Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Storylines: Nicholls State Colonels

UC will be missing one star and could get another back.

Bearcats Jizzle James (2) leaps with the ball during their game against the Morehead State Eagles at Fifth Third Arena on Friday November 8, 2024. Bearcats lead the game at halftime with a score of 37-19. / Phil Didion/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats got a week break between games before Nicholls State comes to town on Friday night. It should be another domination by the Bearcats, even without Dan Skillings Jr. in the fold due to injury.

Cincinnati enters the game ranked 13th on KenPom, while NSU is 194th nationally. ESPN's BPI has Cincinnati winning this game 96.3% of the time.

Wes Miller's crew won't have Skillings, but Day Day Thomas has a solid chance of playing after ramping up from his foot injury over the past week.

"Dan's long-term health is the top priority for us, and we have full trust in our medical staff, led by our trainer Bob Mangine," Miller said about Skillings in a statement this week. "Dan is a leader for our team on and off the court. We know he will continue to push and encourage his teammates. We hope to have him back on the court soon."

Nicholls State is 0-1 all-time against the Bearcats heading into a 7 p.m. matchup on ESPN+.

Offensive Storyline: Bounceback On The Glass

Strong shooting from UC last Friday affected their lowly five offensive rebound mark, still it was a negative outlier. Cincinnati's only posted less than five offensive rebounds four times in the Miller era and you could feel the absence of Skillings most in those moments.

Dillon Mitchell smacked the backboards with strong intensity all night, but players like Aziz Bandaogo (four offensive rebounds in two games), and Simas Lukošius (no offensive boards yet), could stand to get more aggressive on the offensive glass.

Cincinnati is one of the top teams in the country by average height. They should never tie a team like Morehead State at 30 rebounds, especially at home.

"I'm not pleased with our rebounding," Miller said last Friday. "That's something we got to hang our hat on. So, I'm not pleased with that at all. To not have one offensive rebound after 32 minutes of play, you guys know me well now, that frustrates me. Dan's [Skillings Jr.] not playing. I'm sure you guys will ask about that next, but he's a terrific offensive rebounder, but one guy shouldn't affect our ability to get to the board. There was some really good stuff out there. I don't want to be the Negative Nancy just to be the Negative Nancy, but I didn't think that we rebounded to our standard tonight, and I didn't like some of our defensive possessions tonight."

Friday should be a board routing by UC. NSU only has wings and guards on its roster, with no one over 6-8 playing on their side. Still, the Colonels are ranked 70th nationally with 42.7 rebounds per game, so that small size will punish Cincinnati if taken lightly.

Defensive Storyline: Slow Down Brown

Thomas returning is perfectly timed against probably the best scorer Cincinnati's faced so far this season in NSU's Rob Brown (16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, two assists).

The scorching guard is hitting 36.4% of his deep tries on 11 attempts per game. NSU is 30th nationally as of this writing in three-point attempts per game (32) and could make this closer than one would like via the equalizing shot.

Brown is well built to get to his spots on the floor with a 6-4, 190-pound frame. Throwing waves of Jizzle James, Thomas, and Connor Hickman to defend should slow him down and create long rebounding opportunities. It's not the ideal team for Brown to go off against. Cincinnati's perimeter rotations have been strong so far, leaving opponents with just nine made threes in two games (18th nationally).

He may just have to cook as a one-man show to consistently notch offense against a Cincinnati team that's smothering passing lanes early on (18 assists allowed, 27th nationally).

Prediction: 83-61 Cincinnati 

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