Tonight the Bearcats (9-4) kicked off their final conference slate within the American Athletic Conference as they welcome in Ron Hunter and Tulane (7-4) to Fifth Third Arena for a late-night showdown. Tulane is led by Ron Hunter who has revamped the Tulane program over the last few season after leading the Green Wave to the AAC Semifinals a season ago where they eventually fell to Houston, 86-66.
The Green Wave are led by guards Jalen Cook and Jaylen Forbes. Cook, was an unanimously selection to the AAC Preseason First Team as he currently averages 20.2 through the first 13 games for the Green Wave. Cook, a sophomore guard is very good with the ball in his hands and has developed very well in his first season under head coach Ron Hunter. Guard Jaylen Forbes also averages 17 points per game for the Green Wave as the junior guard has taken his game to a next level after a huge second half of the season for the Green Wave in 2021-2022.
The Green Wave would be without guard Jadan Coleman for tonight’s contest as he was spotted in street clothes during the team’s warmups. Coleman averages nearly 6 points per game, but plays a huge role off the bench for the Green Wave as they now will be battle tested here as conference play kicks off for both teams.
The Bearcats would jump out to an early 10-2 lead following a made three from David DeJulius would force Ron Hunter to call an early timeout. The Bearcats were looking to push the tempo early and the Green Wave had no way to stop the run early as the Bearcats would see all five starters record a bucket in the first four minutes of action.
The Bearcats would jump out to a huge 15-6 lead at the under 16 media break after a great opening segment as Wes Miller and the Bearcats were not wasting anytime here early. The Bearcats were doing a great job penetrating the lane and getting the wide-open look as Tulane seemed to be a little confused on defense through the first four minutes. Viktor Lakhin was making his prescence known as he notched
The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas as they took a huge 20-6 lead following a block from Mika Adams-Woods on the defensive end as he took it coast to coast for an easy layup. The Bearcats were doing a great job at using their height to their advantage as they were dominating the glass early as they outrebounded the Green Wave 17-6 in the first 12 minutes, 12 of those were grabbed between Lakhin and Skillings. Everyone in Fifth Third was getting a great look at how athletic Skillings actually is, as the freshman has a 7’1″ wingspan and was using every bit of it to his advantage after blocking a Tulane three point shot and took it back coast to coast for the score.
The Green Wave just couldn’t get anything going offensive as they started just 4-of-19 from the field as they trailed the Bearcats 27-12 with eight minutes remaining in the first half. The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas as Mika Adams-Woods was doing a tremendous job at attacking downhill, something he has done very well all season. The Bearcats would shoot nearly 56% from the field after a quick five point burst from Dan Skillings would give the Bearcats a 39-27 lead with four minutes left in the half.
The Green Wave would find momentum late in the half as they would look to cut the lead to single digits before DeJulius would hit an easy floater to give the Bearcats a 45-35 lead heading to the break. The Bearcats dominated the first 20 minutes in all aspects of the game as they were winning the battle on the glass 22-11 behind huge first halves from Skillings and Lakhin. Landers Nolley was poised to have a breakout game as he had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
The big story of the first half was the play of Mika Adams-Woods as the senior guard was doing a great job at attacking downhill and getting to the basket. However, what was very impressive was Adams-Woods ability to find the open man and facilitate the Bearcats offense as he racked up six assists in the first half and was showing why he was ranked in the Top 10 a season ago in the assist to turnover category.
