UC’s Wes Miller, Day Day Thomas, plus Stan Heath on Eastern Michigan W
UC’s Wes Miller, Day Day Thomas, plus Stan Heath on Eastern Michigan win
- UC Bearcats turn the page on a home loss to Eastern Michigan that closed out a 5-2 November.
- The Bearcats will face Tarleton State and former UK coach Billy Gillispie on Dec. 1, their last game before the Crosstown Shootout.
- UC will have only two more home games in December after playing Tarleton State.
November had a pair of blemishes; now, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team starts December with a few more challenges.
Tarelton State starts the new month at Fifth Third Arena and it’s the seventh of UC’s eight games to be played on campus to start the season. After the Monday, Dec. 1 game, UC will have only two more dates at Fifth Third Arena: Dec. 17 vs. Alabama State and Dec. 29 vs. Lipscomb.
The Bearcats are coming off a stinker of a performance against Eastern Michigan Nov. 26, where they never led against the Eagles, losing 64-56. They were minus front-court players Baba Miller and Jalen Celestine and played like they were already stuffed full of turkey the night before Thanksgiving.
“When things happen and things do happen, adversity strikes,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “Now we’ve got to handle it the right way. That means that we have to not accept it, we have to learn from it and we have to become a better team because of it.”
How Cincinnati Bearcats overcome boobirds
That also means overcoming any hurt feelings over the boos that were prevalent in parts of their game Nov. 26.
“That’s what comes with it, but they also cheered their (butts) off when we played hard and got back in the game,” Miller said. “That’s part of playing and coaching in Cincinnati. If you come here, you’ve got to be able to accept it and deal with it.”
Tarleton State hosted Midwestern State on Friday, Nov. 28 and was down by 11 at halftime, but outscored them by 21 in the second half to win 67-57.
After the Texans saddle up and leave Fifth Third Arena, UC makes the 4.4-mile trip from Fifth Third Arena to Xavier’s Cintas Center for the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. Last season, Wes Miller won his first against the Musketeers in four tries.
Buy Cincinnati Bearcats tickets
Billy Gillispie heads up Tarleton State
Some in the Tri-State may remember Gillispie from his two-year stint at Kentucky, where he was 40-27 overall in 2007-08 and 2008-09, taking the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament once.
Before UK, he was at UTEP and Texas A&M. After UK, he was at Texas Tech. Since 2020, he’s been at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas, 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth. So, outside of his two-year run in Lexington, he’s been a Lone Star State coach.
3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats to beat Tarleton State Texans
1. Cincinnati Bearcats can’t take any game for granted
Even though 6-foot-8 graduate forward Jalen Haynes has been out indefinitely and 6-foot-11 Baba Miller and 6-foot-7 Jalen Celestine sat out the Eastern Michigan shocker, UC must win games it’s favored to win.
Otherwise, like after the EMU loss, you get the infamous tweet from a CBS Sports college basketball analyst about losing a “buy” game, which he calls the “epitome of brutality”.
“I don’t have any type of narrative there,” Miller said of the recent slow starts. “There’s an expectation when you put the jersey on. We’ve got to bring that every time we hit the floor.”
2. Cincinnati Bearcats must crash boards with purpose
UC has been outrebounded by Western Carolina to start the season and by Louisville, NJIT and Eastern Michigan in the last three games. That’s not an act that’s going to fly far in the Big 12.
Assuming some of the post players return soon, that’s something that will need to be addressed before Big 12 play. Tarleton State was outrebounded by Midwestern State 27-21 on Friday.
“We need those guys back,” Miller said. “That’s a credible effect on our team.”
Speaking of crashing, the Eastern Michigan loss crushed UC in the KenPom.com rankings as they fell from No. 48 before the game to No. 72 afterward.
3. Cincinnati Bearcats must find way to start making shots
UC has shot below 30% from three-point range in four of its seven games with two being losses. The Bearcats hit just 22.6% vs. Georgia State, 20.7% vs. Mount St. Mary’s, 27.6% vs. Louisville and 24.1% in the Eastern Michigan loss.
They’re averaging just over 28 three-point attempts per game, with the fewest being 19 against Dayton. If they’re going to hoist them, they can’t just rely on the law of averages.
After an excellent shooting game vs. NJIT, Shon Abaev went 1-for-7 from deep and is at 24% for the season. Kerr Kriisa’s at 29% and Jordy Rodriguez missed all five of his Nov. 28 to drop to 29%. Kriisa is a 36% career perimeter shooter and made 42% in 2023-24 for West Virginia.
“We’ll figure it out,” Miller said. “We’re very much aware of the things we have to do. You get into these stretches where you’re playing games every other day, it’s hard to dive in and correct. We talked about it after the Louisville game. There’s a number of things we’ve got to do to become a better offensive team and I think we can help as a staff, but we haven’t had time to make those adjustments with three games in five days. We’ll have more time next week.”
On the upside, Day Day Thomas was 4-for-9 on long balls and leads the team at 51% (19-for-37).
“We’re going to watch film, see what we need to do better and get back on the court and take care of business,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to lock in right now.”
Tip: Monday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena (12,012)
TV/Radio: ESPN+/700WLW
Series: First meeting
Tarleton State Texans scouting report
Record: 5-3
Coach: Billy Gillispie (sixth season, 83-77, overall 231-185)
Offense: 76.5 ppg
Defense: 76.3 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Freddy Hicks (G-F, 6’6″, 11.9 ppg)
Leroy Kelly IV (G, 6’2″, 3.9 ppg)
Kaia Issac (G, 6’4″, 4.1 ppg)
Andy Sigiscar (F, 6’9″, 6 ppg)
Jordan Mizell (G, 6’1″, 5 ppg)
Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report
Record: 5-2
Coach: Wes Miller (fifth season 87-61, overall 272-196)
Offense: 75.4 ppg
Defense: 64.1 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Day Day Thomas (G, 6’1″, 13 ppg)
Kerr Kriisa (G, 6’3″, 6.4 ppg)
Shon Abaev (G, 6’8″, 11.7 ppg)
Baba Miller (F, 6’11”, 14.4 ppg) OR Jalen Celestine (F/G, 6’7″, 3 ppg) OR Tyler McKinley (F, 6’9″, 2.3 ppg)
Moustapha Thiam (C, 7’2″, 11.3 ppg)
Players to watch
Though he doesn’t start, the leading scorer for Tarleton State is 6-foot-3 guard Dior Johnson, who recently pumped in 29 points in a victory over Rice. Johnson averages 23.6 points for the Texans. Johnson played for UCF last season and was in their last game April 3 against the Bearcats in the Crown quarterfinals, scoring four points in a little over nine minutes. He did not play on Nov. 28 against Midwestern State.
UC continues to share minutes in the frontcourt, with Baba Miller still sidelined. Unfortunately, against Eastern Michigan, UC got a combined four rebounds from 7-foot-2 Moustapha Thiam, 6-foot-9 Tyler McKinley and 6-foot-10 Halvine Dzellat. Abaev led UC with seven rebounds and 6-foot-1 guard Thomas pulled down five.
Rankings
KenPom.com: Cincinnati is No. 72, Tarleton State No. 193
NCAA NET: Cincinnati No. 154, Tarleton State No. 158
