Cincinnati Bearcats American Conference Starts of the Recent Past

Taking a look at how the Cincinnati Bearcats got started in conference play, over the last five years, and how those teams relate to Wes Miller's squad.

The Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team was poised to begin conference play with a tough matchup against the Houston Cougars, until that was postponed for reasons related to COVID-19. As the Bearcats enter conference play, let’s take a look back at the last five seasons and how UC fared in their first handful of games.

Looking at the first five conference games of the year, John Brannen’s Bearcats got out to a winning start in 2019-20 by going 3-2. Brannen’s squad then sputtered out of the gate the next season, his last, going 1-4 before enduring a month’s worth of canceled or postponed games.

The conference schedule in 2020-21 started poorly. The Bearcats shot 42.7% from the floor, but really struggled from behind the arc, shooting 34%. Combine their three-point problems with the fact that opponents they faced shot an average of 48%, and you get their 1-4 start. The only game they won in that stretch just so happened to be the only game they kept the opponent (in this case SMU) under 70 points (in this case 69). The Bearcats would finish the conference slate on a 7-2 run, including a run to the American Conference championship game.

The good start in 2019-20 began with a defensively dominant 67-51 win over the former conference rival UCONN Huskies. That game, like the 76-71 loss to Tulane that would follow, would see Stephen Vogt lead the Bearcats in scoring (the final two games of that season that he did so). In the three games that followed the Tulane loss, UC held its opponents (Tulsa, UCF, and Memphis) all to 60 points, or fewer. The problem with the Memphis game is Cincinnati scored 20 points in the first half, and never recovered. The Bearcats would parlay that start into a 13-5 conference record, tying Houston and Tulsa with the best records in the AAC.

Mick Cronin’s final three years at the helm were fantastic seasons, despite their unceremonious tournament exits, UC’s conference schedule beginnings saw massive success. The Bearcats lost exactly one game during their first five conference games, in that three-year span.

That one loss was January 5, 2019, at East Carolina. The Bearcats shot a measly 3-for-19 from behind the arc while ECU drained 9-of-22. That, as well as the Pirates making 16 free throws to the Bearcats eight, was all they’d need to hand Mick his one and only loss in UC’s first five conference games during the final three years of his tenure. Say what you will about Mick’s offense, it limited turnovers while the defense forced them in droves, which is what led the team to two-straight AAC Tournament wins, and the regular season title in 2017-18.

While the Bearcats of Wes Miller’s inaugural year don’t quite force turnovers at the same rate as Cronin’s past squads, they do limit unforced errors on offense while limiting the effective field goal percentage of opponents at a top-5 rate (41%). KenPom likes UC to begin conference play with a winning record, but there will be more on KenPom’s thoughts for their conference journey in a later post.