2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team

2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball
ConferenceMid-American Conference
Record9–2 (0–0 MAC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Hamlet Tibbs (3rd season)
  • Raman Sposato (1st season)
  • Jack Fitzpatrick (2nd season)
  • Henry Lowe (1st season)
  • Kevin Voigt (2nd season)
Home arenaAlumni Arena
2025–26 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Akron 1 0   1.000 9 3   .750
Miami (OH) 0 0   11 0   1.000
Buffalo 0 0   9 2   .818
Kent State 0 0   9 2   .818
Bowling Green 0 0   8 3   .727
UMass 0 0   8 3   .727
Ohio 0 0   5 6   .455
Toledo 0 0   5 6   .455
Western Michigan 0 0   5 6   .455
Central Michigan 0 0   4 7   .364
Northern Illinois 0 0   4 7   .364
Ball State 0 0   3 8   .273
Eastern Michigan 0 1   .000 6 6   .500
2026 MAC tournament winner
As of December 19, 2025

The 2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team represents the State University of New York at Buffalo during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulls, led by third-year head coach George Halcovage III, play their home games at Alumni Arena located in Amherst, New York as members of the Mid-American Conference.

Previous season

The Bulls finished the previous season 9–22, 4–14 in MAC play, to finish in eleventh place.[1] They failed to qualify for the MAC tournament.[2]

Offseason

Departures

Departures
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure
Anquan Boldin Jr. 4 G 6'4" 195 Sophomore Delray Beach, Florida Transferred to Florida A&M
Tyson Dunn 5 6'3" 190 Senior Newmarket, Ontario Transferred to UC San Diego
Brayden Jackson 7 6'8" 185 Freshman Milton, Ontario Transferred to St. Bonaventure
Ben Michaels 8 F 6'8" 210 Ipswich, England Transferred to Vermont
Lloyd McVeigh 9 G 6'6" 205 Sophomore Brooklyn, New York Signed with Cairns Taipans of the NBL[3]
Eric Kenesie Jr. 10 6'0" 180 Freshman Kenosha, Wisconsin Transferred to Upper Iowa
Bryson Wilson 11 6'5" 210 Sophomore Washington, DC Transferred to Binghamton
Frederiks Meinarts 14 C/F 7'0" 196 Freshman Riga, Latvia Transferred to Lynn
Sam Akot 15 G/F 6'7" 180 London, Ontario Left program
Kavon Bradford 22 G 6'2 180 Portland, Oregon Transferred to Northern Arizona

Incoming transfers

Incoming transfers
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school
Mikhail Pocknett 3 F 6'6" 235 Junior Wilmington, North Carolina King University
Daniel Freitag 5 G 6'2" 192 Sophomore Bloomington, Minnesota Wisconsin
Derrick Talton Jr. 10 5'10" 157 Graduate Fort Worth, Texas Oklahoma Wesleyan
Kyle Jones 12 G/F 6'5" 195 RS Junior Frisco, Texas St. Thomas Aquinas
Ezra McKenna 13 F 6'10" 243 Graduate Fort Walton Beach, Florida Mobile
Angelo Brizzi 14 G 6'3" 193 Warrenton, Virginia Longwood

Preseason

On October 21, 2025, the MAC released the preseason coaches' poll. Buffalo was picked to finish eleventh in the MAC regular season.[4]

Preseason rankings

MAC preseason poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Akron 143 (11)
2 Miami (OH) 133 (2)
3 Kent State 122
4 Ohio 108
5 UMass 98
6 Toledo 95
7 Bowling Green 73
8 Ball State 62
9 Eastern Michigan 52
10 Western Michigan 46
11 Buffalo 37
12 Central Michigan 31
13 Northern Illinois 14

MAC Tournament Champions: Akron (8), Miami-Ohio (2), Kent State (1), Ohio (1), UMass (1)

Source[4]

Preseason All-MAC

No Bulls were named to any of the Preseason All-MAC teams.[4]

Roster

2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 0 Matas Buteliauskas 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr DME Academy Vilnius, Lithuania
G/F 1 Noah Batchelor 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Maryland Frederick, MD
G 2 Ryan Sabol 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Gonzaga College HS Washington, D.C.
F 3 Mikhail Pocknett 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr King Wilmington, NC
G 5 Daniel Freitag 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) So Wisconsin Bloomington, MN
G 8 Omar Migues-Hibeljic 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf Quebec City, QC
G 10 Eric Talton Jr. 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 157 lb (71 kg) GS Oklahoma Wesleyan Fort Worth, TX
G/F 12 Kyle Jones 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) RS Jr St. Thomas Aquinas Frisco, TX
F 13 Ezra McKenna 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 243 lb (110 kg) GS Mobile Fort Walton Beach, FL
G 14 Angelo Brizzi 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 193 lb (88 kg) GS Longwood Warrenton, VA
F 15 Aleksa Vlajic 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Hoosac School Belgrade, Serbia
G 20 Daniel Shao 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Parsippany Hills HS Morris Plains, NJ
C 33 Tim Oboh 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Canterbury Academy Orpington, England
G 35 Evan Romano 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr St. Rose HS Holmdel, NJ
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: November 28, 2025

Schedule and results

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Site (attendance)
city, state
Exhibition
October 25, 2025*
7:00 pm
Syracuse L 66–76 
 18  McKenna   10  Batchelor   4  Talton Jr.  KeyBank Center 
Buffalo, NY
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025*
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Southern Miss
MAC-SBC Challenge
W 85–79  1–0
 32  Sabol   11  Batchelor   4  Tied  Alumni Arena (1,631)
Amherst, NY
November 7, 2025*
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Green Bay W 83–76  2–0
 21  Talton Jr.   7  Batchelor   4  Talton Jr.  Alumni Arena (1,373)
Amherst, NY
November 11, 2025*
8:00 pm, ESPN+
at DePaul W 66–53  3–0
 20  Sabol   6  Tied   4  Freitag  Wintrust Arena (2,818)
Chicago, IL
November 15, 2025*
11:00 am, ESPN+
RIT W 80–64  4–0
 27  Freitag   7  Tied   5  Tied  Alumni Arena (1,175)
Amherst, NY
November 18, 2025*
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Vermont W 94–90  5–0
 33  Freitag   4  Tied   5  Sabol  Alumni Arena (1,466)
Amherst, NY
November 24, 2025*
2:30 pm, PTB Live
vs. VMI
Fort Myers Tip-Off Palms Division
W 78–70  6–0
 17  Freitag   10  McKenna   4  Talton Jr.  Suncoast Credit Union Arena (682)
Fort Myers, FL
November 26, 2025*
1:30 pm, PTB Live
vs. Bucknell
Fort Myers Tip-Off Palms Division
W 73–71  7–0
 25  Brizzi   9  Freitag   3  Freitag  Suncoast Credit Union Arena (621)
Fort Myers, FL
November 29, 2025*
6:00 pm, ESPN+
at Canisius W 71–53  8–0
 24  Sabol   6  Freitag   5  Talton Jr.  Koessler Athletic Center (1,503)
Buffalo, NY
December 6, 2025*
2:00 pm, ESPN+
St. Bonaventure L 69–77  8–1
 21  Sabol   5  Oboh   7  Freitag  Alumni Arena (5,616)
Amherst, NY
December 9, 2025*
5:00 pm, ESPN+
at UMBC W 83–79  9–1
 19  Oboh   6  Freitag   4  Sabol  Chesapeake Arena (845)
Catonsville, MD
December 14, 2025*
1:00 pm, ESPN+
at East Carolina L 70–73  9–2
 31  Freitag   13  Pocknett   4  Talton Jr.  Williams Arena (2,579)
Greenville, NC
December 20, 2025
1:00 pm, ESPN+
at Western Michigan       University Arena 
Kalamazoo, MI
December 22, 2025*
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Penn State Behrend       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
December 30, 2025
8:00 pm, ESPN+
at Northern Illinois       Convocation Center 
DeKalb, IL
January 3, 2026
2:00 pm, ESPN+
Ball State       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
January 10, 2026
2:00 pm, ESPN+
at Ohio       Convocation Center 
Athens, OH
January 13, 2026
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Kent State       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
January 17, 2026
1:00 pm, ESPN+
at Miami (OH)       Millett Hall 
Oxford, OH
January 20, 2026
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Akron       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
January 23, 2026
7:00 pm, CBSSN
UMass       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
January 27, 2026
7:00 pm, ESPN+
at Bowling Green       Stroh Center 
Bowling Green, OH
January 31, 2026
2:00 pm, ESPN+
Ohio       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
February 3, 2025
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Miami (OH)       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
February 7, 2026*
TBA
TBA
MAC-SBC Challenge
       
 
February 11, 2025
7:00 pm, ESPN+
at Ball State       Worthen Arena 
Muncie, IN
February 17, 2026
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Northern Illinois       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
February 21, 2026
6:00 pm, ESPN+
at UMass       Mullins Center 
Amherst, MA
February 24, 2026
7:00 pm, ESPN+
at Akron       James A. Rhodes Arena 
Akron, OH
February 28, 2025
2:00 pm, ESPN+
Central Michigan       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
March 3, 2026
6:30 pm, ESPN+
Eastern Michigan       Alumni Arena 
Amherst, NY
March 6, 2025
7:00 pm, ESPN+
Toledo       Savage Arena 
Toledo, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Eastern.

Sources:[5][6]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
Poll1234567891011121314151617181920Final
APRVRV
Coaches

References

  1. ^ "Broncos, Falcons clinch final Tournament spots to wrap up regular season". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  2. ^ "MAC Announces 2025 Men's Basketball Tournament Pairings". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  3. ^ https://www.taipans.com/players/lloyd-mcveigh-69a189c4-7bfb-11f0-ba24-a338a0968f69
  4. ^ a b c "MAC Announces 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll & All-MAC Teams". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  5. ^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". University at Buffalo. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  6. ^ "Buffalo Bulls 2025-26 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2025.