Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Rolls Through Northern Kentucky During First Road Test

Cincinnati got its payback on the Norse.

Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jizzle James (2) dribbles the bal up court in the first half of a basketball scrimmage between Cincinnati Bearcats and Ohio State Buckeyes at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats cooled a red-hot Northern Kentucky team in the second half to take the 76-60 win on Tuesday evening. It fully pays back the 64-51 loss from last season and showed Cincinnati can take this strong start into a hostile environment.

The rebounding issues popped up again (30-27 NKU), but UC continued playing elite defense and used a red-hot second-half stretch from outside to power a comfortable win over NKU. Simas Lukošius (18 points, three rebounds, three assists) drove that lava-like stretch.

The Norse zone got solved across in-game adjustments and a wave of depth they couldn't withstand.

The Bearcats are now 3-1 all-time against the Norse and have a few days.

Day Day Thomas Returns

The Bearcats got a key piece of their guard rotation back in the mix. Day Day Thomas (two points, four assists) is back and while he struggled shooting the ball (1-5 FGs), it was great to see him return after missing the opening three games of the season.

He looked like his normal speedy self, just needing to get timing down with his shot in more game action. Thomas got his reps in, taking five shots from the floor. That patented burst is fully there entering a longer road trip this coming weekend.

The veteran got to the basket with ease and looked like the best athlete on the floor at multiple points.

Having Thomas helped take some pressure off of James and Connor Hickman (10 points, one assist, two steals), who had his best shooting night in a UC uniform. Lukošius got to float more and hunt his shot as well in a deep shooting showcase. 

The lifeblood of championship teams is strong guard play and Cincinnati's trio gets to gel more toward that game heading into the holidays and beyond.

First-Half Shooting Woes

The Bearcats couldn't take their strong home shooting across the river on Tuesday to start the game, but they found more than enough makes to win. They shot 30.8% from deep in the opening half and did not look like the top-10 three-point shooting team they've been inside Fifth Third Arena. And then Lukošius started raining.

He cashed 5-5 second-half triples to continue showing why he's statistically a top-five shooter in the country. He found a rhythm and started cashing pull-up triples to get a comfortable cushion in the second half.

Lukošius ia game-changer right now. A human blowtorch from outside that UC fully unleashed with no mercy.

The opening frame is to be expected a bit going away from home for the first time. Still, it kept the game close throughout stretches of the first half UC could've gone on runs during with strong defense on the other end and a mass of NKU turnovers (12 in the first half).

Good thing the second half went much better than two years ago (11 points). Cincinnati survived its first road test inanother fun rendition between the local teams.

Rebounding Issues 

Cincinnati got outboarded 30-27 in the win, but it didn't matter a bunch thanks to 15 NKU turnovers. The Norse knew where the home bounces were flowing and had some savvy positioning from a rotation that sported no one over 6-foot-9 in the mix.

No Bearcat had over six rebounds but they did spread out the duties evenly with five players grabbing at least three boards. Dillon Mitchell (12 points, six rebounds) continued cleaning the glass, grabbing some of the awry bounces that sometimes break against road teams.

All in all, they shot more than well enough to overcome it (53.4%) and showed they could win in different ways. Having a 70% three-point shooter at high volume like Lukošius makes life a lot easier in college basketball.

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