Fort Worth- This afternoon Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats were set to take on the 18th ranked, and current number one seed Houston Cougars in the Quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament here at Dickies Arena, as the Bearcats would look to avenge their two regular season losses versus the Cougars as they look to continue their run in the AAC Tournament.
The Bearcats come into this matchup 18-14 on the season, (7-11 AAC), while the Cougars, led by Kelvin Sampson are 26-5 on the season, (15-3 AAC) are looking to avenge their 75-61 loss to Memphis back on March 6th. The Bearcats would look to find a way to stop forward Fabian White who had 28 points and 10 rebounds in the Cougars 71-53 win over the Bearcats back on March 1st. White has been the X-factor for Cougars in both of the teams regular season matchups as he dominated the glass offensively and defensively creating a lot of problems for the Bearcats defense, but could Wes Miller have a different game plan for this one, as we saw John Newman out on ECU leading scorer Tristen Newton yesterday in the Bearcats 74-63 win over ECU, something to keep an eye on heading into this one.
Starters for the Bearcats- John Newman, David DeJulius, Jeremiah Davenport, Abdul Ado, Mika Adams Woods.
Starters for the Cougars- Josh Carlton, Kyler Edwards, Fabian White Jr, Taze Moore, Jamal Shead.
How it Happened- The Bearcats got off to a hot start, as Jeremiah Davenport quickly caught fire from deep after knocking down consecutive triples to give the Bearcats a 6-2 lead over the Cougars with 18 minutes remaining. The Bearcats were looking to be aggressive early, as they were looking to attack the rim and get downhill forcing five early fouls on the Cougars allowing the Bearcats to take a 10-4 lead heading into the under 16 media timeout, where Jeremiah Davenport and David DeJulius combined for the teams first 10 points. Houston found themselves in early foul trouble as Josh Carlton picked up his second foul with 15:12 left in the first half.
The Bearcats took a 13-4 lead after David DeJulius found John Newman for a wide open three to spark the momentum for the Bearcats coming out of the break. The Bearcats would look to steal some minutes with Ado, DeJulius, Davenport getting some early rest ahead of the under 12 media break where the Bearcats held a 15-10 lead with 11:35 remaining in the first half. Houston continued to find themselves in early foul trouble as the Bearcats were in the bonus the rest of the way after Jarrett Hensley drew the teams 7th foul before the break.
The Bearcats would take a 20-12 lead over the Cougars after free throws from Mike Saunders, Jr. with 9 minutes remaining in the first half. The Cougars would rally back to cut the deficit to 4 with 8:14 left in the first half after a Jamal Shead jumper. The Bearcats would see momentum change however, as Houston picked up their 10th team foul with 8:14 remaining in the first half after a flagrant foul on Jamal Shead. The Cougars would look to build steam after Kyler Edwards had the opportunity to make this one a 4 point game on a and one attempt, but couldn’t convert on the free throw, resulting in a Bearcat layup from Ody Oguama to take a 25-18 lead over the Cougars with 6:40 remaining in the first half.
The Bearcats would see that 7 point lead be quickly erased after a 7-0 run for the Cougars tied this game at 25 with 5 minutes remaining in the first half, as the Cougars started to settle in and find their spots in the later portions of the first half after the Bearcats were struggling to get something going on offense shooting 2-of-10 from the field in that span. The Bearcats would settle in after a huge 3 from DeJulius gave the Bearcats a 32-27 lead into the break, as the Bearcats were looking to continue that play in teh second half. The Bearcats really controlled Fabian White early as Davenport and the Bearcats held him to just seven points on 2-of-6 shooting, which was the factor to this first half, along with the Houston early foul trouble.
Davenport would lead the Bearcats with eight first half points, along with seven from DeJulius, the Bearcats and company were looking to take that first half momentum into the locker room and get ready for the final 20 minutes where they looked to hold on versus the top seeded Cougars.
The Bearcats would come out on a 5-0 run to take a 10 point lead over the Cougars after Mika Adams-Woods created the turnover and found Davenport in transition for the layup to give the Bearcats a 37-27 lead over the Cougars. The Cougars would cut the deficit to 5 with 16:37 left after a White jumper. The Bearcats found themselves struggling to get the ball inbounds out of breaks forcing them to call their timeouts early as Miller would only have one timeout for the final 16 minutes of this one here at Dickies Arena. The Cougars would go on a 10 point run to take their first lead of the game where the lead the Bearcats 40-39 with 13:30 remaining.
The Cougars were starting to set the tone and show why they are one of the top teams in the country as they held the Bearcats without a field goal for nearly 8 minutes before Davenport knocked down a tough three to cut the Cougars lead to 2, where the Bearcats trailed the Cougars 46-44 with 10 minutes to go. The Cougars would see their lead extend to as much as 6 where they lead the Bearcats 50-44 before an Adams-Woods triple cut the lead to 4 with 8:39 remaining.
The Cougars would pull away down the stretch as they had their biggest lead of the game where they lead the Bearcats 62-49 after White got going and started to dominate the glass, as it seemed the Cougars just couldn’t miss as they shot nearly 70% from the field in the second half. The Bearcats just had no answer for the Cougars down the stretch where the Cougars would extend their lead to 14 where they led the Bearcats 65-51 after Bearcats coach Wes Miller picked up his second technical foul of the season after a scrum for a loose ball.
The Cougars 12 point run early in the second half is what sparked the fire down the stretch and gave the Cougars the momentum they needed to overcome that early 5 point deficit to start the second half, and the Bearcats just couldn’t find any momentum after that big run as the Cougars outscored the Bearcats 42-24 in the second half to secure a 69-59 win over the Bearcats to advance to the AAC Semifinals that will take place tomorrow here at Dickies Arena.
Postgame comments from Coaches and Players.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson gave a lot of praise to Bearcats head coach Wes Miller after the game saying, “I think Wes Miller has done a very good job with that team this year, they went through a tough stretch losing 5 of their last 6, keeping those kids together, keeping them playing hard, that’s not easy. I know what it is like to take over a program, Wes has done a wonderful job doing that at Cincinnati.”
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson on the adjustments ahead of the second half and what the message was to the Houston Cougars in the locker room.
“Our offense in the first half was kind of BS, but the coach has to take some responsibility for that too,” said Sampson.
Bearcats head coach Wes Miller had a lot to say postgame on the Bearcats 69-56 loss to the Houston Cougars. Head coach Wes Miller was incredibly proud of the effort his Bearcats team gave this afternoon versus a very tough Houston team.
“I’m very proud of our guys I think they fought like absolute crazy tonight, to fight your tail off, play with great effort, and togetherness, I think that’s the standard of having that C-Paw, but that don’t mean you always easy to recognize for young people to do that, I thought there was times tonight we played some of our best basketball.”
Notables-
Jeremiah Davenport led the Bearcats with 15 points and five rebounds.
John Newman also finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, grabbing four rebounds as well.
Mika Adams-Woods also contributed 10 points and four assists.
Fabian White finished with a game high 18 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars.
Houston guard Jamal Shead finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 from the field, as well as five boards.
The Bearcats finish the season 18-14 on the season, 7-12 (AAC) counting the loss here in Fort Worth, but the Bearcats have a lot to look forward to next year as this is a very young team and the chemistry is only going to grow from Miller’s first year to second year as head coach before the Bearcats take off for the Big 12 in 2023.
