Buffalo lived up to the hype and blustered its way through the game yesterday, though never too brazenly or outside the rules. The game was tense and on a few occasions in both halves seemed headed toward a breaking point, but there were no episodes and there were no technical fouls … which was a surprise, to me at least.

Gary Browne and Jarryn Skeete had a tussle on the sideline near the Buffalo bench in the first half, and Browne told the official, in a matter of speaking, he was tired of Skeete holding him. But that settled quickly, and Browne said he soon shrugged off Skeete’s antics.

Bobby Hurley was furious a handful of times, particularly when Justin Moss jumped into Tarik Phillip’s elbow.

Huggins isolated himself during one timeout and executed a prolonged stare at another official.

Shannon Evans, he of the five technicals during the season, a fact that really interested Daxter Miles the day before, had to deal with Miles and his mouth for a period in the first half.

“He said something, and I just told him I’m from Baltimore. Baltimore’s nothing like another city. He told me where he was from, but I forget,” Miles said.

The Mountaineers would not be dragged into that game within the game, which is not to say they weren’t bothered or inspired by the Bulls and their lips.

“You look at the board, the board says, No. 11 says, that the press Kentucky has is as good as West Virginia has, if not better,” Browne said, loosely quoting Evans’ words. “I didn’t see him breaking our press today.”