MAC Tournament: Akron v. Buffalo

Who will WIN this matchup?

Akron Zips (15-7)

Buffalo Bulls (15-7)

Current odds:

Akron Zips: (+155)

Buffalo Bulls: (-175)

• The line for this game is Buffalo by 4 points.

• The Zips dropped the only meeting with the Bulls this season as Buffalo led by as many as 22 points and the Zips battled back to a one possession game with Buffalo winning 80-78 at Alumni Arena.

• The University at Buffalo men’s basketball never trailed in a 74-63 win over Miami (OH) in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday.

• The Bulls knocked down a season-high 12 three-pointers in the game, shooting 60 percent from beyond the arc. Ronaldo Segu tied a career high with five three-pointers and Jeenathan Williams also connected on a career-best five triples. Both players were 5-of-6 from deep. Segu finished with 16 points and Williams had 20.

• Buffalo enters the contest with an 15-7 overall record and 12-5 in MAC play and under second year head coach Jim Whitesell. The Bulls are riding a six-game winning streak and have won 9-of-the-last-10 games. Buffalo is 6-3 (5-3 MAC) at home, 5-3 (5-2 MAC) on the road and 2-1 in neutral site games.

• Buffalo has four players scoring in double figures in points, led by Jeenathan Williams with 17.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He adds a third-best 53 assists and 21 steals with 10 blocked shots. Williams shoots 48.0 from the floor with 156 field goals with 28 coming from deep (.359). Josh Mballa follows with 15.5 points and a MAC-best 7.0 rebounds per game and 195 total boards. He is second in steals (21) and fourth in assists (39).

• Jayvon Graves is third in scoring with 14.5 points per game. Graves has buried a second-best 32-of-112 from long distance (.286) and is shooting 41.8 percent from all areas of the court with 123 field goals. He is second in assists (87), third in rebounds (130, 5.9) and first in steals (34). Ronaldo Segu rounds out the double-digit scoring with 12.9 points per outing with a team-best 99 assists. He is the team-leader from beyond the 3-point arc with 98 triples and a 41.9 shooting percentage.

• Defensively, Buffalo limits its opponents to 72.3 points per game on 41.1 percent shooting from the floor and 28.0 percent from 3-point range, allowing 5.9 long distance strikes per night. The Bulls caused 295 turnovers (13.9 to/g) with 181 steals (8.2 stl/g). Buffalo outrebounds the opponent by a +10.0 margin. The opponents snagged 777 (35.3) total boards compared to the 965 (43.9) total rebounds secured.