Three Man Weave: UC's Defense Stifles La Salle 78-60

Wes Miller's concepts were clicking well against the Explorers.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats (8-4) kept the good vibes rolling at home in a 78-60 blowout win over the La Salle Explorers (5-6).

UC's defenses is taking small steps forward every game and had another great outing on Saturday. They showed great ball pressure on the Explorers and forced a ton of contested shots.

David Dejulius (17 points, 2 assists), and Viktor Lakhin (17 points, 4 rebounds, 7-of-8 FGs) kept their consistent spots on the top of the box score as UC got off to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. Lakhin has now hit double-digit points in eight straight games, while shooting over 70% from the field in that stretch.

Here's the Three Man Weave on UC's first meeting against La Salle since 2004.

Rabid Defense

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wes Miller builds his team's identities on defense and UC is getting a nice hold on that end. They limited La Salle to 40% shooting for the game and forced 25 turnovers, their most forced in a game this season.

It was a mix of great defense and terrible discipline from the Explorers, who had over 10 unforced turnovers.

The defensive rotations were sound—players helped one another with strong communication and had clinically sound lower body movement. That was evident for freshman Dan Skillings (6 points, 3 blocks), who had multiple impressive shot blocks on Saturday.

The lanky 6-foot-7 forward is already flashing a high ceiling on that end. He has a nice motor and defensive awareness at this age and is helping aid the loss of Rob Phinisee and John Newman III. 

Skillings led the team in defensive rating, alongside Jeremiah Davenport (11 points, 8 rebounds) who has played better defense in 2022.

Physical Cats

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cincinnati brought the pain to La Salle on the other end. UC struggled to get physical inside early in the season, but they are settling for fewer jump shots and getting more free throws in the process.

They ended up with a season-high 28 free throw attempts and have now been over 17 attempts in five straight games. UC was led on that front by the aforementioned DeJulius and Lakhin, who had seven attempts each. 

UC needed the easy points on a tough shooting day across the board. DeJulius and Lakhin were the only players over 50% shooting as the Bearcats shot 41.7% as a team. Landers Nolley II (10 points, team-high 6 assists, 3-of-12 FGs) led the team in shots as he kept trying to get things rolling but never heated up. 

DeJulius used his patented pump fake to draw a lot of contact—while Cincinnati got Lakhin moving off ball with nice actions that led to fouls.

I don't know what the solution is for actually making more of those free throws (20-of-28, 71.4%). Cincinnati entered the 233rd nationally making just 68.8% of their free throws. First, you have to get there though, and Cincinnati is earning a lot of opportunities lately.

Brantley Returns

© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

La Salle's top scorer, Khalil Brantley, returned from a multi-game injury absence, but it didn't matter much. Josh Nickelberry (15 points) and Brantley (12 points) led the Explorers in scoring during a rough team offensive game.

Brantley did all of his damage inside the arc, missing all of his three-point attempts to mirror most of his teammates. La Salle shot just 23.5% from outside, as UC's man-to-man defense gets sharper and sharper.

The Bearcats ran Brantley and Co. off the line all game and contested most of the makes. As I mentioned in the preview, good teams destroy bad teams, and that's exactly what UC is doing at home this season.

Now, they face a little bit tougher test against Detroit Mercy (No. 202 in KenPom) on Wednesday before starting AAC play against a dangerous Tulane team a little over a week later.

The tougher competition is coming, and UC keeps getting sharper in the meantime. Next, is the Detroit Mercy bout on ESPN+ this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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