The Cincinnati Bearcats got a chance to seek revenge from the Iowa Hawkeyes in the State Farm Chicago Legends event. Cincinnati and Iowa met in the NCAA Tournament last season and Iowa won 79-72. Would Cincinnati be able to win the neutral floor game?
In the first half it was going back and forth, but Iowa hit a 8-0 run that gave them an eight point lead before the half. Cincinnati caused 10 turnovers during the first half, but missed shots in the paint helped Iowa’s cause. In the first half Mika Adams-Woods, Zach Harvey, Jay Sorolla and Jaevin Cumberland had two fouls each. Chris Vogt held his own against Luka Garza scoring a team leading nine points while also grabbing five rebounds. Garza had seven points and five rebounds, but Iowa was led by C.J. Fredrick with 10 points. Cincinnati shot 32.4 from the floor.
In the second half Iowa pushed the lead up to 15 points and then Cincinnati made a huge run and even took a two point lead late in the game, but iffy foul calls and timely shooting by Iowa was enough to steal the victory from Cincinnati. Chris McNeal played a very solid game and his defense was key during the run. Keith Williams fouled out on a questionable over the back call on an offensive rebound. Cincinnati caused 24 turnovers, but Iowa was 46% from three and if you put that on top of Cincinnati shooting 35% from the field you have an 77-70 loss. Williams and Scott went 5-of-24 from the field, but even with the shooting struggle they had a shot.
Jar. Cumberland led the way with 18 points, but he was 6-of-16 from the floor. Fredrick led the way for Iowa with 21 points.
Cincinnati is now 7-5 and they will be off until New Year’s Day when they start AAC play against UConn.
