Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, January 4
Convocation Center
9 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
6-8 (0-1MAC)
58
vs
74
Buffalo
13-1 (1-0MAC)
1
2
F
Buffalo
33
41
74
Eastern Michigan
23
35
58
Photo by: Steve King/KingStudios
Scoring Drought Proves Costly as No. 20 Buffalo Downs Eastern, 74-58
1/5/2019 12:29:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Elijah Minnie led the way with 21 points and seven rebounds
Video Highlights. | Press Conference.
Photo Gallery.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - A first half scoring drought of nearly seven minutes proved costly for the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team Friday, Jan. 4, as No. 20 University at Buffalo was too much to handle inside the Convocation Center.
EMU (6-8, 0-1 MAC) controlled the pace early and held a four point advantage as the game neared the midway point of the first half. UB (13-1, 1-0 MAC) showed off its stifling defense as it erased the deficit and turned it into an eight-point lead while holding the Eagles to 0-of-5 shooting from the floor and forcing five turnovers during the fateful seven minute stretch.
"You have to make sure when you get an opportunity, Division I players have to make open shots," EMU coach Rob Murphy said. "We didn't make open shots. I thought that was the difference in the game."
A few individual performances highlighted the night for Eastern, as redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) led all players with 21 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. Fellow redshirt senior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr. (Eastern Kentucky)) chipped in 13 points, while senior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) registered his third straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Redshirt junior Boubacar Toure (Dakar, Senegal-Phase One Academy (Grand Canyon) bolstered the rebounding effort with a 10 board performance.
"We were more excited playing Buffalo than when we played Duke, in my opinion," said EMU's Thompson. "We've got the crowd, everybody was hype. We didn't look at Buffalo like they were No. 20. We looked at them like we play them every year."
The tale of the tape lies in three major categories, as Buffalo dominated the Eagles in paint points (38 to 22), bench scoring (27 to 9), and points off turnovers (20 to 6). Perhaps most impressive for UB on the night was its 15 assists on 27 made shots. EMU led the rebounding battle (42 to 39), and both teams knocked down seven threes. The Bulls finished the game shooting 50-percent (27-of-54) from the floor compared to the Eagles' 33.3-percent (21-of-63).
Eastern returns to #MACtion with a road battle at Ball State University Tuesday, Jan. 8, with tip time scheduled for 7 p.m.
Photo Gallery.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - A first half scoring drought of nearly seven minutes proved costly for the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team Friday, Jan. 4, as No. 20 University at Buffalo was too much to handle inside the Convocation Center.
EMU (6-8, 0-1 MAC) controlled the pace early and held a four point advantage as the game neared the midway point of the first half. UB (13-1, 1-0 MAC) showed off its stifling defense as it erased the deficit and turned it into an eight-point lead while holding the Eagles to 0-of-5 shooting from the floor and forcing five turnovers during the fateful seven minute stretch.
"You have to make sure when you get an opportunity, Division I players have to make open shots," EMU coach Rob Murphy said. "We didn't make open shots. I thought that was the difference in the game."
A few individual performances highlighted the night for Eastern, as redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) led all players with 21 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. Fellow redshirt senior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr. (Eastern Kentucky)) chipped in 13 points, while senior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) registered his third straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Redshirt junior Boubacar Toure (Dakar, Senegal-Phase One Academy (Grand Canyon) bolstered the rebounding effort with a 10 board performance.
"We were more excited playing Buffalo than when we played Duke, in my opinion," said EMU's Thompson. "We've got the crowd, everybody was hype. We didn't look at Buffalo like they were No. 20. We looked at them like we play them every year."
The tale of the tape lies in three major categories, as Buffalo dominated the Eagles in paint points (38 to 22), bench scoring (27 to 9), and points off turnovers (20 to 6). Perhaps most impressive for UB on the night was its 15 assists on 27 made shots. EMU led the rebounding battle (42 to 39), and both teams knocked down seven threes. The Bulls finished the game shooting 50-percent (27-of-54) from the floor compared to the Eagles' 33.3-percent (21-of-63).
Eastern returns to #MACtion with a road battle at Ball State University Tuesday, Jan. 8, with tip time scheduled for 7 p.m.
Team Stats
BUF
EMU
FG%
.500
.333
3FG%
.292
.269
FT%
.591
.474
RB
39
42
TO
13
16
STL
5
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG/F
/ Men's BasketballF/C
/ Men's Basketball
C
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