The Cincinnati Bearcats moved to 4-0 on the season and undefeated in the Emerald Coast Classic with a 59-50 win over the North Carolina Central Eagles.
It’s difficult to illustrate in the final score but UC played their best game of the season tonight.
Cincinnati dropped their turnovers to 11 (they’ve been averaging 15.3 per game), allowed only 4 offensive rebounds (average 9.3), and shot 44% from the field (average 41.2%). Again, the win wasn’t dominating and the sample size is small since we’re not even a quarter of the way through the season. But North Carolina Central was arguably their toughest competition this year. A NCAA Tournament team in in March, the Eagles could be heading there this season.
But tonight UC held their leading scorer without a single point and allowed just 15 total rebounds. Cincinnati never made it easy for North Carolina Central inside with Octavius Ellis, Gary Clark, and Jermaine Sanders combining for 21 boards.
Plus the offense looked more fluid. Mick utilized a shortened lineup with Ge’Lawn Guyn was sidelined again due to a finger injury and Jamaree Strickland MIA. He effectively benched Quadri Moore, Deshaun Morman, and Coreontae DeBerry to focus on a 7-man rotation. It allowed the players to gain a familiarity with their teammates and find open shooters more easily.
Overall, it was exactly what the doctor ordered offensively and defensively for a team approaching a difficult slate of opponents in the next two weeks.