Recap courtesy of Buffalo Athletic Communications
Buffalo 81, Northern Illinois 67
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – In their final game of the 2025 calendar year, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team (12-2, 2-0 MAC) brought home an 81-67 road victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies (5-8, 1-1 MAC) on Wednesday afternoon.
Daniel Freitag led the barrage with 33 points, tying his career high mark from earlier in the season against Vermont. His performance is tied for the ninth-most points scored in program history in a road game. He joined Blake Hamilton (Akron, 1/28/17) and Jayvon Graves (Kent State – 2OT, 2/21/20) for ninth. Ryan Sabol added 14 points as Ezra McKenna buried 11 including going 3-for-4 from deep.
NIU jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, courtesy of penetrating the paint. The Huskies extended their advantage to 10-7 at the 15:44 mark of the first half as the Bulls were still finding their rhythm. Buffalo quickly flipped the script. Freitag ignited a rally that surged the Bulls ahead. By the 9:54 mark, Buffalo had embarked on an 8-0 run, pushing the score to 25-14. Freitag dominated the half, scoring 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Buffalo's defense forced six NIU turnovers. Buffalo capitalized on the turnovers, scoring nine points. The Bulls shot 48.4% from the field and 50.0% from beyond the arc, building a commanding 43-29 halftime lead. Meanwhile, the Huskies managed only 44.4% field goals and just 14.3% from three.
NIU cut their halftime deficit as they narrowed the gap to 45-40 at 18:01 after a pair of triples. The Huskies brought the defensive pressure which generated fastbreak opportunities, outscoring Buffalo 14-8 in points off turnovers in the period. NIU cut the lead down to five on three separate occasions but did not capitalize. The Bulls pulled away in the final four minutes as they pushed their lead back to double-digits. Buffalo ended the game on a 10-4 run to take home the 81-67 victory.
The Bulls are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 3rd when they host the Ball State Cardinals at 2 p.m.
