In their first game Saturday night, the men's basketball team faces a double challenge.
The Bulls have entered this season with extremely high expectations. But they must play their first game against one of the nation's toughest teams.
The UConn Huskies, Buffalo's opponent Saturday night, comes into the game ranked No. 7 in the nation. But Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon said the Bulls can win if they play their own game.
"They are going to be a tremendous challenge for our team, as every game is," said Witherspoon. "We need to play our game, and take every game one by one. We aren't looking to stop one player, because they have too many players to point out and name. They have at least seven players who will probably go pro, and all we can do is stay focused and do the things that we know we are capable of."
Senior guard Jason Bird seconds his coach's notion. He said he has true confidence that Buffalo can turn things up a notch in order to defeat the Huskies in their own house.
"We really don't pay any attention to the hype made," said Bird. "We need to focus on one game at a time. We look at UConn as a big opportunity for us. We feel like we can beat any team on our schedule, including UConn."
This will be the sixth match up between the two teams, in a series where the Huskies lead 4-1. The one victory for the Bulls came in 1951 by a final score of 65-58. That game was the last time the two teams played, way before Emeka Okafor, Richard Hamilton, and Ray Allen put on the white and navy blue jersey for the Huskies.
The game will be played in the Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the Empire Sports Network and heard on WGR 550 AM.
Should the Bulls win this game, it would be the first time UB has ever defeated a nationally ranked team. The last time the Bulls faced a nationally ranked opponent was in the 2000 season when they lost to North Carolina at Alumni Arena.
But junior point guard Calvin Cage said that this is a new team with their sights set on bigger things.
"We feel like we can make a lot of noise," said Cage. "We aren't at all fazed by a championship. We can compete with anybody, and we feel like we can beat them."
