Tonight the Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed Alabama A&M to Fifth Third Arena as they were looking to get off to their first 3-0 start since 2017, as the Wes Miller era was looking to keep the ball rolling after the Bearcats defeated Georgia and Evansville last week.
The starting 5 for the Bearcats included David DeJulius, John Newman, Mika Adams-Woods, Abdul Ado and Jeremiah Davenport.
DeJulius got the scoring started for the Bearcats after a nice bank shot in traffic. The Bearcats followed right back with a dagger three from Davenport to take an early 5-2 lead. The Bearcats started to find their shots as Alabama was sitting in a 2-3 zone defense early, but were forced to take an early timeout after back to back threes from Davenport and DeJulius, gave the Bearcats a 11-6 lead at the first media break. The Bearcats got some quick production from Ody Oguama as he scored on back to back possessions. The Bearcats were finding their shots, as everything was dropping early over the 2-3 Alabama A&M defense. DeJulius knocked down his first four shots for 10 points, giving the Bearcats a 22-16 lead at the under 12 media break. The Bearcats were finding their shots as the game progressed as they lead 30-22 at the under 8 media timeout, as they were shooting 59% from the floor, 67% from three up to this moment. The Bearcats offense has slowed down after an early 11 point lead, but Alabama A&M rallied back to cut the Bearcats lead to as little as 3. The Bearcats defense got a little sloppy late in the half but the Bearcats overcame it and started to get stops, then come back and attack the basket on offense, following layups from Hayden Koval, and Mike Saunders forcing a trip to the free throw line.
The Bearcats took a 37-32 lead into halftime over Alabama A&M. The Bearcats got off to a quick start, leading by as much as 11 at one point, but the Bearcats offense slowed down late in the half. The Bearcats however started attacking the rim after they got hot from deep early as they shot 46% from 3, and 40% from the field in the first half. The Bearcats did lose sophomore guard A.J. McGinnis who was seeing a lot of minutes here tonight, as he looked to roll his left ankle late in the first half. The Bearcats leading scorers were DeJulius with 10, Davenport with nine and Oguama with seven.
The Bearcats got off to a quick start following a made jumper from DeJulius, however, Alabama A&M came back with a quick 4 points to cut the Bearcats lead to 3, as the Bearcats held a 39-36 lead. The Bearcats responded with a quick and-1 from Newman to extend the Bearcats lead to 42-36. The Bearcats came right back down, after Newman forced the turnover, to find Saunders 2-1 in transition for the and-1, propelling the Bearcats a 6-0 run over the span of 30 seconds. The Bearcats held a 47-36 lead after Alabama A&M was forced to take a timeout to try to stop the Bearcats momentum, after an Oguama layup gave the Bearcats a 11 point lead. The Bearcats came out of the timeout and kept the scoring going, as they got back to back buckets from Saunders as the Bearcats extended that run to 13 unanswered points. The sophomore Saunders created that run with some superior defense, as he was really pressuring the ball, leading to Alabama A&M turning it over and the Bearcats capitalizing off those turnovers. Saunders defense has been a huge piece of success to start the season as he provided the early spark last weekend versus Georgia, and he does it again here again tonight.
The Bearcats saw DeJulius respond just like he did to start the game, as he started 3-of-3 coming out of halftime with seven points. The senior guard has really been impressive to watch as he can create so much space to find his shot, and it showed tonight as he was creating his own shot very well off the dribble.
The Bearcats came out and dominated the second half as a 5 point lead turned into a 25 point lead very quickly. The Bearcats outscored Alabama A&M 35-14 in the second half , with 7 minutes remaining, after another 13-2 run the Bearcats really opened the flood gates to this game here at Fifth Third. The Bearcats were creating turnovers on defense and getting just about everything to fall on offense, the second half has been very impressive to watch as they have created two big runs here that were sparked by some great defense, and the Bearcats flipped the whole energy of this game.
The Bearcats did get a little sloppy late in the half as they once had a 25 point lead early in the half, but Alabama A&M cut the Bearcats lead to 18 after a few Bearcats turnovers. Overall the Bearcats dominated the second half as they pushed the tempos and took advantage of the turnovers, and really opened the game up after Big second halves from Saunders, Oguama, DeJulius, Adams-Woods, as they combined for 36 of the Bearcats 52 second half points.
The Bearcats were led by DeJulius, who had a game high 21 points, on 8-of-14 from the field. Saunders recorded 14 points, on 3-of-4 from the field, 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Saunders defense really brought a big spark to the Bearcats early in the second half as he was a big part of the 13-0 run that opened the gates for the Bearcats. Oguama had 13 points, on 5-of-6 from the field, Oguama also snatched eight rebounds, as he really was a dynamic factor for the Bearcats tonight as he plays with such a high motor and a very physical player inside the paint. Davenport finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, all 12 points coming from 3. The Bearcats shot 48% from the field in tonight’s matchup which was a huge factor, and was showing that the Bearcats were creating a lot of great opportunities to get to the basket, as David DeJulius had arguable one of his best games as a Bearcat, as his shot was really falling tonight. Something that really stood out to me though, was the Bearcats to create turnovers, and capitalize off those turnovers as they scored 21 points off turnovers, and the Bearcats were able to create a lot of pressure weather it was from Mike Saunders, DeJulius, Davenport, the Bearcats were really locked in on defense in tonight’s contest.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Thursday when the welcome Presbyterian to Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats are now off to their first 3-0 start since 2017 when Mick Cronin was still Head coach of the Bearcats. Will the Bearcats kick off the Wes Miller era 4-0? I guess we will find out this Thursday.
