An hour before game time the entire student section was packed, with a large portion already chanting and screaming their heads off in preparation for the Buffalo Bulls' first ever Mid-American Conference home playoff game.
By tip-off, not a seat in Alumni Arena was available and fans lined the rim of the arena to make up the largest crowd to ever watch a basketball game in Alumni Arena (8,791).
But just 12 minutes into the game it appeared that the Northern Illinois Huskies were on the verge of taking the UB faithful and more importantly, the UB Bulls out of the contest. Marcus Smallwood and Perry Smith, two of the MAC's premiere players, were running an inside-out offense that had them up by eight points with 8:04 to go in the half.
The Bulls just were not playing UB basketball, but a tidal wave of blue was about to change all that.
UB finally snapped out of their sluggish start and went on a tear that would put the game out of reach for NIU (10-20, 5-13 MAC). The Bulls (17-11, 11-7 MAC) would coast to a 90-73 victory that has earned them a trip to Cleveland to take on the Toledo Rockets Thursday night in the Bulls first MAC Tournament Quarterfinal ever.
"It was tough in the beginning to resist the temptation to entertain the crowd a little bit," said Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We came out and we didn't make enough passes to get into a rhythm and do the things we wanted to do and it affected us defensively as well because we would come down, make one or two passes and we would be back on defense again. And our energy wore down."
After it was over UB students rushed the floor to congratulate the team and rejoice in the victory. Fans encircled coach Witherspoon and chanted "Reggie! Reggie!" as he tried to make his way to the locker room. A few Mighty Maniacs even got him up on their shoulders for a victory ride.
This atmosphere is exactly what Witherspoon has been trying to build since coming to UB in 1999.
"If there's a louder place somewhere, I just want to sit in it for a few minutes," said Witherspoon. "Our students are just so vital to our energy and their support was terrific. I wished at times that I could have gotten a ticket and watched the game."
It all started for Buffalo when Jason Bird drained a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc, cutting the score to 26-21. On the ensuing possession, Turner Battle stripped the ball from Smallwood and after two passes; Battle drained a three from behind a Mark Bortz pick that got both the fans and the team back in full swing.
"When Battle stepped behind the wing and made that three, that was another dagger," said NIU head coach Rob Judson. "... That was a flurry right there where Buffalo was able to break out."
There were many areas in which UB shined. They showed great defense, lots of hustle and a very balanced attack on the offense.
UB forced 16 turnovers to their five, which in part allowed the Bulls to take 18 more shots than NIU.
"Turnovers have been our downfall all year, we just have crucial turnovers and then we are not able to convert on the offensive end," said Judson. "And if it's a run-out situation the other team comes down and scores. You have to credit Buffalo's guard play offensively and defensively."
Another reason for the disparity in shooting attempts was the effort to track down every loose ball. Off the opening tip-off, Mario Jordan, who was limited to just eight minutes because of foul trouble, dove head first for a loose ball and that was the type of effort which UB showed all night.
Daniel Gilbert tracked down six offensive boards and played excellent defense against Smallwood and Co.
UB had five players in double digits, and their sixth different leading scorer in the last seven games in Yassin Idbihi who scored a career-high 23 points. NIU had no answer for his height in the lane, as their tallest starter was just 6-feet, 8-inches.
And when NIU started keying on Idbihi, the floor was opened up for the rest of the team.
Bird was deadly from outside, shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc and finishing with 13 points. Battle was able to slash through the paint and score 16. Calvin Cage scored 15 by hitting some big threes and by disappearing into the paint only to emerge over the much bigger post players for a lay-up.
"Pick your poison," said Judson. "If you can match up and play those guys one-on-one in the post then you can guard the outside shot, but when you have to help out in the post and get back out and close out and cover the three-point shot, that's a difficult task."
The list of outstanding UB performances goes on and on. Bortz had three pick and roll plays that led to monstrous dunks and three blocks that nearly sent the Alumni crowd into mass hysteria.
Gilbert played a monster all-around game, totaling nine points, eight rebounds, one block and three steals. One of his plays also created the loudest point of the night in Alumni. Following one of Bortz's dunks, the Bulls came up with a steal on defense and Roderick Middleton bounced a laser pass to Gilbert for a dunk that caused the crowd to erupt.
The biggest sign of UB's success was that even when Battle was on the bench, the team was able to thrive. Middleton stepped in for Battle when he was tired to run the point and keep UB under control. Middleton, not unlike Battle, was nearly flawless.
As expected, the biggest mismatch for UB was the scoring of their bench players. Bird, Bortz and Cage scored 38 points in relief to NIU's nine.
Smith, who played with a banged up wrist and ankle scored 28 points to lead NIU. Smallwood scored 15 points and pulled down seven boards.
UB must now prepare for its Quarterfinal match with the No. 4 seeded Toledo Rockets. Tip-off is Thursday night at 9 p.m. in Cleveland's Gund Arena.
