The Cincinnati Men’s Basketball Team defeated Bradley 74-57 on Saturday afternoon behind a career-high 25 points from freshman point guard Jizzle James.
“It is great to be playing for something late in March,” Wes Miller told reporters following the game. “That is the standard we are trying to set here. Certainly, everyone knows we would much rather be playing in the NCAA Tournament, but we are playing for a championship.”
The freshman knew his role would be significantly increased after seeing starting point guard Day-Day Thomas go down with a broken foot in the team’s 73-72 victory over San Fransisco on Wednesday. Now, for James, the lights weren’t bright enough as he lit up Fifth Third Arena.
James finished with a career-high 25 points on 11-17 shooting as the freshman guided the Bearcats to victory. The most impressive stat of the afternoon was the fact that James had committed just one turnover over 38 minutes.
“Happy for Jizzle to have his career high. It doesn’t surprise me with the opportunity that he was given. I told him in the locker room he also had a career-high how he played defensively. It has been really neat to see the growth Jizzle has made this season, and you can see what kind of future he will have, which is cool.”
James was the last player off the court following his postgame radio interview, where he slowly walked off the court embracing the performance he had just put on at Fifth Third Arena. “That was a dream come true moment,” James told reporters following the game. “I had to take it all in and enjoy the moment. I was proud of how I played and contributed to the game.”
Dan Skillings also recorded 20 points in the victory, 17 of those 20 coming in the second half. Skillings and John Newman did a fantastic job at eliminating Connor Hickman in the second half, which was a difference-maker. “I thought Dan did a great job tonight, especially on the defensive end with the Hickman challenge,” said Wes Miller. “I thought he took the match-up with Hickman seriously as that was something that we thought we could use the length and size to our advantage. I thought he did a great job.”
How it Happened
The Bearcats jumped out to an early 12-5 lead in the opening segment behind six quick points from Lukosius. John Newman also bounced back in the scoring category after going 0-10 from the field in Wednesday’s victory over San Fransisco. The veteran guard buried his first field goal attempt of the night in the opening minutes which was a positive sign for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats started the game 4-5 from the field while the Braves were just 2-7 in the opening minutes of play. However, for the Braves, it appeared there was a massive lid on the basket, starting the game just 3-13 from the field. The Braves would then shoot 1-12 over their next 13 shots before a Conner Hickman three silenced the Braves scoring drought.
James, the true freshman, would take advantage of the increased minutes early after starting the game 4-4 from the field. However, Bradley’s offense would start to come alive behind eight unanswered from the Brave’s leading scorer Conner Hickman to cut the lead to single digits. Lukosius would silence the Braves run after burying his third three-pointer of the afternoon to extend the Bearcats lead to 24-16.
From there, both teams would struggle to find any rhythm on the offensive end as both teams combined for zero points over four minutes in the later minutes of the first half. That ended when Lukosius came off the curl screen and buried his fourth triple of the night to stop the bleeding.
The Braves weren’t shying away down the final minutes of the first half as Hickman sliced the Bearcat’s defense for the easy layup. Bearcats guard John Newman would score his 1000th career point in the final minutes of the first half, where the Bearcat faithful gave the veteran forward a warm, heartfelt standing ovation shortly after.
Cincinnati would take a 36-28 at the half as James led the way with 14 points on a near-perfect (6-7) shooting clinic. It was clear that Wes Miller would rely heavily on the freshman, but Bradley would struggle to find answers to slow him down in the first half. Cincinnati would finish the first half shooting 47%/ 53%/50% splits, while Bradley shot just 32% from the field.
Sixth-year guard John Newman would finish the first half with six points and six rebounds. Newman was playing a much more efficient game this afternoon following his poor shooting performance on Wednesday vs San Fransisco. That was a great sign, especially with the absence of Thomas. The Bearcats knew they would need someone to step up on the offensive side of the ball, and it looked as if Newman would be that guy for Cincinnati.
Conner Hickman led the Braves with 12 first-half points on 5-8 shooting. Meanwhile, the rest of the Braves combined to shoot just 6-26 from the field in the first half. Outside of Hickman, it was clear that the Braves would need someone to step up in the second half or things could quickly start to tread towards uncharted waters.
Cincinnati would force an early Braves timeout following the Skillings putback. Despite being held scoreless through the first twenty minutes of play, Skillings was starting to play to his strength and get downhill. Skillings would then bury a corner three, sparking a 7-0 Cincinnati run to take a 50-35 lead with 14:45 remaining.
Bradley would look to claw back after six unanswered over 53 seconds forcing a Cincinnati timeout with the Bearcats leading 56-43. Bradley started to claw at the Bearcat’s double-digit lead before James rose to the occasion and buried a contested midrange jumper for his 20th point of the night. However, James wasn’t finished quite yet, as the freshman scored the next seven for Cincinnati to extend their lead to 16.
From that moment on, it was all Cincinnati as they controlled to clock the final minutes as they secured their bid to the NIT quarterfinals.
The Bearcats will take on the winner of Indiana State vs Minnesota, which tip-offs later tomorrow afternoon. It is worth noting if Minnesota wins, the Bearcats will host a home game next week. However, if Indiana State wins, the Bearcats will have to travel to Terra Haute to take on the Sycamores.
