Preview Paw Prints: Bryant

The Bearcats face their toughest home test yet this season on Sunday.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats (5-3) stayed undefeated at home on Wednesday night and are trying to keep that perfect record rolling through the non-conference slate. Bryant (6-2) is the next opponent on deck and is the toughest home test to date this season.

The Bearcats won by 26 but dropped in KenPom one spot to No.75, while Bryant sits at No. 176 after a big drop off from their 72-60 home loss to Brown on Friday night. ESPN's Matchup Predictor has Cincinnati winning 71.3% of the time as they try to slow down the fifth-highest-scoring team in the nation.

UC has won all four meetings, including a 73-58 decision last December, the first battle since 1967.

Fans can check out that game at Noon ET on ESPN+.

David DeJulius: Bellwether

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One of the Bearcats' longest-tenured players is having the best season of his career and is gauging wins and losses for UC. David DeJulius led the team in scoring Wednesday (22 points) and now narrowly leads the team overall at 16.4 PPG.

He's been largely great through seven games, but the high highs are mixing with low lows. Cincinnati is undefeated when he scores over 18 points, in the three other games, DeJulius hasn't hit double-digits. the microwave guard is posting 22.4 ppg in the five wins compared to 6.3 PPG in the three losses. 

"So, David, man in space and in isolation and a step back, that's a really tough shot for the average player, it happens to be a really good shot for David," Wes Miller said after the win on Wednesday. "We just want to make sure when he takes it, we got the boards covered, and we're not surprised because it is a good shot for our team." 

"And a similar thing for Jeremiah [Davenport], it's when we take those shots, and they surprise us as a team. That's when they're not necessarily good shots, even though those guys are very capable of making them. So, it's a lot more about where the rest of the guys are. And they can anticipate it and get to the offensive board and get some balance in terms of our defense covered while the shots going up. That's kind of the gist of what we're trying to do."

DeJulius is shooting 43.2 percent from beyond the arc and 47.6 percent overall, both career highs early in his fifth season. 

The best way he can round out his career year is with more free throws. Historically, that's not been a big part of his game, but his free throw rate (16.2%) has never been lower in college. He's also shooting his worst percentage from the line (70.6%) since he was a freshman.

A little more contact and higher efficiency at the stripe will make DeJulius a sure-fire first-team All-AAC star this season.

Transfer Temperature Slowly Heating Up

© Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Maybe the best thing coming out of Wednesday's game was the play of Rob Phinisee (season-high seven points, team-high plus-23).

Phinisee played freely and smartly, shooting 60% from the field and cutting into the teeth of NJIT's defense all night. Having a reliable guard for the bench minutes can connect this offense against a better team.

"We have to put pressure on the rim off the bounce. We have to put pressure on the rim through the post," Miller said about getting to the cup. "You will see a concerted effort to continue to do that. I do think that there was more space on the floor tonight, we broke down, like Rob got downhill a couple times, and made some nice plays at the rim and for other people. And we got to continue to create more space to drop the basketball.”

Considering Phinisee totaled eight points all season, this was a welcome outing. 

Kalu Ezikpe got things going a little bit more as well. He only played four minutes but went 2-for-2 and added a block. That's nothing to build a statue for, but little improvements here and there with Ezikpe are crucial as the competition stiffens in the next month.

Balanced Bryant

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The Bulldogs bring the fifth-best scoring offense in the nation to town, with a lot of balance to thank for that success. Four different players average at least 13 PPG.

The leaders are guards Charles Pride (15.5 Pts, 7.1 Reb, 2.4 Ast) and Sherif Gross-Bullock (15.4 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 4.1 Ast). Pride's one of the main rebounding forces while Bullock leads the team in assists.

The duo can fill it up from outside (4.3 makes on 10.7 shots per game) and nicely complements one of the best prospects in 2020, Earl Timberlake (15.1 Pts, team-high 8.1 Reb, 3.5 Ast). The Memphis transfer was a top-35 recruit two years ago and is a bruising force inside at 6-foot-6 215 pounds.

The other interior problem is senior Antwan Walker (13.4 Pts, 6.4 Reb, 1.1 Ast). He can score all over the floor, leads the team in Player Efficiency Rating (29.7), and is shooting 68.5% from two-point range.

All of it is rounded out by 2022 NCAA Tournament darling Doug Edert (9.0 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 2.0 Ast), who transferred from Saint Peters. He leads all Bulldogs in three-point shooting (min. two attempts). Allowing him to get hot will make the offense a lot easier for the three main scorers.

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