By Jonah Bronstein
AMHERST — Calvin Betts has climbed his way up to fourth on the University at Buffalo’s all-time rebounding list, an impressive position for a 6-foot-3 wing player who only occasionally moonlights at power forward.
“It’s definitely a good feeling to be up there with those big boys — Mark Bortz, Yassin Idbihi, 6-11, 7-foot guys,” Betts said this week.
Coming out of Rochester’s Rush-Henrietta High School four years ago, the burly Betts had the instincts of a post player. He’s evolved into a well-rounded force for the Bulls, leading the team in rebounds and steals, and ranking second in scoring and third in assists and blocks in his senior season.
“We can’t win without him,” said Rodney Pierce, UB’s leading scorer and one of the candidates for Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. “When he plays well, when he plays with energy and determination, we rarely lose.”
Last year, Betts led UB in 3-point percentage (39.4), and though his accuracy has dipped a bit this year, he’s still a threat from long-range. In Saturday’s home win over Kent State, he hit three 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes to help the Bulls stake out a big early lead.
“He’s improved as a shooter every year,” coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “He’s not as good as he thinks he is. He thinks he can live on the arc. We need him to rebound.”
Betts is averaging 7.3 rebounds this season, which ranks fourth in the MAC. He’s had eight or more boards in four of the Bulls’ last five games.
“He’s quick to the rim and he’s strong,” Witherspoon said. “He has a combination of strong hands and soft hands, so if he gets his fingertips on it, he can pull it in.”
Betts was playing at a similarly high level for the first half of last season, before hurting his knee in the middle of January. He missed only one game due to the injury, then averaged just 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds over the next six weeks. At the same time, he was grieving the loss of his grandfather.
“I think it affected him tremendously. He went into a slide there for a while, and really struggled to exert himself,” Witherspoon said. “Three things come into play. First and foremost was the passing of his grandfather, who he was close with. Second was his injury, and third was we won some games when he wasn’t at his best, and he began to defer a little bit.”
Betts returned to full strength and regained his assertiveness around in time for the MAC tournament. In a quarterfinal win over Kent State, he has 18 rebounds, the second most in tournament history.
This season, Witherspoon has had to remind Betts to assert himself like that every time he’s on the floor.
“When he does that, he really uplifts us,” Witherspoon said.
Betts said that has gotten easier as the season progressed because he’s dropped about 20 pounds since training camp, getting down to his listed weight, 225.
“The guys on the team call him ‘Snacks.’ We wanted from him to have a little discipline in that area, and he’s done that,” Witherspoon said. “Calvin is a compassionate person. He’s somebody who really cares. He’s come a long way academically as well and he’s going to leave here with a four-year degree. He’s learned a lot of life lessons and grown up a lot.”
