Drexel Looks To Get On Track At Buffalo

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- It has been a frustrating start to the season for the Drexel Dragons.

They sit at 2-6 as they prepare for a tough road match-up tonight at Buffalo.

The Dragons have played their usual outstanding defense, holding opponents to under 59 points a game, but they have really struggled on offense. Drexel is averaging just 55 points a game while shooting just 38% from the field.

"And we throw the ball away a lot, too," Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint tells KYW Newsradio. "So we've really done our defense a disservice by just handing the ball to teams for lay-ups. We've crushed ourselves on transition points off of turnovers and you're not going to win games that way."

Listen to Bruiser Flint with KYW's Matt Leon:

Drexel is averaging nearly 13 turnovers a game this season.  Last time out, in a 65-55 loss to La Salle on Saturday, they gave the ball away 16 times.

One bright spot early in the season has been the fine start for guard Damion Lee. The junior leads Drexel in scoring at 20.3 points per game. He is the only Dragon averaging double figures.

Buffalo brings a 5-2 record into tonight's game. They last played on December 7th when they beat Robert Morris on the road, 74-59.

"Really good offensive team," Flint says. "Got a really good guard in (sophomore) Shannon Evans and a really good big man in (junior) Dustin Moss. They've got great balance."

Moss is averaging a double-double this season. His 16.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game lead the Bulls. Evans is pouring in 15.1 points a contest.

"It's going to be a tough game," Flint adds. "We're really going to have to guard, but again, for us, it's going to come down to how do we take care of the ball. We care take of the ball, we give ourselves a chance to run some offense, I think we can score the ball. And then we reward our defense, we're not on defense all the time. But this is a really good, balanced team, they've gotten off to a really good start and it's on the road."

Buffalo is coached by former Duke star Bobby Hurley.

Tonight will be just the third meeting ever between these two programs. Buffalo won the first two, including a 55-52 decision last season at the DAC.

Tip-off is set for 7:00pm tonight.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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