Getty CJ Massinburg and the Buffalo Bulls will host the Akron Zips.
The No. 21 Buffalo Bulls will host Mid-American Conference foes the Akron Zips at Alumni Arena on Tuesday.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games — and several other sports — every week.
You can start a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including Akron vs Buffalo — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
Akron vs Buffalo Preview
These squads met in Akron on February 12, resulting in a 76-70 Bulls victory. Buffalo (24-3 overall, 12-2 in MAC play) overcame 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) shooting from deep and 18 turnovers, assisting on just six of their 24 buckets.
“They’re a better defensive team than we are, and I think it showed tonight,” Buffalo head coach Nate Oats said, according to The Buffalo News. “It was difficult for us to score, for long stretches of the game, and the beginning of the second half, when we quit turning the ball over, I thought we got some stuff going, offensively, and I think we built up a 12-point lead, but we just couldn’t put them away.
“We hovered around eight to 10 (points) for the rest of the game until we just didn’t close it very well. We’ve got to do a better job of closing games.”
Buffalo senior guard CJ Massinburg got to the free-throw line 12 times, converting 11 times and scoring a game-high 21 points.
The Zips (15-12, 7-7) hold opponents to 62.6 points per game and 39.9 percent shooting from the field, good for 15th and 19th out of 353 Division I teams.
“I thought we got what we deserved,” Akron head coach John Groce said, per The Buffalo News. “We didn’t play very well, and sometimes you don’t do that, but I thought the reason we didn’t play well, and what disappointed me the most, I didn’t think our team-ism was good today. I thought our body language, excuse-making … you do that stuff, that’s what I mean by, ‘you get what you deserve’ and we’ve got to better.”
The victory over Akron was the Bulls’ second win in what’s now a five-game winning streak. Most recently, they blasted Kent State 80-57 at home.
Senior forward Nick Perkins scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting, adding six rebounds and three steals. Massinburg scored 18 and helped hold Jaylin Walker — Kent State’s leading scorer at 21.4 points per game — to 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, five turnovers, and zero assists.
“I watched a lot of film and I’ve been playing against Jaylin Walker for four years and I’ve watched every bucket he’s scored on me,” Massingburg said, according to The Spectrum. “I knew what I could have done better and I played hard and tried to pressure him.”
The Zips’ defeat kicked off a three-game losing streak, which they snapped with a 70-58 home victory over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
Junior guard Tyler Cheese scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, adding three assists. Junior forward Daniel Utomi went 5-of-8 from downtown en route to 19 points and five rebounds.
“[Utomi and senior guard Jimond Ivey] just told me they needed me to be more aggressive, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” Cheese said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.