Buffalo made it quite clear Saturday that it was among the Mid-American Conference’s best teams and that Kent State was solidly in the center of the league.
The second-place Bulls (14-4 MAC, 20-8 overall) handed KSU its worst loss of the season by a score of 82-64 at the M.A.C. Center Saturday. The Flashes are 9-9 in the conference and in a three-way tie for sixth place with two games to play in the regular season. They are a half-game ahead of ninth-place Ohio, whom they host next Saturday in the last game of the season.
On Wednesday, Kent State plays at Bowling Green, one of the teams it is tied with.
Mathematically, the Flashes could finish as high as fourth in the conference or as low as ninth. Only the MAC’s top eight teams made the league tournament in Cleveland March 9-12.
On Saturday, Buffalo overwhelmed the Flashes with 61% shooting in the first half and led 44-24. The closest Kent State got in the second half was 11 points in the third quarter.
“We ran into a buzz saw today,” coach Todd Starkey said. “We obviously could have done some things better. It’s been an up and down season for us, and I expect this team to be up again.
“That’s the message to our players: Just keep fighting as long as we have opportunities.”
The game really came down to what has been the story of the season for the Flashes: When the team shoots well, it can win against any team. When it doesn’t, it’s likely to lose.
Saturday the Flashes made only 29.4% of their shots and 26.9% of their 3-point attempts, both more than 10 points below its season average. Buffalo shot 50.8% from the field and 35.3% from distance.
Buffalo’s Dayaisha Fair, who is the fourth-leading scorer in the country at 23.7 points per game, had 28 to lead the Bulls. She made 10-of-18 shots and 4-of-7 three-pointers.
“She’s as good as anybody when she gets cooking,” Starkey said. “She was playing in rhythm, and it’s really difficult to stop her when she gets going like that.”
Kent State was led by junior guard Katie Shumate, who had 18 points, including 14 of KSU’s 24 points in the first half. Lindsey Thall had 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Nila Blackford had nine points and nine rebounds.
Buffalo outscored the Flashes 42-20 in the paint, mostly on drives to the baskets and strong post play. Other statistics were almost even.
Video of postgame press conference with Starkey and Thall.
Comments
What’s happened to Santoro. No points for 3 games (I think) and a pretty big reduction in minutes. I thought we had a good one and now I’m not so sure. Is she playing hurt.