Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Smashes Alabama State Ahead of Thanksgiving

The Bearcats ate well on Wednesday night.

Nov 23, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Simas Lukosius (41) shoots against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats' consistency at home continued on Wednesday night across a 77-59 plastering of Alabama State.

The Hornets had a firey scorer try to keep pace with Cincinnati in Amarr Knox (24 points, five rebounds), but UC's rebounding and defense were far too much for the road team.

Wes Miller's squad flashed its length all night on the glass (52-35 rebounding advantage) and it led to an avalanche of easy offense.

Cincinnati is now 6-0 to start consecutive seasons and gets a few days to prepare for another road battle against their first top-100 KenPom opponent of the season, Villanova.

Defense Dialing In

Cincinnati is statistically one of the best defensive teams in the nation so far this season and the eye test backed that up again on Wednesday night (55.4 PPG allowed, third nationally). ASU (214th in adjusted offensive efficiency) isn't a team UC should blow points to, but they are doing exactly what they need to do across these 40-minute showings.

No one but Knox hit more than three shots in the game for ASU as Cincinnati mixed coverages and unleashed Dillon Mitchell (10 points, eight rebounds, injured in second half but stayed on bench) again all over the floor. He may end up the best all-around defender in the Big 12 by season's end with the foot speed and hand discipline he's showing in the half-court.

All of Cincinnati's rotation can guard well for the most part and it's resulted in the 12th-best field goal percentage allowed nationally (35.5%). That defense allows Cincinnati to get out on the break and spin the opponent in knots on the other end.

The loss of Dan Skillings Jr. has barely been felt, if at all on this end because of players like Tyler Betsey (five points, four rebounds) and Josh Reed (six points, six rebounds) stepping up. Betsey's been a revelation as a prototypical 3-and-D wing right away as a freshman.

It all gets a top-40 offensive test in the next outing.

Rebounding Reeled In, Injury Scares

Cincinnati cleaned up their rebounding against one of the smaller teams they'll face in the 2024-25 season. That defense led to a ton of rebounding opportunities and UC pounced with its athleticism.

This is how they'll have to win some games on offense when the jumper isn't falling quite as consistently as tonight. Miller's crew grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and turned them into 19 second-chance points. Those gritty buckets are a Big 12 specialty and something that was good for Cincinnati to experience on second efforts before those daunting outings.

The overall energy on the glass seemed higher tonight than in recent games. Maybe it was just a complete lack of size from ASU, but group rebounding and gunning to the ball were noticeable from UC all night. Mitchell of course drove a lot of that, but the biggest difference was Aziz Bandaogo (10 points, nine rebounds).

He came in averaging under five rebounds, more nights like this will have him closer to a high, high potential as a Bearcats.

Knox And No One Else

Knox was the only player who could hunt his shot at all for ASU.

The shifty guard made up for a lack of size against UC's lineup with timely, yet hefty shot totals (20 of ASU's 66 shots). The Bearcats seemed fine letting him chuck it up and covering all other Hornets.

It worked all night long as all other players combined for 35 points. Jizzle James (13 points, eight rebounds, five assists) forced a lot of those tough shots from Knox, leading the team in steals, stops, and plus/minus on the night. He may not flash the highest highs on offense just yet, but lord is James consistent to start the year.

Those high highs definitely evaporated in a sleepy 31-26 second half scoring margin. James and Cincinnati have a lot they can still clean up over the weekend.

He's been in double-digit scoring figures every game and has four-plus assists in all but one. Exactly what you want to see out of a budding floor general headed to play Villanova in a few days.

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