Wednesday was a big day for UC athletics, before the basketball team took on No. 21 ranked Tennessee Volunteers, John Cunningham was introduced as Cincinnati’s new Athletics Director. Cunningham was previously the Deputy Athletics for Administration at Minnesota and has worked in college athletics for many years before coming to UC. Tennessee and Cincinnati have faced off six times and the Bearcats lead the series 5-1 and are 3-0 at home. Tennessee is 7-2 and Cincinnati is 6-4 after coming off a heartbreaking loss to Colgate at home.
The Bearcats had four of their five normal starters with Mika Adams-Woods replacing Chris McNeal. The Bearcats started out strong making 3-pointers on their first two possessions. Brannen continued to rotate players out constantly, making sure everyone got minutes. The Bearcats looked really good on offense and did a nice job of passing and making sure they got the look. The first half was very fast paced with lots of scoring on both ends. The Bearcats did struggle with turnovers, they had nine in just the first half. Jay Sorolla had some big minutes in this game, having to play for Vogt when he got in foul trouble. He really played well and seemed more confident in his ability. Veterans Scott, Williams, and both Cumberlands were dominate and lead the team in scoring. Fifth Third Arena was sold out for this game and the fans were on their feet with 2 minutes left in the half. They were so loud, Tennessee had to call a timeout. Scott led the team in first half points with 11, Williams led the team in rebounds with two, and Jarron Cumberland led the team in assists with three. UC went into half with a 38-34 lead.
The same five starters took the floor to start the second half. Both teams started the half out with the same fire they had to end the first half. Jarron Cumberland got two quick fouls to start the second half giving him four total, so he went to the bench with 17 minutes left. The fans in Fifth Third were not very happy with the calls from the refs. Everything seemed to be going against Cincinnati and this did not make them happy. Cincinnati maintained their lead through the first 8 minutes of the half. Both teams were playing hard and it was a real back and forth game. At one-point Jaevin Cumberland went down and clutched his arm, it looked concerning, but he stayed in and continued to play well. Williams had a driving dunk through two defenders that got the fans hyped up and on their feet with 9 minutes left. The momentum also seemed to shift a bit in their favor. With about 7:30 left Vogt and Jarron Cumberland went back in the game with both of them having four personal fouls. With every Bearcat basket, the fans got louder and louder, making it hard for the Vols to communicate going down the court, leading to turnovers. With a little over 3 minutes left the Bearcats started to pull away little by little. Jarron fouled out with 2 minutes left and is replaced by Jaevin. From that point on it was a lot of Tennessee fouls, to try and get a chance to come back, but the Bearcats didn’t let up. Scott finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, leading the team in both. Scoring was very spread out and seven of the eight players who played had at least 9 points. The final score was 78-66 Bearcats taking down the No. 21 Volunteers.
Cincinnati is now 7-4 and will head to Chicago to face Iowa on Saturday.
