With the regular season approaching, the Bearcats played a preseason exhibition at Ohio on Sunday to prepare for the upcoming campaign. According to multiple reports, the Bobcats secured a 79-72 win over Cincinnati in the recent closed scrimmage.
David DeJulius and John Newman III each scored 12 points for the Bearcats but it wasn’t enough to keep up against the in-state opponent. Ohio’s new-look backcourt scored at will as transfers Devon Baker and Jaylin Hunter combined for 38 points in the win.
Even though the Bearcats came up short, Wes Miller elected to give 12 players equal minutes instead of relying more on the returning starters. With that said, the defense clearly needs to contain perimeter scorers in order to compete on a consistent basis.
"You could say that last year we were maybe more traditional. This team's more modern and we're very positionless."@CoachWesMiller, @DavidDejulius, and @robphinisee1 met with media Tuesday afternoon.
— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) October 18, 2022
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Cincinnati Basketball: Wes Miller reacts to recent preseason scrimmage at Ohio
Despite losing leading scorers Ben Vander Plas and Mark Sears to the transfer portal, the Bobcats were able to edge Cincinnati in the preseason scrimmage. After finishing with a 25-10 record a year ago, Jeff Boals is heading into his fourth season in Athens.
Cincinnati will host Chaminade in the regular season opener in early November before taking a trip to the Maui Invitational. It’s going to be difficult to contend for a championship in Maui but the defense should continue to improve during non-conference play.
Wes Miller reacted to the exhibition loss in a recent press conference per Cincinnati Athletics.
"“There’s so many things you’re trying to do to prepare for a season. Relative to last year, it’s completely different. I think it’s just about getting better today. Honestly I’m obsessed with it. When you do play against someone else, you learn things that you can’t in practice against yourself. It’s exciting to learn some things and have the opportunity to address them on the practice court. Which is why I like to do a super-secret, closed door scrimmage. I like them so we can try different combinations, play everybody and then address some things over a couple weeks of practice that we were not able to figure out playing each other.”"