Earlier Tuesday, before Buffalo played Syracuse, UB star CJ Massinburg checked his ESPN app for its prediction of the night’s game. ESPN gave the Bulls a 35 percent chance to win. 

“I feel like people, they respect us, but they don’t really, aw, it could be a fluke,” Massinburg said. “… People don’t really think that we are a valid team. But we knew what we had in our locker room. I feel like this win, and if we can get one at Marquette, will really get us the respect we deserve.”

The Bulls (11-0) proved that prediction wrong on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome, as the No. 14 team in the country came back to handle Syracuse (7-4), 71-59. With Buffalo off to its best start since 1930-31, Tuesday was just another example to the Bulls of the type of team they’ve built, a team that beat Syracuse for the first time since 1963. A halftime deficit didn’t phase them, and neither did the NBA potential of a couple Syracuse players. UB felt it was the better team.

“I think we do have better players,” UB head coach Nate Oats said. “I told our team going into this game, ‘Hey, we’re the better team. I think we play harder.’”

Earlier this year, the Bulls beat then-No. 13 West Virginia in Morgantown in overtime behind 43 points from Massinburg. They’d risen from outside of the AP Top-25 to 14th. Their roster has five seniors and a handful more players who’d contributed to an upset of Arizona and eventual No. 1 NBA Draft pick DeAndre Ayton in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

The evidence of their success was there, but the Bulls wanted revenge. Last year, against Syracuse, UB led with three minutes to go before the Orange stormed back to win by seven. Seven players who played in that game for the Bulls remain on their roster. And they got a reminder during the week when reviewing the film from last year. They saw how they’d blown a chance at a marquee win a year ago.

“I came here with a chip on my shoulder knowing that we fell short last year,” UB guard Davonta Jordan said. “We’re not a team that’s gonna get happy just because we came close. This year, I just feel like we had the team just to go ahead and beat them.”

Early in Tuesday’s game, the Bulls couldn’t make shots. Oats had been worried that Syracuse would come out flying after a loss, and UB didn’t help its own cause, starting 0-for-8 from the floor. Offensive rebounds created second chances, but they couldn’t finish them. Buffalo had opportunities to cut into a Syracuse lead, but then the Bulls traveled or lost the ball in the lane. Even with all of that, including an eventual first-half shooting line of 11-for-31, the Bulls went into halftime down just four.

Oats didn’t feel he had a reason to be upset in the locker room at the break. He liked his team’s effort. And when he walked into the locker room, he saw senior Nick Perkins speaking with the rest of the Bulls.

“I walk in the locker room and hear Perkins, basically, ‘Hey, we’re gonna get through this. We played an awful first half,’” Oats recalled Perkins said. “Awful in that we couldn’t make a shot, had a bunch of turnovers. Only down four. That was the players’ mindset, kind of my mindset, too.”

At that point, Oats felt fine. He knew his team wasn’t worried. And although the Bulls didn’t start the second half perfectly, they found their groove. After Elijah Hughes hit a 3 to put Syracuse up six, Jordan drove and threw a wraparound pass to Massinburg for a lefty layup with about 12 minutes to go. A few trips later, Montell McRae hit nothing but net on a 3 from the left wing.

A minute later, Jeremy Harris remained confident amidst shooting struggles, knocking down a 3 to give the Bulls their first lead with 9:40 to go in the game. He shot just 2-for-12 from deep, but still finished with 18 points.

“Jeremy missing shots is not for the lack of him working, he works on his game all the time,” Oats said.

Syracuse tied it up, though. Massinburg answered with a 3 to take the lead, then Tyus Battle answered him with a 3 to tie it right back up. Then, Jordan grabbed a rebound inside of Oshae Brissett, even though he checks in at six inches shorter than the SU sophomore. His putback gave the Bulls a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

After Jordan put the Bulls ahead, it was their star that finished off the big win. Massinburg scored 10 more points from that time on, turning a barnburner into a blowout. With 2:34 to go, during a timeout, Oats pointed at the scoreboard and reminded his players where they were last year at a similar juncture: ahead.

“Here we are, just under three, we’ve got to grind some stops out here, we’ve got to take this thing,” Oats said he told his team in that timeout.

When Massinburg knocked down a 3 with 2:09 to go and put Buffalo up 10, it was a dagger in Syracuse’s hopes and Oats’ worries. A contingent of Syracuse fans seated near the Orange bench rose up and left.

By the game’s final seconds, the result wasn’t in doubt. But SU’s Hughes rose up for a 3 from the left wing, and he missed. It didn’t matter for the scoreline, but, fittingly, the ball landed in the arms of Massinburg. Buffalo’s best player, a senior and UB’s fourth-all-time-leading scorer wrapped his arms around the ball tight and kissed it.

“At the end of the game, honestly I’m lost for words,” Massinburg said. “… Just leaving, driving down here to Syracuse a lot of people from Buffalo were hitting my phone, ‘You gotta get them, this is really big for the city.’

“When we go back there, we’re definitely gonna feel the love. So it’s a big win for the city.”

Published on December 19, 2018 at 12:48 am

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3