In a battle of teacher versus student, Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team won Friday night’s lesson against Nicholls of Thibodaux, Louisiana. THE Huskies were coached by former Miller player Tevon Saddler.
Boasting the 17th seed in the country and a bevy of lethal long-armed Bearcats, UC ran away with Nicholls 86-49. The Bearcats shot 54 percent and overwhelmed Nicholls 46-32. Nicholls had topped NKU the night before by 25.
Jizzle James was 8 of 11 from the field for 19 points for the Bearcats, while Simas Lukošius was 7 of 11 and 5 of 7 on treys for 19 points. Texas transfer Dillon Mitchell narrowly missed a double-double again with 12 points and nine rebounds and USC transfer Arrinten Page had 11 points, six rebounds and a team-high five blocks.
Jamal West Jr. was the only Nicholls player to reach double figures with 12 points.
The game was part of the Classic Twyman-Stokesan MTE (multi-team event) in which Nicholls played Thursday at Northern Kentucky University (a 61-59 win), then arrived where Jack Twyman’s retired uniform No. 27 hangs with No. 12 by Oscar Robertson and No. 4 by Kenyon Martin. .
The Bearcats improve to 3-0, while Nicholls falls to 2-3.
Cincinnati Bearcats Takeaways vs. Nicholls
Doing Without Dan (Skillings Jr.) Part II
UC’s leading scorer and rebounder might be out for a month, but his teammates stepped up and took advantage of the minutes. As Wes Miller indicated, once Skillings Jr. returns, he will definitely eat up some minutes. The Bearcats had better energy in this game and took advantage of their length with an array of blocks, steals and dunks.
Accuracy matters for the Cincinnati Bearcats
Before the game against Nicholls, UC’s Azuz Bandaogo was shooting 91% from the field, with Lukošius at 82% (71% from the perimeter). Mitchell was pretty accurate with 67% for third place. The shots continued to fall Friday, even if things were sluggish in the first minutes.
Lukošius is now 24 of 28 for 86% from the field and 10 of 14 from the arc for 71%. Bandaogo is 12 of 14 this season at 86 percent and Mitchell is now 18 of 24 at 75 percent. Logic says that the more you earn, the more you earn.
Cincinnati Bearcats Block Party
By halftime, UC had stopped eight shots and Bandaogo had stopped three. That was more than against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (seven) or Morehead State (five).
Bandaogo now has 11 blocks on the season, including four in total on Friday. Arrinten Page at 6-foot-11 added four to his resume. UC had a season-high 14 blocks.
Did Day Day Thomas play?
A starter last year for the first 35 games until he injured his foot, Thomas was back in practice this week but still wasn’t a full participant. He did not attend Friday’s walk-through and took the field in a sweat before Friday’s game. Medically, he was cleared. Given the depth of this team, Wes Miller was in no hurry with him.
Did the CUs cover the spread?
It’s a big challenge to play two nights in a row, and even though Nicholls beat NKU by a bucket on Thursday, Friday morning, they were 27-point underdogs. UC won by 37 and perhaps could have won by more as Wes Miller pulled his starters with more than five minutes to play.
Who’s next?
To finish off the MTE, UC will travel to Highland Heights on Tuesday to play NKU Norse. This completes the deal former AD Mike Bohn made when the Bearcats had to use NKU Arena during the renovation of Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats beat the Norwegians 90-66 last year at UC. The year before was a disastrous 64-51 loss that Coach Miller will surely bring up the next time the Bearcats practice.
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: What the Cincinnati Bearcats take away from Nicholls’ win Friday
