DDSCB 23: All Gas No Brakes

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Assistant Coach Jamie Quarles



January 31, 2023

"The staff are pleased with how our non-conference games went; the players have done a wonderful job of fully buying in to our principles. With that said we knew conference play would be a different type of challenge due to the familiarity that all the teams have with each other. I'd say we were a bit up and down during the month of January. At home we went 55-0, with the most exciting win being a 102-101 victory against Northern Illinois which was decided by a game winner from Joseph Anderson. Our road form was in stark contrast to our great play at home as we only won 1 out of our 4 games on the road. At 7-4 in conference, we are currently in 4th place, to win the conference regular season we know we will have to improve on the road."

January 2023

Akron 88-78

Northern Illinois 102-101

Kent State 86-72

@Eastern Michigan 68-84

Toledo 94-84

@Ohio 76-84

@Miami Ohio 87-96

@Toledo 93-85

Ohio 90-78

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Sophomore Center Casey McDyess



February 26, 2023

"Affectionately my teammates have nicknamed me Stonewall because of the picks I set on the offensive end, I attribute that to my increase of strength I've gained under Conditioning Coach Scott Simmons. From my Freshman to Sophomore season, I've added 12 pounds of solid muscle. Like the other players I have really under playing under Coach Tyler, he views me as his ultimate glue guy because of my willingness to do the work that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. That is a mindset I developed being the son of a coach myself. Everyone views Coach Tyler's system as guard oriented which is it, but he does a wonderful job of incorporating dives and pick and roll action to keep the big men involved. In a 109-87 win at Akron, Lamont got in early foul trouble, so I had to play extended minutes. I scored a career high 16 points, it was great for me individually, but even more rewarding was how happy my teammates were to see my success. We are a very close group; the team chemistry is as good as I have been around. During the month of February, we went 6-3 though some of our road issues continued to plague us. Overall, we have a 22-9 record, so we have exceeded our win total from the previous season. At 13-7 in MAC play we will be the third seed for the upcoming conference tournament, despite not winning the regular season conference title we are very confident heading into the MAC Tournament."


February 2023

Miami Ohio 85-67
Eastern Michigan 85-59
Central Michigan 74-90
@Akron 109-87
@Northern Illinois 75-90
Bowling Green 84-74
@Central Michigan 87-88
Western Michigan 99-89
Ball State 79-64

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Assistant Coach Brendan Foley



March 6, 2023

"We know we will either face Toledo or Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinal of the MAC Tournament. We swept Toledo during the season and split against Eastern Michigan. Realistically the MAC Tournament will be wide open, there are 5-6 teams including us who feel like we can win the tournament. In terms of the regular season the players have achieved the goals set out by the coaching staff before the season started. 20 plus wins, top 3 team in the MAC. Our hope is we are clicking at all levels once we hit the court of the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for the MAC Tournament."




MAC 2022-2023 Conference Standings

Ohio 15-5 17-12

Akron 14-6 21-10

Buffalo 13-7 22-9

Bowling Green 12-8 16-13

Central Michigan 12-8 18-11

Toledo 11-9 14-15

Northern Illinois 10-10 14-15

Western Michigan 9-11 14-15

Kent State 8-12 11-18

Miami Ohio 6-14 9-20

Eastern Michigan 6-14 8-21

Ball State 4-16 6-21

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Senior Guard Clifton Cox



March 9, 2023

MAC Tournament

Buffalo Bulls (3) vs. Eastern Michigan Eagles (11)

"Having split the two regular season meetings with Eastern Michigan we were not going to overlook them regardless of their seeding or overall record. Coach Tyler really has us focused on taking each game one at a time. The key to this game us is going to be the pace, in our loss against EMU we only scored 68 points, in our victory we scored 85 points. We came out hitting on all cylinders opening the game with a quick 16-2 run.


One of the things Coach Tyler has brought to us is when someone gets hot, feed them the ball until the other team stops them. It is an NBA Mindset along with high ball screens that has really made its way into the college game. Joseph Anderson was in a groove and me and Donte Westbrooks made sure we kept feeding him the ball. Lamont Fisher, Darryl Newman, and Casey McDyess were setting excellent screens to free Joseph. Led by Joseph's 17 first half points we went into halftime leading 40-23.


EMU made adjustments to slow Joseph down which opened up scoring chances from Donte and me. We picked up where Joseph started combing for 22 points in the second half. The game was never in doubt as we ran out 82-69 winners. Joseph finished with 24 points, Donte chipped in with 17 points and I added 16 points and 8 assists. Our victory sets up a semifinal matchup with Akron."

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Junior Forward Darryl Newman



March 10, 2023

MAC Tournament

Buffalo Bulls (3) vs. Akron Zips (2)

"We have really gelled together this season, team chemistry wise we really have been a band of brothers from Day 1. Everyone on the team has really bought into their roles on the team, everyone eats on this team regardless of their individual stats. Anytime my number is called, and any role Coach Tyler needs out of me I am ready to give my all on the court. For this game my focus would be trying to shut down Akron Forward Lee Thomas who is their leading scorer at 16.3 PPG. Coach Tyler has given me the green light to pick up Thomas 94 feet, as Coach put it guard him the second, he gets off the bus.

Thomas ended the first half with 7 points only shooting 4 for 12 from the field. With their top player shut down it threw out the rest of the Akron offense. On the opposite end our offense was clicking on all cylinders, on our 16 made baskets 14 of them were assisted. We took a 44-27 lead into halftime, the second half we played the game within a 12-to-20-point range. The few times Akron cut our lead to 12 we were able to respond with a timely basket. I was one of 5 players who scored in double figures, our 90-74 victory put us one game away from making the NCAA Tournament. As for Lee Thomas, he did end up with 17 points but shot 7 for 22 to get those points. Coach praised me for my defensive efforts in the postgame."

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Junior Guard Lennox Gaines


March 11, 2023

MAC Tournament

Buffalo Bulls (3) vs. Ohio Bobcats (1)

"All season long I've been told to be ready, playing behind the guards we have my minutes have been limited but I've continued to practice hard in that moment I'm needed to play extended minutes. At the 11-minute mark of the first half we were trailing 16-14, more troubling was the fact Joseph and Dante both were on the bench in foul trouble. Coach Tyler simply told me to play my game, he's given me a lot of freedom when I have come in games, so I was ready. I came off a flare screen, caught the ball and rose up swishing an 18-foot jumper. Clifton grabbed a rebound, as he does, he was pushing the pace, so I ran to the wing. He zinged a pass right to me, in stride I caught the ball and hit a three pointer. Ohio was not backing down, as their methodical half-court offense was executing at a high level. We went into halftime trailing 35-32, considering two of our key players sat the bulk of the half we were a bit fortunate. I was the team's leading scorer with 11 points in the first half.



We started the second half quickly going on an 8-0 run to take our largest lead of the game 40-35. Ohio fought back to take a 45-43 lead at the 16-minute mark of the second half. Joseph picked up his third foul, Coach Tyler did not hesitate to put me back in the game. Ohio dropped into a 2-3 zone, Clifton immediately got us into our zone offense quick hitter package, I scored 7 of our next 11 points finding the open spots in the zone. The lead went back and forth the rest of the half with both teams desperately given their all-in efforts to make the NCAA Tournament. Trailing 71-69 with a minute left we called a play for Joseph; he was covered but he did not panic. Joseph quickly swung the ball to Donte who drove the lane and kicked the ball out to me in the corner. I didn't hesitate as I nailed my 4th three pointer of the game to put us up 72-71. Ohio quickly got the ball up the court, we had them locked up but their guard Ted Roberts made a difficult shot to put Ohio up 73-72 with 27 seconds left. Clifton looked over to Coach Tyler who decided not to call a time out. Joseph missed a shot, the ball was tipped out to Donte who attacked the rim, getting hit in the air he was able to muscle home a floater getting fouled in the process. Making the foul shot Ohio called a time out with 6 seconds left. Leading 75-73, Roberts drove the ball the length of the court, he pulled up for three and let it fly. The ball seemingly was in the air forever before it bounced off the side of the rim. The game was over, and we were heading to the Big Dance. We started dancing in excitement of what we had done, Coach Tyler found me and gave me a big hug. He told me how proud he was of me; it was a great feeling knowing I contributed to our success. I finished the game with a season high 23 points and was the team's leading scorer.

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Assistant Coach Jamie Quarles

March 12, 2023

NCAA Tournament Selection Show

"It's been a whirlwind 24 hours, winning the MAC Tournament I've received so many calls and texts congratulating me on the season we have had. We got back into Buffalo early Sunday morning, after unpacking and a quick breakfast I headed to campus to meet the team for a tournament watch party. The coaching staff has had brief discussions on where we might be seeded. Based on the so-called bracket experts I've seen us as high as a 9 seed to as low as a 12 seed. Being the coach in charge of scouting I knew I'd have long nights this upcoming week because of the time I'll be spending developing scouting reports for whoever we end up playing.


Arriving to campus our AD has setup a nice watch party, the players, staff, cheerleads, mascot, family and friends were all in attendance. Even Coach Tyler's dog Interceptor was at the party. Food was catered in by the AD, in addition Coach Tyler brought in a local Taco Truck. Coach loves his tacos, I think before the selection show even started, I witnessed him absolutely demolish 6 tacos in record time. The players were in a jovial mood, all of them discussing potential opponents. They were all wearing the All Gas No Brakes t-shirts which have become top sellers around campus. We all sat down in anticipation as the CBS Selection show began.


The first two regions were unveiled, even though we knew we were in the tournament there was still nervous energy in the room anticipating hearing our named announced. As CBS was announcing the matchups in the West Region the next team flashed on the TV screen, the 7 seed West Virginia Mountaineers. When Greg Gumble said their opponent will be the number 10 seed out of the Mid-American Conference the Buffalo Bulls the room when absolutely ballistic. We would be heading to Sacramento which weather wise would be an improvement over the cold of Buffalo.


After the excitement and hoopla died down, I was at the facility late watching West Virginia tapes, I heard a knock on my door, and it was Coach Tyler who also had been watching tape of West Virginia. Before he left, he told me he likes the matchup because West Virginia's primary ball handlers are very turnover prone."

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Junior Guard Joseph Anderson


March 17, 2023

NCAA Tournament First Round

West Region

(7) West Virginia Mountaineers 20-14 vs. (10) Buffalo Bulls 25-9

"Our coaches really did a great job in prepping for West Virginia, to advance we knew we'd have to limit their two key players Junior Shooting Guard Greg Briggs and Senior Small Forward Ed Lewis. The majority of their offense comes from those two with Briggs averaging 17.7 points per game and Lewis averaging 18.8 points per game. Coach Tyler told us that our defense would win us the game because West Virginia is very turnover prone.


West Virginia turned the ball over 4 times on their first 6 possessions which allowed us to start quickly with Clifton, Donte, and me pushing the pace after each turnover. Two minutes into the game West Virginia called a quick timeout trailing 10-2. A new wrinkle put in by the coaches specifically for this game was paying off for us, in addition to our full court pressure that coaches put in a series of half court traps dubbed the Blitz package. Briggs and Lewis found it difficult to get going early due to the number of turnovers we were forcing. Late in the half their duo of scorers began to get going as they cut the deficit to 41-33 at halftime.


In the locker Coach Tyler was very positive despite the late West Virginia run. He was very happy with the turnovers we were forcing, and he loved the overall pace of the game. West Virginia was playing at a faster pace than they were accustomed to, and Coach felt that was playing right into our hands. He knew they could not play at this pace for the entire game and eventually we could deliver the knockout blow. We scored the first 9 points of the second half to put West Virginia on the ropes. We had a decent size of fans who traveled out to California to support us, and we could feel their energy which made us play even harder.


As the second half went on, we could feel West Virginia's players beginning to fatigue, they were not built to play at this pace for 40 minutes. The conditioning plan Coach Simmons installed has really paid off as we could play at this pace for 40 minutes. As the game went on we felt ourselves getting stronger. At the five-minute mark we held a 76-65 lead and that is when we made our push. Clifton stole a pass and went all the way for a dunk. After a miss by West Virginia, Clifton found me on the wing, and I nailed a three pointer. Donte got another steal and found Lamont for a dunk. Another West Virginia turnover was converted into points when I made a three from the top of the key. That 10-0 run sealed West Virginia's fate as we ended up winning the game 93-76.


On offense I led the way scoring 22 points, Donte scored 19, Lamont scored 14 and Clifton added 12 points with 10 assists. Defensively we forced 21 West Virginia turnovers, we scored 35 points off their turnovers. Clifton and Donte absolutely dominated defensively; Clifton had 5 steals while Donte added another 4 steals."

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Senior Guard Donte Westbrooks


March 19, 2023

NCAA Tournament Second Round

West Region

(2) Texas Longhorns 30-5 vs. (10) Buffalo Bulls 26-9

"Studying Texas on tape the first thing that stands out is they got a bunch of dudes, and by that, I mean dudes who are going to play in the league. Their starting backcourt is excellent. Shooting guard Jared Bruce a freshman leads them in scoring at 18.1 points per game. He will be the primary matchup for Clifton Cox though the coaches have told me I will have time guarding him as well. Junior point guard directs the Texas attack averaging 12.2 points per game and dishing out 6.3 assists per game. In the frontcourt junior power forward Josh Jones averages 13.6 points per game and grabs 9.3 rebounds per game.


The crowd in Sacramento is a pro Texas crowd, burnt orange is spread throughout the building. Though we have a small fanbase in attendance they are generating as much noise at possible. Coach Tyler's final message to us was to respect Texas but do not fear Texas. We took that message and came out the blocks cookin', we ran off the first 7 points of the game and then went on a 18-10 run to take a 15-point lead midway through the first half. Offensively our execution was as good as it has been all season, we were able to get whatever shots we wanted to get. Defensively we were doing enough to frustrate Texas and keep them off rhythm on offense. To the shock of the nation watching, we headed into halftime leading 47-35.


Coming out of the locker we kept saying to ourselves All Gas No Brakes, we knew against a team like Texas we could not take the foot off the pedal. To start the second half Jared Bruce showed why he's going to be a top 10 pick in the NBA Draft. On Texas first possession he drove baseline and rose up for an emphatic and-one dunk on Lamont. The next possession Jared pulled up swishing a midrange jumper. After a Texas steal Jared hit a 25-foot three pointer. He capped off his dazzling sequence with an acrobatic reverse layup.


On offense Texas length and athletes began to lock us down, we only scored 4 points the first 6 minutes of the half and found ourselves trailing 59-51. Coach Tyler tried to make any adjustment he could switching defenses, changing lineups, calling timeouts but nothing was slowing Texas down. Despite the setbacks we kept fighting eventually cutting a Texas 20-point lead to 4 points at the 5-minute mark of the game. Every time we had the chance to cut the deficit to a one possession game, we could not get the crucial make. With 30 seconds left we were trailing 80-68, at that point Coach Tyler took the seniors Clifton and me out of the game so the fans could give us an ovation. Coach Tyler hugged the both of us, I went to the bench putting a towel over my head to hide my tears. The game ended with Texas winning 82-72. Joseph led us with 16 points, in our final college games I scored 13 points and Clifton added 14 points and 9 assists. For Texas Jared Bruce led the way with 34 points, scoring 24 of them in the second half."

[CoachPrm15]

Head Coach Ricky Tyler


April 6, 2023

"It's been a few weeks since the Texas loss, the time hasn't decreased the sting of that loss. For 20 minutes we had played as well as we did all season long but weren't able to maintain that for 40 minutes. It's a finality about losing in the tournament, there's no we will get them next game. Once you get knocked out in the tournament your next game isn't until the next season. Losing in the NCAA Tournament stung as a player and it definitely stings the same as a Head Coach.


After rewatching the Texas game 5 or 6 times I've finally taken some time to reflect on my first season as a Head Coach. The AD, students on campus, and people in the Buffalo community have praised the team and me for having a great season. I feel like we had a good season, it is hard for me to consider a season truly great unless you win the National Championship at the end. Looking at the final numbers we did a lot of things well in year one. As a team we finished in the top five in Points Per Game, Assists Per Game, Three Pointers Made Per Game, and Three Point Percentage."

Player Stats

PPG: Anderson 20.6 Cox 16.5 Westbrooks 13.3

RPG: Fisher 5.7 Cox 5.5 Newman 5.3 Mcdyess 5.0

APG: Cox 6.3 Westbrooks 5.5

SPG: Cox 2.7 Westbrooks 2.3 Anderson 1.2 Fisher 1.2

BPG: Fisher 1.4


Team Stats

PPG: 88.5 (4)

OPPG: 81.3

APG: 21.7 (5)

RPG: 31.9

3PM: 12.2 (3)

3P%: 42.5 (2)


Awards

MAC Player of The Year: Clifton Cox

MAC 1st Team All-Conference: Clifton Cox, Joseph Anderson

MAC 2nd Team All-Conference: Donte Westbrooks

2023 Final Four

UConn (1) 69 vs. Wisconsin (4) 61

Gonzaga (1) 94 vs. Texas (2) 81

UConn (1) 74 vs. Gonzaga (1) 72