I feel like OUr guys are tired. They just look drained after halftime. They are battling and fighting but they always seem to have a step slower than our opponents in the second half. We just aren't deep enough to make up for BVP, Sears and Carter having to play so many minutes. Towns and Clayton are doing "ok" but they still can't give us starters minutes to rest BVP and Carter. I think Sears needs more rest. Schmock has shown he can cover it. If you rotate and get him in with BVP/Carter, Towns, Miles and either B-Rod or Clayton then that's a nice lineup. You're then resting Sears and Carter/BVP along with B-Rod. We are truly missing Lundo and DW3. The depth we'd have with those two is unimaginable.

I say all that because we will need our bigs to play BIG against Buffalo. Skogman, Mballa and Williams are so tough. And it's our only game against these guys.

Big game. Obviously, a win at Buffalo is going to be very difficult. Not concerned if we don't get the "W", but looking for massive improvement with how we perform against the best competition on our schedule:

Kentucky: 18 Point Loss
LSU: 15 Point Loss
Toledo: 18 Point Loss
Buffalo: ????????????

While winning is always the goal, we need to not get blown out and be there at the finish line against a quality, quality opponent. Also, another chance for Sears to step against better competition. He has struggled in our 3 losses. Buffalo is an enigma. They should be better than they are and I think the Bulls made a big mistake with Whitesell. Something isn't clicking there.

Are they? I know there’s a potential Nor’easter hitting New England this weekend (i think Buffalo would be outside it’s area of influence), but i hadn’t heard of a storm (Lake Effect or otherwise) forecast for Buffalo this weekend.

That said, i do miss living in Buffalo. There was something exciting with the possibility of heavy lake effect snow basically every day for about 6-7months a year

It actually hasn't been a crazy winter in Buffalo so far. Weather wise, it's not too different from Cleveland besides more annual snowfall. There's definitely a good amount of snow cover on the ground but nothing crazy like you see on the news.

As someone that watches both Ohio and Buffalo closely, it's crazy the differences between the fanbases right now. OU fans are critical but realistic about this Bobcats team while there's a split among Bulls fans. Half think their squad is a huge disappointment under Jim Whitesell and wasting their talented senior class while the other group gets defensive of anything negative or critical and point out that he's off to one of the best three year starts of any Buffalo head coach.

UB has talent but it hasn't meshed. Coaching is an obvious problem. The Bulls lack quality depth and don't play with the blue collar mentality defensively that they were known for under Oats. They're also a poor shooting team outside of Rondo Segu and Jeenathan Williams. Those two are their main playmakers to lookout for while Josh Mballa is more of a high energy guy who's a dominant rebounder and defender but struggles to score.

One younger player who has stepped up for them this year is forward David Skogman. He doesn't get a ton of minutes but is decent in the post and will occasionally shoot from deep.

I think we're in for a great game on Friday. I think Ohio is the better team but UB has a slight advantage being at home.

I'll be at the game cheering for Ohio. Go Bobcats!

No worries! Skogman is a solid player but he can sometimes be a liability defensively. It hasn't worked well when Skogman and Mballa have been on the floor at the same time.

Also killing UB is their lack of quality contributors behind their Big 3. Keishawn Brewton and Maceo Jack have been dreadful for them this year. Hardnett doesn't see the court anymore after being banged up for the majority of the season and the rest of their players are low level contributors.

This roster is lacking meaningful minutes from their freshmen outside of guard Curtis Jones. Whitesell recruited three 3-star guys to Buffalo last year and none of them see the court. They could have some issues once their Big 3 departs.

Thanks for your analysis, Formermember.

I really believe the key is Segu. Sears did not win the guard battle with Rollins (I know they're different players but still guards). I feel like our posts can compete with Mballa, Skogman and Williams. It will come down to Mark having a monster game vs. Segu. If Segu gets going we're in trouble. I also like Miles putting it to a New York team.

Any word on Roderick since he was unable to finish vs NIU?

But we’re playing Buffalo.

The team that blew Ohio out of the Convo in last year's final home game.

Note: Yes, I'm aware we beat them when in counted a week later in Cleveland.

That day in the Convo included a lot of nasty trash talking before, during and after the game. We still owe them for that even though we beat them in Cleveland.

I think most of us here would highly consider it but not sure if this is the opponent to try out an experimental starting lineup.