It’s the day all Bearcat fans have been waiting for, game one of the Wes Miller era. In what has felt like a million years there were finally fans back in the stands and they were ready to rock and roll. Wes Miller talked about being “Fired Up” and he would get his first opportunity in front of the home crowd to show them what he and his team really mean by “Fired Up”. Wes Miller and company welcomed in an Evansville squad that finished 9-16 last year, but were hungry to begin a new season. The starting five for the Bearcats was David Dejulius (point guard), Mika Adams-Woods (shooting guard), John Newman III (small forward), Jeremiah Davenport (power forward), and Abdul Ado (center). Fans were ready the team was ready to begin the season. Would Wes Miller and his squad start the 2021-22 season 1-0?
The game started off as a defensive battle as teams were having trouble scoring early. David Dejulius got the scoring started for Cincinnati and after back and forth scoring Cincinnati trailed 13-10 with just over 11 minutes to go. Then Cincinnati got hot from behind the line as Mason Madsen drilled a couple of back to back 3’s and Cincinnati claimed a 16-13 lead. Cincinnati would then go on a 14-1 run in the next 5 and 1/2 minutes. The big thing during the run was the elite defense and shot-blocking skills of the big three consisting of Hayden Koval, Ody Oguama and Jeremiah Davenport. Overall, Cincinnati during the run played its best defense that Cincinnati fans have seen in the last couple of years. Evansville would go on a small 5-0 run to cut the lead to single digits, but then Mason Madsen struck from behind the line to give Cincinnati a 31-19 lead with under a minute left in the half. Evansville would pick up a 3 pointer of their own and that’s where the score would be at the half 31-22.
The storyline of the first half was the long run of the Bearcats and Cincinnati’s brand-new defense that caused Evansville a lot of problems. Mason Madsen led all scorers in the first half with nine points and Jeremiah davenport picked up right where he left off as he had six points, four rebounds and a block. David Dejulius was a passing machine as he had five assists to go along with four points in the first half. The real question is how would Wes Miller and his squad respond from the strong first half and would they be able to finish it off and move to 1-0 on the young season?
