, who earned the highest-ever seeding for a Mid-American Conference team, have won 13 straight and will face No. 3 seed Texas Tech on Sunday.They may be a mid-major, but they're no Cinderella.''I would say that there still is one more statement to be made, just prove we belong with anybody in the country,'' said CJ Massinburg, Buffalo's leading scorer, who had 18 points. ''I think we can play with anybody in the country, and we're going to try to make this deeper run.'' It was a bounce-back performance for Perkins, who had just five points in 22 minutes in the MAC Tournament final, an 87-73 win over Bowling Green.''I was kind of rushing things, rushing my shot, just rushing my play,'' Perkins said of the previous game. ''I think tonight I was able to slow down a little bit mentally and just convert.'' Zylan Cheatham had 22 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:06 remaining for Arizona State (23-11), which defeated St. John's 74-65 on Wednesday in the First Four. Romello White and Luguentz Dort each scored 12.''I'm super proud of my guys and the effort and the season that they have had,'' said Hurley, whose team finished second in the Pac-12 in the regular season. ''They have taken another big step for Arizona State basketball, and in the process, they've poured their heart and soul into our culture, which is going to filter through future Arizona State basketball teams.'' The Sun Devils led 14-10 early, but then Buffalo reeled off a 14-2 run over a three-minute span. The Bulls outscored Arizona State 10-5 over another three-minute stretch to push their advantage into double digits.''They were quicker to the ball than we were in the first half and their pressure is disruptive,'' Hurley said. ''Their guards get after you and pressure you, so they take you out of your offense.'' Arizona State trailed 44-31 at halftime and pulled within 46-37 early in the second half before Buffalo's 7-0 run pushed its lead to 16 with 16:13 remaining. The Bulls' advantage never fell below 14 the rest of the way.''We knew that they just finished a game the other day, but we wanted to keep the pace at our speed,'' said Buffalo guard Jayvon Graves, who scored 13 points. ''We are confident. We did this last year. This year, we were expected to win this one, but the next game, we are the underdogs again.'' BIG PICTUREArizona State: Dort, the Sun Devils' leading scorer, entered averaging 16.2 points per game but endured a difficult afternoon. Eight of his 12 points came in the final six minutes with the game already out of reach. The Pac-12 freshman of the year shot 4 of 12 overall and 1 of 7 from 3-point range.Buffalo: Hurley went 42-20 in two seasons at Buffalo, leading the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2015 before leaving for Arizona State. Oats was promoted to head coach and has since won three more MAC titles. The Bulls reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time last year, and now they hope to take the next step.TIP-INSBuffalo outrebounded Arizona State 42-26, including a 20-10 advantage in the second half. ... Arizona State shot just 3 for 22 (13.6 percent) from 3-point range, including 0 for 9 in the first half.HE SAID IT''I thanked him for everything he done for my career before the game,'' Oats said of Hurley. ''He's a good friend. We kind of said on Sunday night when we talked, `Let's be friends before and compete like crazy.' I think we both coached really hard. I just tried not to look down the other way and just coach the game. Try not to worry about coaching against a good friend. Just worry about coaching my team and our players.'' UP NEXTBuffalo faces Texas Tech, which beat 14th-seeded Northern Kentucky, in the second round on Sunday.---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Mar 21, 2019Bobby Hurley coached Buffalo to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015.He will now be trying to knock off the best team in the school's history when Arizona State matches up with the Bulls on Friday in the first round of the West Region at Tulsa, Okla.Hurley's 11th-seeded Sun Devils (23-10) defeated St. John's 74-65 on Wednesday in the First Four at Dayton, Ohio, to set up the intriguing matchup.Hurley brought Nate Oats on staff and now the latter is the highly regarded coach of the sixth-seeded Bulls (31-3), who are tied with Houston for the most victories in college basketball this season.Oats saw the possibility of coaching against Hurley on Sunday when the bracket was revealed. He had little interest in discussing it."The media and everybody can write all about that," Oats told reporters. "I don't need our guys to think about any of that." Hurley was trying to keep it out of his mind because his team had a game against St. John's to worry about. His players took care of business and the win over the Red Storm was the school's first NCAA Tournament victory since 2009, when a guy named James Harden was the star player.Hurley said he and Oats speak often and help each other out in their careers."But that's probably not going to matter a whole lot on Friday," Hurley said in the postgame press conference following Wednesday's win.Hurley said he tries to watch as many Buffalo games as he can and admittedly roots hard for the Bulls. He also is well aware his Pac-12 program is the type Buffalo wants to take down to increase its growing reputation.In fact, Buffalo routed Arizona 89-68 in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament."I just know for sure watching Nate Oats' teams, they take on his character and his personality by how hard-nosed he is and how fiery he is," Hurley said. "And his kids play extremely hard and they have a chip on their shoulder. The whole mid-major thing, I think they're tired of that. So it's going to be a heck of a game." The Bulls, who have won 12 straight games, are led by senior guard CJ Massinburg, the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. Massinburg averages 18.3 points and has knocked down 86 3-pointers.Senior forward Nick Perkins brings energy off the bench and is Buffalo's second-leading scorer at 14.4 points and the team's leading rebounder (7.3).The Bulls aren't pleased with receiving a No. 6 seed even though it's the highest a MAC program has landed since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985."We had the best record in college basketball," Oats told reporters earlier this week. "We're tied with Houston. Nobody has more wins than we do. A six is a little low. It is what it is. You look at the teams that are one through five, those are some pretty good teams." Arizona State finished second in the Pac-12 and is hopeful of making a run. Wednesday's victory is its seventh in the past nine games.Freshman guard Luguentz Dort had 21 points against St. John's to raise his team-leading average to 16.2, while senior power forward Zylan Cheatham (11.8 points, 10.4 rebounds) had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season."I'm going to say we didn't pack for just one game," Cheatham said in the press conference. "We're really locked in. We're really focused. And obviously this is a big step in the right direction. But we're not content by any means. We're hungry for more. We want to take this season as far as it can go." Sun Devils sophomore guard Remy Martin (13.1 average) was hindered by a groin injury and scored just six points.--Field Level Media
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