Buffalo breezes to victory over turnover-prone DePaul

Field Level Media|published: Tue 11th November, 22:34 2025

Dec 19, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Buffalo Bulls head coach George Halcovage III shown during the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Ryan Sabol scored 20 points and Daniel Freitag chipped in 18 to lift Buffalo to a 66-53 win over DePaul on Tuesday in Chicago.

Angelo Brizzi added 12 points for the Bulls (3-0), who forced the Blue Demons into 20 turnovers.

NJ Benson had team highs of 11 points and eight rebounds for DePaul, which shot 33.3% from the floor while going 10-for-20 from the free-throw line.

Buffalo hit 38.5% from the field and was outrebounded by five but scored 22 points off turnovers and held a 12-4 edge in second-chance points.

Brandon Maclin scored nine points for DePaul (2-1). Layden Blocker dished a game-high five assists.

Buffalo led by as many as 21 points in the first half but went cold for much of the second. The Bulls started 4-for-20 from the floor to begin the half, including 1-for-6 from deep, as the Blue Demons kept pushing.

A Benson dunk brought DePaul to within 46-44 with 7:38 to play. The Bulls went up by six when Freitag connected from long range at the 6:40 mark, ending a field-goal drought of 4:33.

DePaul climbed within two points again before Buffalo regrouped for one final run, scoring 16 of the game's last 21 points over the last five minutes.

Noah Batchelor, Mikhail Pocknett and Freitag each grabbed six boards for Buffalo.

Sabol scorched the Blue Demons for 15 points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting, including 3-for-5 from deep. Brizzi drilled a pair of treys as part of a 52% shooting effort that propelled the Bulls to a 36-18 advantage at the break.

DePaul showed some flash on its first field goal of the night, as Benson converted an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Theo Pierre-Justin on the team's first possession. CJ Gunn hit a pair of free throws with 17:00 left to give the Blue Demons their only other lead of the night.

Brizzi drained a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound moments later, putting the Bulls in front to stay. Buffalo capitalized on a DePaul scoring drought of 5:05 midway through the half, scoring 15 straight points over that span.

--Field Level Media

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