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Kent State Golden Flashes Basketball Heads East for a MAC Contest at Buffalo

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Basketball

The Kent State men's basketball team will travel to Buffalo for its final game of the regular season on Friday night at Alumni Arena. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.

THE GAME

Kent State (15-6, 12-5) vs. Buffalo  (13-7, 11-5)

Friday, March 5 | Alumni Arena| 6 PM

BROADCAST

TV: ESPNU, Jason Benetti (pbp) and Dan Dakich (color)

Radio: Dave Wilson (pbp), Kent State Radio, Tune-In

BUFFALO HEAD COACH

Jim Whitesell

Record at UB: 33-19

KENT STATE HEAD COACH

Rob Senderoff

Record at Kent State: 196-127 (10th season)

ALL-TIME SERIES

Kent State leads the all-time series, 34-20

Kent State is 9-13 against the Bulls under head coach Rob Senderoff

The Flashes are 12-12 when playing at Alumni Arena

Earlier this season, Kent State took an 84-81 victory over Buffalo at home. After seeing a 21-point lead dwindle in the second half, the Kent State men's basketball team used some clutch free throw shooting and a key defensive stop to hold off Buffalo.

LAST TIME OUT

The Kent State men's basketball team improved to 15-6 overall and 12-5 in MAC play  after coming away with a 64-51 victory over Miami.  The Flashes held the Miami RedHawks to just six points in the final 11 minutes of the game. Kent State was led by its three bigs who all scored in double-figures with Tervell Beck leading the way with his first double-double of the season with a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Danny Pippen notched his ninth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Justyn Hamilton rounded out the double-figures 14 points and seven rebounds.

On the season, the Flashes are shooting 44.8 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, Kent State has held its opponents to 70.0 points per game on 41.2 percent shooting from the floor and 34.1 percent from long range.

FLASH FACTS

- The Flashes have three players averaging in double figures in Nuga (17.8), Pippen (19.3), and Beck (11.0)

- In  Pippen's his last 11 games, Pippen has notched a double-double in six giving him nine on the season., ranking 24th in the nation and first in MAC stats

- Pippen ranks 37th in the country and 3rd in the league in points per game (19.3)

- As a team, Kent State is 1st in the league in FG percentage defense (41.2)

-The Flashes are the 30th-ranked team in the country in rebound margin (6.8) and 2nd MAC stats

- The Flashes are 3rd in conference stats in scoring defense (70.0)

-As a team, KSU ranks 5th in conference in forced turnovers (12.81)

-Flashes rank 24th in the country in total rebounds per game (39.90) and rank 2nd in league stats.

-KSU ranks 18th in the nation and 2nd in league in offensive rebounds per game (13.05)

-Senior Justyn Hamilton ranks 57h in the country in offensive rebounds per game (2.75) and leads the conference. He also ranks 9th in league in rebounds per game (6.8)

-Pippen ranks 43rd in the nation and 3rd in the league in rebounds per game (8.7)

-Malique Jacobs ranks 30th in the nation and is 4th conference stats in steals per game (1.85) and third in the MAC in total steals (38)

-Pippen leads the league with (1.30) total blocked shots per game and total blocks (26).

-Kent State's Danny Pippen, Justyn Hamilton and Tervell Beck have combined to score 46 percent of the team's points this season and have accounted for 49 percent of all Golden Flashes scoring over the last five games

-Kent State has an assist on 34 of 71  field goals (47.8 percent) over its previous three games

 

SCOUTING BUFFALO

The Bulls, stand (13-7, 11-5 MAC) under the direction of 2-year head coach Jim Whitesell.  Buffalo is coming off its fourth-straight win after taking down Akron, 80-78. Senior Jayvon Graves recorded his first career triple double on Tuesday afternoon with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Buffalo has four players averaging in double-digit scoring in Williams (17.1), Mballa (15.2) Graves (14.3), and Segu (13.0).

Buffalo leads the league in scoring averaging 82.8 ppg and also leads the league in scoring margin (9.8).

As a team the Bobcats are averaging 82.2 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 32.5 percent from long range.

Defensively, Buffalo has held its opponents to score 73.0 per game on 41.3 percent shooting from the field and 28.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Bulls have 273 turnovers (13.7 tpg) while collecting 168 steals (8.4 stl/g) On the glass, the Bulls have out rebounded their opponents 883-716 for a +8.4 rebounding margin.