By Paul Gotham
BUFFALO, NY — The message was clear.
On a night where his team brushed aside rust from the final exams layoff and notched a double-digit victory over the Drexel Dragons, UB’s Bobby Hurley wanted to talk about what the future holds for his team.
The Bulls led for nearly 38 minutes, handed out a season-high 19 assists. Five players netted double figures. Seven figured in the scoring column. They outscored Drexel in the paint (42-38), off turnovers (18-11), in second-chance points (22-10) and bench points (24-11).
And when it was done, Hurley gave his own drive and dish for two.
“We’re going to execute our offense so much better a month from now than we are right now,” the second-year coach stated. “The guys are still learning where their shots are coming from. We have a pretty extensive playbook that we’re running on offense. It’s evolving and getting better. As they start to get a feel for where their shots are coming from in our half-court offense, it will get even better.”
A month from now? As in Mid-American Conference play? Perhaps notice has been served. Although it’s hard to tell. Hurley spoke in matter of fact terms. There was no finger tapping the podium or fist pounding instead Hurley voiced his words with quite assurance.
And why not. He has three guards in Lamonte Bearden, Shannon Evans and Jarryn Skeete who can all create their own shot and get their teammates wide open looks.
“We try and get great spacing and give guys room to operate and try and force teams to rotate,” Hurley commented. “You saw how with dribble penetration we forced them to leave some shooters and locate them.”
Bearden and Evans both dished eight dimes. Bearden tallied 11 points hitting 2-of-3 behind the arc to go with five free throws. Evans willingly let his teammates do the shooting. The sophomore guard, who has notched double figures five times this season, scored seven on seven shots.
“Shannon has already proven this year that he can score 20-plus,” Hurley noted. “We know he’s capable of doing that any night. Teams are focusing on him to score. He’s finding his teammates. He’s taking what the defense is giving him. He’s got such a big upside as he continues to grow and play.”
Skeete scored all eight of his second-half points in a 97-second window and turned a four-point game into an 11-point affair.
“Jarryn can shoot the ball so well that he brings his own dimension to the team,” Hurley added.
The junior guard knocked down a pullup jumper off a sideline out-of-bounds pass. He followed with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the left corner when Bearden found him open with a penetrate-and-pitch. After a timeout, Skeete came off a baseline stagger screen, took another Bearden feed and finished with a trey.
“I was ready to shoot, and my teammates were finding me,” Skeete said. “I got two great guards in the backcourt with me, and they are able to find me and get my man off me. I just hit open shots. It’s easy. Be ready to shoot and knock it down when it comes to you.”
“We talk about getting assists, getting in the paint kicking out to our shooters,” Evans commented. “We just keep rehearsing that in practice, and it rolled over into the game, today.”
UB’s frontcourt of Xavier Ford, Justin Moss and Rodell Wigginton combined to score half of the Bulls points in the 80-70 victory.
“We have different pieces with those guys being able to do that very well,” Hurley noted. “We compliment that with what we’re doing on the inside. We want to have good balance. We want to be tough to defend. We want to have multiple guys who are threats out there.”
UB (6-2) hosts Niagara on Friday before traveling to Wisconsin to take on the #6/5 Badgers on December 28th. The Bulls have two more non-conference games against Binghamton and Cornell before MAC play opens on the January seventh against Miami (OH).
“We’ve cut back on turnovers,” Hurley said. “Something the last couple of games I haven’t been happy with. We’ve talking to our guys about making good decisions out there. I like the way they’re playing off each other. They all really have a good feel for the game. We’re moving the ball. It’s not sticking.”
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