The Flashes lead it 20-18 with Melvin Tabb getting a chance to complete a three-point play coming out of this timeout. Tabb has two put-backs and is playing extremely well despite a nagging injury. He did not do much in shoot around or practice here in Buffalo during the last two days, and Senderoff was worried he may not be available.
11:58 … Buffalo answered a 10-0 Kent State run with its own 9-0 run and now leads 13-10.
Flashes are having some trouble keeping Buffalo off of the offensive glass. So far, McCrea hasn't done much, scoring just two points ad picking up an early foul. He is on the bench at the moment.
15:48 … Defense has been excellent for Kent State in first few minutes. The Flashes lead 8-4 thanks to three steals leading to six easy points at the other end.
Kent State's first three-pointer of the game arrived with five seconds to go and put the Flashes in the lead at halftime. Derek Jackson with a great drive and find set up Dev Manley for the three from the right wing.
The Manley three ended an 8-0 Buffalo run late in the half after KSU had grabbed a 26-19 lead and appeared to have momentum.
Javon McCrea has been held to just six points and three rebounds in 17 minutes. The Bulls big man also has two fouls at the break.
Dev Manley leads the Flashes in scoring with seven, but his defense has been excellent. He has been very active.
Melvin Tabb has four points, both on offensive rebounds and stick-bakcs.
The Flashes offense has been effective despite going just 1-for-8 from three-point range. Take away those numbers and KSU is 12-for-18 inside the arc. That's a big reason the Flashes own a 22-14 advantage in the paint.
0:37 … Kent State holding on to a 26-24 lead, missing a chance to build from the foul line as Khaliq Spicer is 0-for-3 from the stripe in the last couple of minutes.
McCrea has two fouls. Kris Brewer also two fouls for KSU.
3:35 … Kent State building momentum, up 26-19 with the ball coming out of timeout after forcing another Bulls turnover… No. 7
Darren Goodson is playing the facilitator role. He just set up Spicer for another layup on a perfect pass.
KSU is 0-for-5 from three-point range, but KSU offense is operating very well. Not settling for threes.
In last 8 minutes, KSU has 5-1 advantage on offensive boards.
7:30 … A pretty entertaining game. The Flashes lead it 20-18 with Melvin Tabb getting a chance to complete a three-point play coming out of this timeout. Tabb has two put-backs and is playing extremely well despite a nagging injury. He did not do much in shoot around or practice here in Buffalo during the last two days, and Senderoff was worried he may not be available.
11:58 … Buffalo answered a 10-0 Kent State run with its own 9-0 run and now leads 13-10.
Flashes are having some trouble keeping Buffalo off of the offensive glass. So far, McCrea hasn't done much, scoring just two points ad picking up an early foul. He is on the bench at the moment.
15:48 … Defense has been excellent for Kent State in first few minutes. The Flashes lead 8-4 thanks to three steals leading to six easy points at the other end.
Flashes have done their homework. The Bulls run a ton of sets, but the KSU coaches seem to know the calls for each one … yelling them out to players on the defensive end.
PREGAME
5:32 p.m. … Radio partner Ty Linder is ready … We are on the air now for our pre game show.
Last year, the Flashes had to survive some of the most serious foul trouble I've ever witnessed to come from behind and beat the Bulls 80-68 behind a big second half.
The Flashes won all three meetings with Buffalo last season in large part because of the play of seniors Randal Holt and Chris Evans, who averaged 24.0 and 21.3 points per game, respectively, in those games. But Holt and Evans are gone now, and Darren Goodson is the only player on the Kent State roster who enjoyed some success against Buffalo last year. He averaged 12.7 points while shooting 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range.
Kris Brewer really struggled against the Bulls last season, playing 35.7 minutes in three starting assignments, but shooting just 15.8 percent from the field and missing all six of his three-point attempts while averaging 3.7 per game. Of course, Brewer is coming off of a heroic effort at the end of Wednesday night's game at Northern Illinois. The Flashes need him to continue to take over as a leader. Senderoff believes he is developing into that kind of guy. The challenge is to do it two games in a row on the road.
3:11 p.m. … We are a little more than an hour away from the team bus leaving the hotel for UB Arena where the Golden Flashes will play Buffalo at 6 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on television for those of you who have Time Warner Cable. Ty Linder and I will have the radio broadcast live on WHLO 640 AM beginning with the pre game show at 5:30 p.m.
I had the wrong link for the radio simulcast on iHeartRadio on Wednesday when we were at Northern Illinois. The women's basketball team was on the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio site while we were on WHLO 640 AM's iHeartRadio station.
Tonight we are back on the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio station. Here's the link: http://www.iheart.com/live/Golden-Flashes-Radio-6068/
The team just finished its pre-game meal and its personnel review of Buffalo here at the hotel.Obviously, there is quite a bit of concern about guarding Javon McCrea, the 6-foot-7, 250-pound Buffalo senior who has put up some big numbers against Kent State during his career and is arguably the best player in the Mid-American Conference.
McCrea averaged 28 points and 10 rebounds per game against KSU in three games last season. In those games, the Flashes did a good job of keeping other players from beating them.
McCrea tends to get a favorable whistle, and if we see a repeat of last year's trip to Buffalo, Kent State will likely need every post player available … and all of their fouls.
Mark Henniger draws the early assignment on McCrea. Khaliq Spicer's length will also be a key to keeping the ball from entering the post. Melvin Tabb has the ideal size to lean on McCrea, but he has suffered through some nagging injuries in recent weeks. Marquiez Lawrence has worked his way into the rotation up front as an energy guy off of the bench, but after getting poked in the eye at Northern Illinios, he is not expected to play.
Lawrence's minutes against the Huskies were not the result of Senderoff grasping at straws during a difficult first half. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound freshman has been working hard. He has the length to give Senderoff some options at the four defensively, similar to the way Mike Scott was used to double team in the post after he switched to the four during his sophomore year.
Getting Jarod Oldham back this season has been a big boost for the Bulls offense. He is a very solid, pass-first point guard who is important to a Bobby Hurley system that runs a ton of sets. The addition of fifth-year transfer Joshua Freelove gives the Bulls another shooter to surround McCrea. Derek Jackson will get that assignment. At the four, 6-8 junior Will Regan is also a guy who can get hot from long range.
One of the most interesting match ups could come at the three, where the Bulls have been starting Xavier Ford a bit out of position in recent weeks. Does Manley get free for some looks on the perimeter, or does Buffalo take advantage with the athletic Ford getting to the basket?
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