Cincinnati Basketball: Daniel Skillings Jr scores a career-high 25 points to fuel the Bearcats
By Charles Post
Cincinnati Bearcats wing Daniel Skillings Jr put up a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the way during a win over the Northern Kentucky Norse!
It was a complete showing from the Bearcats that included 48 points in the paint and 40 bench points to go with a dominant 45-30 rebounding advantage.
Skillings brought a ton of energy off the bench in the early minutes and was an integral part of Cincinnati building an insurmountable heading into halftime.
The New Jersey native connected on a pair of triples in the opening half and threw down a fastbreak dunk to extend the double digit lead in the second half.
Cincinnati Basketball: Daniel Skillings Jr scores a career-high 25 points to fuel win
After suffering a disappointing loss against Northern Kentucky last season, the Bearcats were able to get some revenge and improve to 5-0 this time around.
Cincinnati point guard DaVeon Thomas racked up a season-high 20 points, while big man Viktor Lakhin totaled 14 points and 14 rebounds in the victory.
There is still plenty of room for improvement moving forward but it seems like the program is continuing to make progress with Big 12 play on the horizon.
Wes Miller’s team finished the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 45-31 lead at halftime before having a double digit lead throughout the entire second half.
Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats blow past non-conference foe Northern Kentucky
Cincinnati got off to a slow start until Skillings and Thomas sparked the opening half run and Northern Kentucky was never able to regain the momentum.
During the postgame press conference on Sunday, Miller broke down to the win and reacted to the offensive performance per Cincinnati Athletics.
"“We set a tone early. We had trouble last year with their matchup zone and we did a better job of moving the ball. We found some really good shots so I was pleased with that today. There are some things that I’m not pleased with but I’m trying to be positive right now.”"