Jeremiah Davenport’s journey to becoming a key contributor for the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team was never in doubt. For the talented 6’7″ guard it was question of when, not if as it relates to him getting comfortable playing college basketball. The Davenport’s are a basketball family, as his mother Sheila played her college basketball at Morehead State. His father Michael played at Alcorn State, while his brothers Michael (St. Bonaventure) and Joshua (Winthrop) also played collegiately. Not to be left out his sister Naomi was a member of the Lady West Virginia Mountaineers program too.
Jeremiah was a known commodity even before he stepped foot on campus at UC, after starring for Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School as a prep. While playing varsity at Moeller he led the Crusaders to 55-4 record during his junior and senior seasons. Moeller would make two trips to the Division 1 State Title Game over that span, actually winning the state championship his senior season 2017-18. After a stellar campaign the following year at Hargrave Military Academy prep school where he averaged 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds a game, it was time for Davenport to choose where he would play his college ball. Davenport ultimately chose UC over Virginia Tech and several other schools vying for his services.
Backcourt minutes were hard to come by during Davenport’s freshman year, especially when playing behind both then junior guard Keith Williams and the seventh all-time leading scorer in program history senior Jarron Cumberland. He played as a reserve in 18 games for the Cats’ logging 6.8 minutes per game, averaging 1.9 points per contest and shot 14.3% from three-point land. Just before the season was cut short for everyone due to the covid-19 pandemic, Davenport’s 2019-20 campaign was shutdown after having season ending knee surgery.
Effort and intensity was never an issue for Davenport and it was immediately evident this season he put a great deal of time into improving his game prior to his sophomore season. The Cats’ quite possibly may have started the 2020-21 season on a sour note against Lipscomb in the season opener, if not for Davenport’s contagious enthusiasm sparking his team. He came off the bench to help the Cats’ overcome a nine point second half deficit, in which he recorded four points, four assists and two steals in the Cats’ 67-55 victory.
