It has been difficult, however, to assess the Bulls (4-2), in part due to a varied schedule that includes the Point Park blowout, an 88-76 loss to No.24 Michigan in which the Bulls have kept pace with the Wolverines. until the final minutes, and a 69-66 victory for North Texas, which qualified for the NCAA tournament last season but is a Conference USA team in the middle of the pack so far this season.
It includes a 106-90 victory over Illinois State at the Cancun Challenge last week in Mexico and a 79-78 loss to Stephen F. Austin that showed the Bulls how important every possession is.
UB-Bona has become something of a December zenith in a non-conference schedule that started out ambitiously for UB, but will stop to include Western Kentucky, Cal-Irvine and Division III St. John Fisher.
UB was simply determined – and perhaps desperate – to get games, which meant adding Point Park and St. John Fisher. The final list of UB’s 11-game non-conference schedule was not announced until October 22.
“We needed a home game, just because we had been on the road to Michigan, north Texas, and then you go on the road to Cancun,” Whitesell said of the planning for Point Park. “It’s so difficult to program this year. You watch college basketball, and it’s part of the landscape right now. We wanted a home game here, and most importantly for us, when we got back from Cancun put the two games together (Illinois State and Point Park), what do we need to improve at? ”
