After starting the season 10-3 in Non-Conference play, on New Year’s Day they welcomed the Tulane Green Wave into Fifth Third Arena to start their American Athletic Conference play. Would they be able to start on a good note?
Note: Cincinnati got good news as guard Mason Madsen made his return from missing a few games from a hip injury.
Cincinnati started off the game on a 5-0 rum led by a John Newman layup and a Jeremiah Davenport three, but after that Tulane dominated the first half going on a 32-8 run had Cincinnati down 32-13, a lot of bad shots and Tulane being hot from the floor put them down 48-25 at the half. Tulane shot 57.1% from the field and 64.3% from three. Jalen Cook led the way with 17 points and Jaylen Forbes was second with 11 points. Cincinnati was led by Jeremiah Davenport with eight points, but the team as a whole shot 27.6% from the field and 23.1% from three in the first half.
Being down 23 at the half Cincinnati got it as close as 7 points, but missed layups, 3’s, and free throws did them in on come back. Abdul Ado, Viktor Lakhin and Jeremiah Davenport went 0-of-8 late in the game. Shooting 7-of-17 from the line and 2-of-12 from 3 didn’t help their cause. The 68-60 loss pushes Cincinnati to 10-4 overall and 0-1 in the AAC.
Davenport had a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Nobody else hit double digits for Cincinnati. They are off until Thursday when they invite SMU into Fifth Third Arena.
