Three Man Weave: Bearcats NCAA Tournament Hopes Take Dire hit in 83-77 Loss to Tulsa

Cincinnati got outscored 44-26 in the paint.

CINCINNATI — It's one step forward, two steps back lately for the Cincinnati Bearcats (16-8, 6-5) after they fell to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-15, 2-10) 83-77 on Saturday.

This loss is the likely final nail in the coffin for any hopes of an at-large bid into the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Tulsa is the worst team in the AAC, and Cincinnati has no more bullets to fire with the committee after this debacle.

Cincinnati's defense failed them against a run-of-the-mill offense that they stifled less than a month earlier. Here's the Three Man Weave on a rough night in Oklahoma.

Defensive Debacle

The Golden Hurricane played connected team basketball on offense, and it was the biggest reason they pulled this upset. Jeriah Horne (21 points, nine rebounds) and Darrien Jackson (21 points, five rebounds, two steals) stayed wildly efficient all night long.

Whether it was sound back cuts, powerful work on the block, or quick drives to the basket, Cincinnati had no answer for the interior focus from Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane outscored Cincinnati 44-26 in the paint.

"We didn't defend well," head coach Wes Miller said. "I don't want to take credit from Frank Haith's team because they played a great game. They shoot 50% both halves, and we weren't active rotating and challenging shots. We had moments, but our consistency wasn't there, and we didn't get in position.

"There are a lot of things offensively I didn't like, particularly our shot selection at times. We didn't make great decisions in the open court with the ball, and when we score 70 points, we should have a great chance to win."

Tulsa came into this game as one of the worst outside shooting teams in the conference, so they scuttled that part of the equation to focus more on the efficient interior play. They attempted four fewer threes than their conference average but got just enough from their leading scorers (4-of-8 from Horne/Jackson) to stave off late UC comebacks.

The two leading scorers following Tulsa's top guys arguably had just as much impact in the team triumph. Center Rey Idowu (14 points, three rebounds) scored all of his five baskets in the paint and went to the line three times.

Cincinnati struggled with his post moves, and quick entry passes into the veteran. Tulsa's offense blistered UC when Idowu was on the floor. He finished with a game-high 157.4 offensive rating.

Freshman guard Anthony Pritchard played a part in Idowu's success, ending up with a career-high 10 assists. Tulsa is now 4-1 this season when he creates six-plus assists.

"Yeah he was phenomenal," Miller said about Pritchard. "He got where he wanted on the floor with the ball. You see that on tape, he does a great job of getting downhill and keeping his dribble alive and probing and creating opportunities for their team...He's scoring it at the rim, putting pressure on us at the rim, he was creating a lot of offense off the bounce and that's what I saw out there."

Tulsa out-assisted UC 14-9, showing that the Golden Hurricane tapped into a level of ball movement that Cincinnati couldn't crack Saturday night.

Action Jackson

UC got some bodies in front of Horne at times, but they have zero answers for Jackson this season. He has scored 21 points in both games against UC on a combined 17-of-24 from the field. Jackson is the rare guard who focuses most of his offensive scoring in the midrange and short areas near the basket.

At 6-foot-3, 189-pounds Jackson's tailored his game around that frame to zig while most of the basketball world zags. One thing that makes college basketball great is the multitude of different playing styles, and Cincinnati couldn't contain Jackson's.

The guard attempted just two attempts from outside—making both—and it appears to be the perfect dash of outside shooting for Tulsa's winning formula. They are 3-1 this season when he attempts exactly two three-pointers.

Both of those came in a second-half where the guard turned his game up to 11. Jackson went 6-for-6 in the second half, including 2-for-2 from deep. Sprinkle in two steals, and it was a complete performance from the senior.

David Dejulius and Mason Madsen Keep Hope Alive

The Bearcats shot a season-high 36 three-point attempts on Saturday, and without Mason Madsen (nine points) and David Dejulius (game-high 23 points, three assists, three steals) hitting a few they would've been blown off the floor. The total marked the program's third-most outside attempts in school history.

The duo combined to hit half of Cincinnati's 12 threes on another one of those inconsistent nights. Madsen showed continued signs of growth with a confident outside stroke (3-for-5) and more great man-to-man defense. He led the team in offensive rating (134.8) and finished second among UC guards in defensive rating across 16 minutes (112.4).

Dejulius became the first Bearcat to post three-straight 20-plus point games since Jarron Cumberland (Jan. 24-Feb. 2, 2019).

UC's leading scorer is the most consistent part of this attack—averaging 19.9 points over the past seven games on 46.1% shooting—but the offense overall is anything but consistent.

"What I do know is this," Miller said. "We got a game on Tuesday. Better get our asses ready. I don't know what happens after that. I know we got a game on Tuesday, we'll have a practice Monday, and we gotta get our asses ready to play."

And that's the way I'll approach it. When practice is over Monday, I'll worry about Tuesday. When the game's over Tuesday I'll worry about Wednesday. Take it one day at a time."

The bottom line is this team can get too jump-shot reliant when the offense stalls. In games where they attempt 30-plus three this season, Cincinnati is 1-3. They got destroyed on the inside defensively, then never made a consistent push on that end offensively.

Abdul Ado is a solid player, but he can't be relied upon for 20 minutes per game if the interior defense goes to shambles. He is averaging that amount over the past four outings and has eight total points in that span.

Defense is great, and Ado plays his part swimmingly on most nights, but UC is predictable right now. Teams know that the offense derives entirely from the backcourt, and they are willing to lessen interior resources to run shooters off the line.

Cincinnati has a nice group of wings and one big-man recruit coming in next season, but the younger front-court players like Viktor Lakhin and Jarrett Hensley could use some more experience to get them ready for next season.

There's always hope for a run in the AAC Tournament, but they'll need to find a consistent interior scoring threat and offensive balance to get there.

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