This evening the Bearcats (6-4) in-state rival Miami of Ohio (4-5) to Fifth Third Arena as the Bearcats would look to get back in the win column after a hard fought 80-77 loss to Xavier on Saturday. The RedHawks are coached by former Xavier head coach Travis Steele, who is in his first season with the Redhawks after spending the last four years with the Musketeers. Steele is very familiar with this arena as he has gone 3-1 in his career vs the Bearcats and is looking to get the Redhawks back to the .500% mark before heading into conference play.
For those who remember last season’s matchup between the RedHawks and Bearcats, know that it was a barnburner as the Bearcats squeaked out a 59-58 victory in the final seconds after a Jeremiah Davenport and-1 with 23 seconds left gave the Bearcats a one-point lead as Miami looked to complete the upset. The RedHawks would see two great opportunities at the rim within the final seconds, but nothing could fall, and the Bearcats would come out victorious after a back-and-forth battle to the end.
The Bearcats would get a huge spark of energy early after Ody Oguama came in at the 18-minute mark and provided a huge spark as the Bearcats would take a 7-2 lead after a quick five points from Landers Nolley. A huge spark for the Bearcats is getting Nolley going early, and it seemed like the senior was looking to cause some havoc early as the Bearcats lead 10-5 at the under 16 media timeouts.
The Bearcats would see guard David DeJulius take over early as he came down and scored 10 straight points on four straight possessions for the Bearcats to give the Bearcats an early 22-15 lead over the Redhawks with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Travis Steele and company had no answer for the 5th year guard along with Landers Nolley, as the two combined for 17 of the team’s first 22 points as the Bearcats continued to shoot around 57% from the floor through the first ten minutes of play.
The Bearcats would jump out and take a huge 50-33 lead heading into halftime as the Bearcats were shooting lights out in the first half as they finished the first 20 minutes shooting 58% from the field. The Bearcats also lead every major statistical category as the Bearcats recorded six steals, along with 10 turnovers which resulted into 13 points on turnovers, compared to zero for the Redhawks. The Bearcats also got out and running as they had 16 points off fast break in the first half. The Bearcats seemed to be clicking on offense as Landers Nolley and David DeJulius seemed to be playing very aggressive early on and it was working very well for them early as the seniors combined for 24 of the Bearcats 50 points in the first half as they both had 12 points respectfully.
