Cincinnati 80, UT-Martin 57: Bearcats Open Season With A Solid Win

UC started the season with a win and the best way I can describe the Bearcats’ play was it was solid. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t horrible, it was “okay”. Cincinnati got off to about as good of a start as they could have racing out to a 26 point halftime lead. They did it with the formula that should cause a ton of success this season; creating havoc on defense and scoring off turnovers. It’s clear UC should be able to run with just about any team in the country.

But then Cincinnati got lackadaisical after halftime. I think it was partially a factor of the Bearcats playing with a huge lead against a lesser opponent and rotating quite a few players off the bench. It made perfect sense for Mick to get his second stringers in during the second half but the rhythm suffered because of it. That’s fine. UC didn’t need Cash, Kilpatrick, Parker, and Jackson to eat up 80-85% of the minutes. Mick needs to learn exactly what has in Guyn, Nyarsuk, Rubles, etc. quickly before the Bearcats start to play the likes of Iowa State, Xavier, Alabama, and the entire Big East. UC’s head coach can afford to give these players minutes now to better understand how to use them during more critical games later in the season.