2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team

2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball
2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball
Fort Myers Tip-Off Palms Division co-champions
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	17–15 (7–11 MAC)
Head coach	George Halcovage III (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Hamlet Tibbs (3rd season); Raman Sposato (1st season); Jack Fitzpatrick (2nd season); Henry Lowe (1st season); Kevin Voigt (2nd season);
Home arena	Alumni Arena

2025–26 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Miami (OH)	18	–	0	1.000	32	–	2	.941
Akron †	17	–	1	.944	29	–	6	.829
Kent State	14	–	4	.778	24	–	10	.706
Toledo	11	–	7	.611	19	–	15	.559
Bowling Green	9	–	9	.500	18	–	14	.563
Ohio	9	–	9	.500	15	–	17	.469
Buffalo	7	–	11	.389	17	–	15	.531
UMass	7	–	11	.389	17	–	16	.515
Ball State	7	–	11	.389	12	–	19	.387
Central Michigan	6	–	12	.333	10	–	21	.323
Western Michigan	4	–	14	.222	10	–	21	.323
Northern Illinois	4	–	14	.222	9	–	21	.300
Eastern Michigan	4	–	14	.222	10	–	21	.323

† 2026 MAC tournament winner

The 2025–26 Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team represented 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, played their home games at Alumni Arena located in Amherst, New York as members of the Mid-American Conference.

They finished the 2025–26 season 17–15, 7–11 in MAC play, to finish tied for 7th place.^[1] They qualified for the MAC tournament as the 7th seed where they lost in the quarterfinals to Akron^[2]

Previous season

The Bulls finished the previous season 9–22, 4–14 in MAC play, to finish in eleventh place.^[3] They failed to qualify for the MAC tournament.^[4]

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	Freshman	Ipswich, England	Transferred to Vermont
Lloyd McVeigh	9	G	6'6"	205	Sophomore	Brooklyn, New York	Signed with Cairns Taipans of the NBL^[5]
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	G	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	Graduate	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.^[6]

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^[6]

Preseason All-MAC

No Bulls were named to any of the Preseason All-MAC teams.^[6]

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	Derrick 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

George Halcovage (Babson)

Assistant coach(es)

Hamlet Tibbs (West Virginia)
Jack Fitzpatrick (Emmanuel)
Kevin Voigt (Villanova)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

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 p.m., Cuse.com		vs. Syracuse	L 66–76	–	18 – McKenna	10 – Batchelor	4 – Talton Jr.	KeyBank Center Buffalo, NY
Regular season
November 3, 2025* 6:30 p.m., 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 p.m., 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 p.m., 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 a.m., ESPN+		RIT	W 80–64	4–0	27 – Freitag	7 – Tied	5 – Tied	Alumni Arena (1,175) Amherst, NY
November 18, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Vermont	W 94–90	5–0	33 – Freitag	4 – Tied	5 – Sabol	Alumni Arena (1,466) Amherst, NY
November 24, 2025* 2:30 p.m., 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 p.m., 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 p.m., 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 p.m., 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 p.m., ESPN+		at UMBC	W 83–79	9–1	19 – Oboh	6 – Freitag	4 – Sabol	Chesapeake Arena (845) Catonsville, MD
December 14, 2025* 1:00 p.m., 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 p.m., ESPN+		at Western Michigan	W 88–71	10–2 (1–0)	20 – Freitag	13 – Oboh	6 – Freitag	University Arena (1,403) Kalamazoo, MI
December 22, 2025* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Penn State Behrend	W 92–63	11–2	31 – Sabol	8 – Pocknett	8 – McKenna	Alumni Arena (1,327) Amherst, NY
December 31, 2025 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Northern Illinois	W 81–67	12–2 (2–0)	33 – Freitag	5 – Tied	4 – Sabol	Convocation Center (1,006) DeKalb, IL
January 3, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Ball State	W 85–72	13–2 (3–0)	22 – Sabol	5 – Tied	5 – Tied	Alumni Arena (2,485) Amherst, NY
January 10, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Ohio	L 80–91	13–3 (3–1)	18 – Brizzi	5 – Tied	3 – Talton Jr.	Convocation Center (3,872) Athens, OH
January 13, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Kent State	L 81–87	13–4 (3–2)	33 – Freitag	6 – Batchelor	7 – Freitag	Alumni Arena (1,084) Amherst, NY
January 17, 2026 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Miami (OH)	L 102–105 ^OT	13–5 (3–3)	24 – Brizzi	12 – Batchelor	8 – Freitag	Millett Hall (5,088) Oxford, OH
January 20, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Akron	L 63–82	13–6 (3–4)	26 – Sabol	7 – Oboh	10 – Talton Jr.	Alumni Arena (1,203) Amherst, NY
January 23, 2026 7:00 p.m., CBSSN		UMass	L 67–68	13–7 (3–5)	27 – Sabol	6 – Pocknett	7 – Freitag	Alumni Arena (2,310) Amherst, NY
January 27, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Bowling Green	W 89–78	14–7 (4–5)	22 – Sabol	7 – Oboh	5 – Sabol	Stroh Center (2,298) Bowling Green, OH
January 31, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Ohio	L 83–95	14–8 (4–6)	25 – Freitag	6 – Tied	5 – Sabol	Alumni Arena (2,005) Amherst, NY
February 3, 2025 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		No. 23 Miami (OH)	L 71–73	14–9 (4–7)	22 – Brizzi	8 – Oboh	7 – Freitag	Alumni Arena (3,507) Amherst, NY
February 7, 2026* 4:00 p.m., ESPN+		at South Alabama MAC-SBC Challenge	L 69–81	14–10	26 – Brizzi	8 – Sabol	10 – Talton Jr.	Mitchell Center Mobile, AL
February 11, 2025 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Ball State	W 63–53	15–10 (5–7)	20 – Oboh	8 – Oboh	5 – Sabol	Worthen Arena (2,460) Muncie, IN
February 17, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Northern Illinois	L 70–72	15–11 (5–8)	25 – Brizzi	6 – Tied	4 – Jones	Alumni Arena (1,802) Amherst, NY
February 21, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at UMass	W 86–82 ^OT	16–11 (6–8)	27 – Brizzi	9 – Oboh	10 – Sabol	Mullins Center (5,096) Amherst, MA
February 24, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Akron	L 85–99	16–12 (6–9)	28 – Sabol	9 – Sabol	5 – Talton Jr.	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,323) Akron, OH
February 28, 2025 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Central Michigan	L 70–75	16–13 (6–10)	17 – Sabol	4 – Tied	6 – Tied	Alumni Arena (2,499) Amherst, NY
March 3, 2026 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Eastern Michigan	W 72–67	17–13 (7–10)	27 – Sabol	10 – Oboh	4 – Tied	Alumni Arena (1,386) Amherst, NY
March 6, 2025 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Toledo	L 78–99	17–14 (7–11)	26 – Sabol	7 – Batchelor	3 – Talton Jr.	Savage Arena (4,539) Toledo, OH
MAC tournament
March 12, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN+	(7)	vs. (2) Akron Quarterfinals	L 70–73	17–15	24 – Sabol	12 – Oboh	6 – Talton Jr.	Rocket Arena Cleveland, OH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Sources:^[7]^[8]

References

^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Standings". ESPN. Retrieved March 13, 2026.
^ "Akron 73, Buffalo 70". ESPN. March 12, 2026. Retrieved March 13, 2026.
^ "Broncos, Falcons clinch final Tournament spots to wrap up regular season". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
^ "MAC Announces 2025 Men's Basketball Tournament Pairings". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
^ https://www.taipans.com/players/lloyd-mcveigh-69a189c4-7bfb-11f0-ba24-a338a0968f69
^ ^a ^b ^c "MAC Announces 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll & All-MAC Teams". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". University at Buffalo. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
^ "Buffalo Bulls 2025-26 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

[1] "2025-26 Men's Basketball Standings". ESPN. Retrieved March 13, 2026.

[2] "Akron 73, Buffalo 70". ESPN. March 12, 2026. Retrieved March 13, 2026.

[3] "Broncos, Falcons clinch final Tournament spots to wrap up regular season". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

[4] "MAC Announces 2025 Men's Basketball Tournament Pairings". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

[5] ttps://www.taipans.com/players/lloyd-mcveigh-69a189c4-7bfb-11f0-ba24-a338a0968f69

[poll-6] "MAC Announces 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll & All-MAC Teams". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

[7] "2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule". University at Buffalo. Retrieved November 28, 2024.

[8] "Buffalo Bulls 2025-26 Regular Season NCAAM Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2025.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

Buffalo Bulls men's basketball
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