Men's Basketball Outmuscles Bulls, 81-66

Wednesday, November 29

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

7-0,0-0Sun Belt

Buffalo

1-6,0-0MAC

Buffalo

James Madison

11/29/2023 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. — James Madison University men's basketball continued their winning ways to start the 2023-24 campaign as they defeated Buffalo 81-66 on Wednesday evening at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

UB (1-6) gave JMU (7-0) its best shot, but the Dukes controlled the game wire-to-wire, leading by as much as 23 (78-55) with 4:02 remaining in the contest.

Four Dukes scored in double figures, with graduate student T.J. Bickerstaff pacing the team with 18 points, followed by redshirt junior Terrence Edwards Jr. (15), graduate student Michael Green III (14) and redshirt senior Noah Freidel (13).

Bickerstaff grabbed seven rebounds, while Green knocked down 4-of-8 (.500) from three. Junior Raekwon Horton came away with four points, four rebounds and four steals.

Sy Chatman led all scorers with 19 points to go along with five boards. Three other Bulls recorded double-digit scoring efforts: Ryan Sabol (15), Kanye Jones (11) and Shawn Fulcher (10).

How It Happened
First Half

Four points from Bickerstaff and back-to-back treys from Green and Freidel made it a 10-0 run to start things for JMU. Buffalo was forced to regroup after coming out of the first three minutes shooting 0-for-5.
Dukes scored the first 13 points to open the game, then went nearly five minutes without a basket.
Buffalo scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting to make it 13-7 at the first media timeout.
Both teams then went cold for a stretch before free throws from UB made it 8-0 run for a four-minute stretch.
Redshirt sophomore Quincy Allen followed up on the boards with a nice put-back, but Shawn Fulcher knocked down a three for his first points of the game to make it 15-11 heading into the media timeout.
Freidel took contact and got a floating jumper to fall to make it 19-14 with 10 minutes left in the half.
Green hit back-to-back three-pointers to help put the Dukes back up 29-19 with 6:23 left in the frame.
Heading into the half, Bickerstaff led the charge with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Ryan Sabol had six to pace the Bulls.

Second Half

With a layup on the first possession from Edwards Jr., a put-back from Bickerstaff, and a big three from Freidel, JMU came out of halftime on a 7-2 run.
The Dukes caused five turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half.
After a slow first half, Edwards Jr. quickly scored six points and found sophomore Xavier Brown for a beautiful transition three to put the Dukes up 53-38 with 12:28 to go.
The Dukes made it a 20-point game, 65-45, with a jumper from Green at the 8:34 mark.
Bickerstaff had an emphatic dunk to give JMU its biggest lead of the game, 78-55, with 4:02 left on the clock.
The Bulls finished on a 9-2 run to fall 81-66.

Game Notes

James Madison is 2-0 in the all-time series against Buffalo.
JMU held an advantage in points in the paint (34-28), bench points (21-17) and fast break points (13-7).
Bickerstaff has now scored in double figures in six of the Dukes' seven games so far this season, including five straight. Additionally, the Atlanta native dished out a season-high four assists.
Green's four three-pointers were his second-most makes from downtown this season, having gone 5-for-8 (.625) against Howard on Nov. 12.
The Dukes grabbed 37 rebounds compared to the Bulls' 29. JMU's +8 rebounding margin is the highest for the team in the 2023-24 campaign. Moreover, the effort on the glass was James Madison's second this season holding an opponent to less than 30 total rebounds.
With 10 makes from deep, the Dukes have reached double figures in three-pointers four times in 2023-24.
JMU recorded a season-low eight turnovers in the win.

Up Next

The Dukes are set for double-header action on Sunday, Dec. 3, when they host Keystone College (DIII) at 1 p.m., followed by the women's game versus Wake Forest at 4 p.m. Both games will stream on ESPN+.