Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Looks The Part Across Exhibition Victory Over Ohio State

Cincinnati last faced Ohio State on the court during the 2022 Maui Invitational

Cincinnati Bearcats guard Simas Lukosius (41) celebrates with Cincinnati Bearcats guard Day Day Thomas (1) after hitting a 3-point basket in the second half of the Big 12 Conference tournament between Cincinnati Bearcats and West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI — Wes Miller surely looks like he's assembled his best team at Cincinnati after an 80-62 exhibition win over Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are a projected top-40 team nationally but they trailed nearly the whole game as Cincinnati got strong outings from Simas Lukošius (12 points, 2 assists), Dillon Mitchell (6-6 shooting, 12 points, 7 rebounds), and more. They left no doubt with a 20-5 run out of the halftime locker room.

Cincinnati now has a few weeks to crunch the tape and get a closed-door scrimmage in before starting the campaign on Nov. 4.

Added Shooter, Added Options

Cincinnati's tweaked system stood out most at first glance. Miller's team was already strong on defense last season and they looked like a projected top-10 team nationally on that side of the floor.

Helping open more shooting options on the other end. The athleticism from each floor combination gelled together en route to a 30.4% line from the field by Ohio State.

The Bearcats forced 17 turnovers and initiated offense quickly, often finding an open shooter in a spot that might've been taken by a lesser option in years past. UC saw seven different Bearcats knock down a triple, while eight notched at least one steal.

If Cincinnati can access this type of complementary ball all season, they'll have as high a ceiling as any team in the country.

Starting Five, Feelin It

Cincinnati rolled with Lukošius, Dan Skillings Jr., Jizzle James, Aziz Bandaogo, and Dillon Mitchell to great avail on Friday. They instantly jolted Cincinnati to a fast start, with Mitchell looking like a skeleton key for those pesky missed possessions that kept Cincinnati from the 2024 NCAA tournament.

The Texas transfer skied for multiple big slams on the night as Cincinnati gets another aerial weapon to target. All in all, they had 11 transition points in the win and threw down around 5 alley-oops as a team.

Josh Reed barely got time in this game and made the most of it when he did, showcasing how much depth this program has from that starting five all the way down the bench.

Turnover Trouble

The biggest issue to work on is transition sloppiness.

UC committed 21 turnovers on the night in what was most of the time transition brain farts. That many gaffes will come back to bite them at some point in the season, but it didn't matter much on Friday as OSU scored just 15 points off them in the face of suffocating team defense.

A faster pace from UC should make them less susceptible to turnover problems hurting results given the increase in possessions but it's still something that can't happen consistently.

The Bearcats ran out a top-40 team nationally and still have plenty of things it can improve on over the next few weeks.

Tonight’s UC/OSU exhibition box score🔻🔻#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/Ln0YwRopEm

— Bearcats Talk (@BearcatsTalk) October 19, 2024

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