Three Man Weave: Bearcats Fall at the Buzzer to South Florida 56-54 on Senior Night

Cincinnati has now lost six of its past eight games.

CINCINNATI — Things weren't pretty to start Senior Night for the Cincinnati Bearcats (17-12, 7-9), and they couldn't turn the offense on enough in a 56-54 loss to South Florida (8-20, 3-113).

“They played their [butts] off for us tonight," head coach Wes Miller said about his team's effort. "That’s how you're supposed to defend, and supposed to fight. For the most part, and I want to expect the unexpected with this team, and unfortunately tonight we didn’t get the result that we wanted."

UC got the shot they wanted from Jeremiah Davenport in the final 90 seconds. He canned the tying three from that mark and made a clutch defensive stop on the other end, smacking the ball out of bounds off of South Florida. Unfortunately, Cincinnati couldn't find another bucket, while USF center Russell Tchewa canned a baby hook at the gun to steal a win.

"The last possession," Miller said. "We had fouls to give, and we had timeouts to talk about it…the blame goes on me, the blame goes on the coach, we don’t point fingers at young people, I’m the coach and the fact of the matter is that he [Jeremiah Davenport] let someone get behind him in a defense that is not supposed to do that, and that is the coaches fault, and that means the coach doesn’t have the team prepared."

Russel Tchewa hits the BUZZER BEATER Jumper for the Win!! South Florida (USF) beats Cincinnati 56-54 (Video via @MrMatthewCFB) https://t.co/Ir2Bo1gwLL

— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) February 27, 2022

Here's the Three Man Weave on all of the action from Senior Night.

Offense Still Searching For Consistency

Cincinnati's offense defined slow starts in their second game rocking The Cats' throwback uniforms. UC didn't make a field goal until nearly halfway through the opening half as USF lived up to its one true strength.

None of the Bearcats' marquee scoring pillars could get going. South Florida keyed in on David Dejulius (seven points, four assists, 2-of-10 FGs) and Davenport (seven points, four rebounds, 2-of-9 FGs) early and often. Cincinnati won the bench points battle handily, but USF was glad to let non-featured scorers try to lead the way.

John Newman III and Mason Madsen (eight points) were the only Bearcats to post a 60%-plus effective FG rate. One good thing to see after those rough first eight minutes was the ball movement.

Cincinnati found positive looks throughout the night thanks to crisp passing but just couldn't knock a lot down. It was the same story on the free-throw line as well. UC shot 52.3% from the line (11-of-21) for their sixth-worst mark of the season.

"If it was all just about being in position to win bunches of games every single year, I'd have stayed at Greensboro," Miller said about balancing the present and the future. "We were averaging 25 wins a year for five years, and I had every belief we could sustain that. When you take another job, you understand there are going to be challenges. You know that. It doesn't make the moments any easier, but you embrace those challenges and you take them on.

"I don't think I compartmentalize it in a way where one day I'm thinking about our team today and the next day Im thinking about tomorrow. I don't think I approach it that way at all. The deal is that we gotta get better today, and we gotta get better tomorrow."

Wes Miller's team in 2-4 in those six contests I mentioned. They are now 0-4 on the season when shooting under 35% from the field. Saturday was Cincinnati's second-worst shooting night of the season (32.8%) and the first time they have lost three straight games.

John Newman III Grinds Out Good Possessions

One senior who didn't walk during the night's festivities was Newman III (team-high 11 points, eight rebounds). The guard showed his gritty, reckless abandon throughout the 40 minutes, and even went down with an injury for a brief stint to start the second half.

He didn't miss much time though on a night where he led Cincinnati in game score (9.8) and efficiency (16). Newman pinged the ball well all night long and helped a stagnant Cincinnati offense find evidence of life after going the first seven minutes without a made field goal.

"Fantastic," Miller said about Newman's performance. "A play here a play there, I thought he was fantastic. He's a warrior, he's getting better as a player. He's getting more skilled as player. Defends his tail off. He was fantastic tonight and gave us a huge lift offensively, when we weren't in real good sync offensively."

Newman was the best gunner on the night. He picked his jump shot opportunities well and led all Bearcats in effective field goal rate (61%).

"Just make winning plays," Newman said about his on-court mentality. "I don't really think about anything when I'm out there, just get lost in game really. Listen to coach Wes because he knows what he's doing. I just trust him, listen to him, and he just allows me to go do me. So that's how it is."

UC struggled to make quick decisions with their ball movement in the first half, but Newman helped crack that code, and it was a big reason Cincinnati turned things around.

"Look losing is hard," Newman said postgame. "I still think we can accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish this year. We can put our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves and give up. A lot of teams in college basketball would give up right now, but I know that's not the kind of person I am. That's not the kind of guys we have in the locker room with me. We just going to keep going and keep fighting and get better from it. You know it stings bad, but whenever you go through tough times you can grow from it."

Newman also confirmed that he did not walk pregame because he will be returning for his final season of eligibility in 2022-23.

Russell Tchewa And C.J. Walker Lead Bulls

The Bulls big man in the middle posed a decent threat against Cincinnati on Saturday night. Russell Tchewa (team-high 13 points, five rebounds) worked against Abdul Ado most of the night and was the Bulls' main weapon when it came to free throws.

He brought the physicality to Cincinnati and kept the middle honest enough to open up some jump shot opportunities for the Bulls. Tchewa didn't rain fire on his inside opportunities, but he did enough to post the Bulls' second-best offensive rating behind C.J. Walker (eight points, team-high eight rebounds).

The forward led all Bulls in offensive rating (105.8) and had a team-best 57% eFG rate. For a team that's posting one of the worst three-point percentages in the last ten years, South Florida needs every triple it can get. Walker provided half of their makes from outside on Saturday night.

He also did a stellar job on defense with active hands and strong on-ball reps. He led all Bulls in defensive rating (61.5) and posted a block along with two steals.

Tchewa and Walker were calm and collected all game long. It was fitting that the former fed the latter an assist to give South Florida's best interior presence a baby hook game-winner to spoil Senior Night at Fifth Third Arena.

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