Three Man Weave: Houston Controls Cincinnati 72-59

Cincinnati only has one more Quad 1 win opportunity this season.

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats clung to hope for as long as possible, but No. 2 Houston overwhelmed them 72-59 at home on Sunday afternoon.

Cincinnati's AAC-best offense stalled out against the nation's best defense, and a nail got punched in their coffin with a 13-2 run to start the first eight minutes of the second half.

"You can talk about not being able to score coming out the half, you can talk about how that affected the next possession," Wes Miller said after the game. "So yeah, there's frustration there, disappointment, but it's league play. And we're going to have to learn from this. I feel like we've taken so many steps forward over the last six, seven weeks, or 5-6 weeks, whatever it's been. It's felt like a little bit of a step backwards and we got to regroup and recharge and get ready for the next one.”

Landers Nolley II (12 points, 4 turnovers) and Mika Adams-Woods (19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) hit some deep shots, but all in all, the UC offense got shut down. 

David DeJulius (6 points, 4 turnovers) had one of his worst games over the past two seasons.

Conversely, Freshman Jarace Walker (21 points, 5 rebounds) and the stable of Houston wings earned a seventh-straight win over Cincinnati.

Offensive Woes

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Bearcats brought one of the best offenses Houston's faced this season to the table on Sunday. 

It didn't matter. UC got swept up like everyone else and shot their second-lowest mark of the season overall (34.6% FG). Miller had three players keep an otherwise lifeless offense in the mix.

Nolley and Adams-Woods found the shooting touch enough to stem the first-half tide, while Viktor Lakhin (16 points, 6 rebounds) scored nearly all his buckets after halftime. Cincinnati needed the close shots too after posting just six paint points in the opening 20 minutes.

"So initially I tried to make the right play and create for others in the first half," Lakhin said. "In the second half I just told myself that I gotta join my team and be active and try to be aggressive on my own too not just creating for others and like share the ball, make the right play because I messed up some opportunities to score from my post catches for my scoring opportunities in the first half. I just talked to myself and I got to join my team."

Lakhin worked into some nice actions during that second frame and got to the free throw line consistently (8-of-10 FTs). Still, Cincinnati turned the ball over way too often (17, tied for most this season), and it gave easy looks to an already highly-efficient offense.

"He got fouled and made his foul shots," Miller said about Lakhin's outing. "I think he'd tell you the same thing I didn't think was his best game. His line is respectable, It’s a good line. Sixteen points and six rebounds, I should say, but I didn't think it was his best game.”

Outside of those three players, only DeJulius hit three-plus points scored. Houston was willing to let those players impact the game while controlling every other aspect.

Cincinnati is now 0-4 this season when they shoot under 39% from the field

Stealing In Style

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Cougars' elite defense and ball pressure got encapsulated by the steal mark. Houston notched 13 steals on the night, the most given up by UC this season.

Marcus Sasser (16 points, 6 rebounds) led the way with five and showed why he's one of the best ball robbers in the AAC. His court awareness and experience in Sampson's defense were palpable on Sunday.

Houston hounded the strength of UC's roster, and the eight turnovers from Nolley/DeJulius made it nearly impossible to find an offensive rhythm. DeJulius did add 5 assists to salvage the night, but UC needed more creation from its top two scorers.

"They're just active and big," Lakhin said about the Cougars' defense. "They're just a really good defensive team with their size and principles they execute. It's not something unbeatable. You just have to be prepared for that and answer the bell."

Cincinnati didn't quit in this game, and that may add to the frustration. 

Houston rarely gets outrebounded, but they did on Sunday (39-33). The Bearcats dove for loose boards and left all their energy on the floor. Unfortunately, they couldn't slow down enough to get back in the game following halftime.

“We are in January we're in league play its past silver linings to me at this point," Miller said about taking a silver lining from the rebounding edge. "It's about there is a standard, and you play to it. If you lose, you will be upset, but if you played to that standard, you wake up the next day and do it again. To me, that is where we have to get now. This is not like a building thing, it's like now. We didn’t do that tonight. It's not okay, not acceptable. We need to be accountable for that. It's not about silver linings. We have good enough players, we have good enough team character to beat anyone in college basketball on any given night. It's not okay to not play and act to the standards that we are capable of.

Walker Wows

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

The five-star freshman lived up to his preseason billing on Sunday afternoon. Walker was the most athletic, dominant force on the floor offensively.

He led the break, posted up, hit threes, and got to the line. It was the full package from a future NBA lottery pick. Walker singularly embodied the Houston physicality. Finishing with a nasty 66% true shooting rate to go with 3 steals and one of the team's best defensive ratings.

"We tried to make him make some contested shots over the top and he did that," Miller said about Walker. "You can't take everything away from everybody. Give him credit. He made a couple of them tonight.

No one on Cincinnati's roster could match up with the 6-foot-8, 240-pound freshman, who was a big reason for Houston's 36-20 paint points advantage.

For most of Kelvin Sampson's tenure—he's had to mold long dominant wings like this. Walker isn't even 20 games into college, and he's already the complete package.

UC had no answer for his impact on Sunday. 

Next up is East Carolina at home this Wednesday. The tip is at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The game is available via fuboTV—start your free trial here.

Make sure you bookmark All Bearcats for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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