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Cincinnati rolls into it’s second pseudo-away game of the season tonight as they will take the short 45 min bus ride up to Dayton to face the Wright State Raiders. Before I begin, I still don’t understand why WSU calls themselves the ‘Raiders’ yet their mascot is a wolf. That never made sense to me but I really don’t care enough about them to research it any further than that. Anyways, the ‘Raiders’ really do seem to mirror the Bearcats in most facets of the game. They struggle to score points on offense – about 55 per game, 333rd nationally – but really earn their money by being stout defensively. WSU is 43rd in the country giving up just under 60 points per game. They even held the Ohio State in check, who had their 2nd lowest points of the season against the Raiders. The one crux of their defensive game is that they don’t rebound very well, primarily because their main big men are only sophomores and not very dominant on the glass.
The key player to look out for from the Raiders is Julius Mays. The Junior is a veteran on the team and leads his fellow Raiders in minutes played and points per game. Unfortunately for Wright State, he is the only player on team to score in double-digits game-in and game-out. Shooting 37% as a team doesn’t help either and even though Mays leads the team in ppg, forward A.J. Pachal is probably the most efficient player on the team, scoring the most points per minute played.
The biggest question for UC fans is how Cincinnati is going to beat them without three of their big men and a true
freshman who had quite a bit of playing time off the bench. Replacing 35% of your scoring won’t be easy, especially when the Bearcats have struggled to score points this year, but they might just be able to hold Wright State by going smaller. It’s anyone’s guess as to what the starting lineup will be tonight but it will probably look something like this:
- Cashmere Wright
- Sean Kilpatrick
- Dion Dixon
- Kelvin Gaines
- Jaquon Parker
Not exactly a rag-tag group of starters. The only one you might shake your head at is Kelvin Gaines starting over Justin Jackson. But I’ve liked the way Gaines has carried himself as a redshirt freshman this year and is actually 2nd on the team in blocks. He plays good defense and doesn’t get a foul everytime he steps onto the court, unlike JJ. There’s no question I love Jackson’s attitude out there but the bench is going to be as thin as ever and UC can’t afford for him to foul out early.
The Bearcats certainly can’t overwhelm the Raiders with the sheer size of Yancy Gates and Cheikh Mbodj but there is still plenty of firepower from Sean Kilpatrick and Dion Dixon to score points in a hurry. Like I mentioned, Wright State struggles to score points themselves but could get a boost out of the fact that they wont have to face Gates/Mbodj in the paint. To counter, Cincinnati will likely have to go zone more in this game and try to clog up the passing lanes that way.
Overall, I expect this game to be a lackluster defensive affair with both teams struggling to score points. Don’t be surprised if half the arena needs to be woken up by the horn at the end of the 1st half.
Cincinnati – 59
Wright State – 53