This Evening the Bearcats welcomed in the 6th ranked Houston Cougars for an evening battle within the AAC. The Cougars come into the season 19-2 (9-0 AAC), as they are currently riding an 11-game winning streak heading into today. The Cougars are a very great team, who loves to play physical and hit the glass, they will be without guards Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark, who are both out with injuries, as they both played a tremendous role for the Cougars, However the Cougars are still proving why they are one of the top teams in the country despite the injuries within the backcourt. The Cougars are coached by Kelvin Sampson, who has turned the Cougars into one of the nation’s top teams over the last few seasons. This game is the first matchup between both teams, as the first matchup was scheduled in late December that had to be postponed due to COVID protocols within the Houston program.
The Bearcats come into this contest 15-6 on the season, (5-3 AAC), as they looked to end the Cougars 11 game winning streak here at Fifth Third Arena. This game will be a very physical game, as the Bearcats match up very well with Houston, when it comes to the size in the paint, as the Bearcats love to rotate and throw different looks between Abdul Ado, Hayden Koval, Viktor Lakhin, Ody Oguama inside, However the Bearcats will have to play physical early and stay out of foul trouble as they look to pick up a huge quadrant 1 win here at home down the stretch.
How it happened.
The Cougars got off to a very quick start as they led the Bearcats 9-1 only 3 minutes into the game forcing Wes Miller to take an early timeout, resulting in a basket from Ody Oguama. The Cougars rallied right back though as they took a 12-3 lead at the under 16 media timeouts, as the Bearcats were looking to rally back early here at Fifth Third Arena. However, the Cougars started out shooting 80%, as they were seeing everything fall here early. The Cougars jumped out to a 25-7 lead at one point, before the Cougars caught fire again to take a 21-point lead as they led the Bearcats 33-12 with 6 minutes remaining. The Cougars were dominating the game inside as they had 18 points in the paint, as they established the ball inside early. However, for the Bearcats, they settled down and established their offense led by David DeJulius who had 18 first half points as he led the Bearcats bad in this game as he led the Bearcats late as they looked to overcome an early 21-point deficit. DeJulius set up a wide-open Viktor Lakhin late in the first half with a great jump step in traffic, to give the Bearcats some huge momentum heading into the break as they trailed the 6th ranked Cougars 42-31 at the break, as all the momentum was favoring the Bearcats here at Fifth Third Arena to end the first half. The Cougars shot the ball 57% from the field in the first half compared to the Bearcats 37%, but the Bearcats were finding a way to get to the rim down the stretch, as they really changed the momentum of this game as the Cougars were looking to put this one out of reach early after such a hot start.
The Bearcats came out firing with a huge 3 from Jeremiah Davenport to start the second half, but the Cougars responded right back with a triple of their own, to push their lead back to double digits. The Cougars had an answer to everything the Bearcats were throwing their way, as the Cougars led 57-41 with 12 minutes left in the contest. The Cougars kept their foot on the gas However, as they pushed their lead to 19 with 10 minutes left in the second half after a 6 point run, forcing a Bearcats timeout.
However, Davenport left the contest after taking some contact while driving to the rim, so impact for the Bearcats down the stretch as they were looking to overcome a big deficit in the final 8 minutes. The Bearcats guard however, checked back in shortly after being examined by the medical staff. The Cougars continued to show why they are one of the top teams in the country, as well as the AAC as they shot nearly 55% from the field in this afternoon’s contest, as they took an early 25-7 lead and the Bearcats just couldn’t find a way to dig themselves out of that early hole.
The Bearcats were led by guard David DeJulius who registered his 6th 20-point performance of the season, as he finished with a team high 25 points, The Bearcats also got nine points from junior Jeremiah Davenport, but the Bearcats just couldn’t find a way to escape that early deficit here this evening, despite a late surge to end the first half. The Cougars were led by senior Fabian White who had 22 points and nine rebounds. The Cougars not only showed why they’re the team to beat with the American Conference, they showed why they’re one of the top teams within the country despite losing guards Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark early in the season to injuries.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Wednesday when they travel to Tampa Bay to take on USF as they look to get back in the win column down the stretch.
