The Cincinnati Bearcats today welcomed the Tulane Green Wave to Fifth Third Arena as there were finally fans back in the stands. The Bearcast got approval this week to have 1,500 fans in the stands for the rest of the upcoming home games and they were looking for some much-needed energy from the fans. The Bearcats would be without veteran point guard David DeJulius unfortunately due to him opting out last night. So the new starting lineup had freshman Mike Saunders, Jr, back in it followed by Mika Adams-Woods, Keith Williams, Jeremiah Davenport and Chris Vogt. Could the Bearcats finally break through and get back over .500 for the first time since the very first game of the year?
The first half started off with a couple of threes from Mika Adams-Woods and Jeremiah Davenport who was feeling himself in the first half. He started the first 5 minutes with nine points and a couple of nice defensive possessions as the Bearcats had a 12-9 lead with 14:13 to go in the half. The Bearcats were playing exceptional defense from there as they kept Tulane scoreless for the next 3 minutes after the media timeout. Then it was a game of pulling up from three as it was a battle between Tulane’s Jaylen Forbes and Cincinnati’s Jeremiah Davenport. Davenport had 17 points and sparked the Bearcats when they needed it. Forbes seemed to be hitting every shot that he took. The Bearcats were trailing 28-24 before they went on a 9-0 run to gain a lead of 33-28. The full-court press was a key factor in this run as the Bearcats at points showed great defense in this half. Fifth Third Arena was going nuts as Tulane was forced to call a timeout. The Green Wave would go on a run to tie the game and the rest of the half would be a back and forth contest between the two teams. The freshman were highly involved in the first half as Mason Madsen, Mike Saunders Jr, and Tari Eason put up buckets and forced multiple turnovers. The Bearcats took a 44-40 lead to the half. The Bearcats shot 50% from three as they connected on eight deep 3’s and were feeling themselves in the first half. The Bearcats also shot 8-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first half which was a humongous improvement for them. Jeremiah Davenport finished off the half with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Mika Adams-Woods chipped in another 10 points and the Bearcats were feeling good heading into the second half. Would the Bearcats be able to finish off the Green Wave in the second half?
The Bearcats and Green wave went back and forth to start off the second half, but Chris Vogt picked up his 4th foul and would have to sit out for most of the second ha;f which was a huge loss for the Bearcats. That meant they would have to rely on the freshman Mason Madsen and Tari Eason to step in and fill the void. The Green wave were taking advantage of this early as they finally had a lead and expanded it to 4. The Bearcats went back to three full-court presses that cost the Green wave a lot of problems in the first half and it worked again. The Bearcats forced some pretty bad shots as they were able to reclaim the lead and cause a great American conference battle in the last 10 minutes. The Bearcats went young with their lineup as Keith Williams picked up his 4th foul along with Chris Vogt. The lineup was Mike Saunders Jr, Mika-Adams Woods, Mason Madsen, Jeremiah Davenport, and Tari Eason. Three freshman and two sophomores lining up in a big game showed the confidence Brannen has in them and it proved to be a big difference-maker. The Bearcats found their groove and buckets by Davenport, Madsen and Eason had the Bearcats with a 7 point lead with 7:30 to go. The Bearcats would extend that lead off the great play from Tari Eason who collected his first career double-double and Mason Madsen who was on fire from three. The Bearcats went on an 11-0 run and led by 18 with 3:53 to go in the game. The groove and energy the Bearcats were looking for seem to be found. The Bearcats would not let up and the Bearcast would finish this one-off by a final score of 91-71.
The Bearcats shot 51% from the field in this one and got an absolute monster half from the younger guys. They needed to step up and they did in a big way. Jeremiah Davenport had 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, Eason notches his first career double-double as he had 20 points with 13 rebounds and Mika Adams-Woods had a solid 14 points with 7 assists. The great play of freshman Mike Saunders, Jr. and Mason Madsen did not go unnoticed though as Saunders had seven points and Madsen finished with 11. This team took a huge step forward and have seemed to find itself as a team.
The Bearcats improved to 9-8 on the year and 7-5 in conference play. They will be back here at Fifth Third on Sunday at 1 o’clock as they welcome the Memphis Tigers for a battle. The Bearcats still hoping to get some noise going into the tournament will have a huge chance to show what they got, that game will be on ESPN.
