TULSA, OK (WKBW) — The best season in program history has come to an end for the UB men’s basketball team as they fell to Texas Tech 78-58 in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32. With the loss, the Bulls come up short of a trip to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight year.
Nick Perkins led the Bulls with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. CJ Massinburg added 14 points while Davonta Jordan ended with 13.
OBSERVATIONS:
Dominated on the glass
Before their game against Arizona State, UB focused a lot on rebounding and dominated the Sun Devils on the glass. Sunday was a different story. At one point in the first half, UB was being out-rebounded 16-4 with the Red Raiders taking down nearly everything that hit the rim. The second half was a little better but not enough to fix their first-half woes.
"They took charges, killed us on the glass. I think they were plus -- had a plus 10 second chance points, plus 9 in points off turnovers. That's pretty much the game," Coach Nate Oats said. "That's what we've been good at all year, beating peple on the glass, turning over, getting out on transition. They did a better job."
One shining moment
With 11:07 left in the first half, UB trailed Texas Tech 19-6. It looked like things were about to take a turn for the worse. Then the Bulls got some shots to fall and made some key stops on defense. When Davonta Jordan hit a three, the Bulls took their first lead of the game, a 25-24 advantage with 3:24 left in the first half. After that though, that "taking a turn for the worse" happened. The Red Raiders used a 32-8 run, from the Bulls' first and only lead to the 11:04 mark of the second half, and never looked back.
A loud and proud Texas Tech crowd
Before the game started, you couldn’t help but notice how many fans were wearing the color red. Texas Tech’s crowd brought the noise in their first round game against Northern Kentucky and they may have brought even more to Sunday’s game. Any player will tell you how hard it is to play on the road in front of another team’s home crowd and you could easily say Sunday’s game felt like home court advantage for the Red Raiders.
FINAL NOTES:
UB ends with a 32-4 overall record that included a program record for most wins in a season, a perfect record at Alumni Arena and their first ever national ranking.
They graduate arguably one of the best senior classes in program history in Dontay Caruthers, Jeremy Harris, Massinburg, Montell McRae, and Perkins.
