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Buffalo, N.Y. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team will be tested out of the gates in its 2018-19 season opener at Buffalo on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
 
Scouting Buffalo
 
The Bulls check all the boxes. They are talented, experienced and deep and are coming off their best season in program history with a 27-8 overall record and berth in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
 
The Bulls went on to thump Arizona 89-68 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament in the No. 3 – No. 14 matchup and return four starters and their top three scorers in CJ Massinburg (17.0 ppg), Nick Perkins (16.2 ppg) and Jeremy Harris (15.5 ppg).
 
Massinburg and Perkins landed on the All-MAC First Team and Jeremy Harris was an All-MAC Second Team selection in 2017-18.
 
Buffalo ranked sixth in the nation in scoring last season at 84.6 ppg, eclipsing 80 points in 26 of 36 games.
 
The Bulls received 14 Top 25 votes in the Preseason AP Coaches Poll.
 
Braxton Eyeing 1,000
 
Junior Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea) enters the season just 24 points shy of 1,000 for his career. SFU's career leader in double-doubles with 24, Braxton is on pace to finish his career as an all-time great. If he duplicates his statistics from his first two seasons, he will rank third in career scoring (1,952), third in rebounding (1,178), fifth in assists (418) and first in steals (206). Braxton is vying to become the 41st player in SFU history to net 1,00 points. The last to do so was teammate Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) the last time the Red Flash was on the hardwood at UIC in the 2017-18 finale.
 
Let it Fly
 
Saint Francis has finished in the top two in the NEC in 3PT FG% in each of the last two seasons but the 2018-19 group has a chance to be historic from behind the arc.
 
Senior Andre Wolford (North Olmstead, Ohio/Saint Ignatius) nailed 97 triples in 2017-18, the second most in single-season program history, and led the NEC and ranked second in all of Division I in 3PT FG% at 49.5%.
 
Amazingly, that isn't even the best clip by an SFU player over the last two seasons. Redshirt junior Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) ranked sixth in Division I in 3PT FG% in 2018-19 at 50.0%. His return to the lineup will put two of the most prolific shooters in program history on the floor together for a full season.
 
According to NEC contributor Ryan Peters, the NEC has never seen a team roster two players that made at least 45% of their three-pointers in a season. And in the past decade, only 10 teams have had two players make at least 40% of their attempts (must make at least 1.0 three per game to qualify) in the same season. 
 
Getting Down and Dirty
 
SFU boasted the league's top scoring offense last season at 79.0 ppg but struggled to win contests when shots weren't falling. Saint Francis was 0-9 when held under 70 points last season and just 8-10 when outrebounded. On the flip side, when SFU hit the glass and outrebounded its opponent it complied a 10-3 record.