The University of Cincinnati basketball team entered the Barclays Center unscathed by any of their previous opponents, five wins and zero losses. Given the inferior early season schedule, that’s not too surprising. It’s hard to know what kind of team you have playing the likes of Arkansas Pine Bluff-no offense to them. However, the Bearcats traveled to Brooklyn to commence the meat of their nonconference schedule.
First up, the Bearcats faced a solid Nebraska team that is well coached by Tim Miles. Nebraska featured a team with some crafty slashers, entering its fifth season of Big Ten conference play.
Nebraska competed all forty minutes. The Bearcats prevailed with some gritty play by Troy Caupain and Shaq Thomas. Caupain finished with 17 points off of 5 of 11 shooting. Shaq Thomas contributed 14 points off of 4 of 8 shooting. Both Farad Cobb and Kevin Johnson struggled from the field, shooting a combined 2 of 11 from the floor.
To date, the Bearcats were accustomed to wide margins of victory and near triple digit point production. Against Nebraska, they had to grind out a 65-61 victory, which led to today’s matchup against a proven George Washington team.
The scouting report on George Washington indicated that they were mediocre from behind the 3 point line. However, GW was hotter than a fox in a forest fire from 3 in the first half, netting 8 of 11 three point attempts. Their 3 point shooting eventually gave way to reality as they finished the game with 11 out of 22 three point field goals made.
There were numerous lead changes with neither team being able to outpace the other for any consistent stretch of time. As he did in the Nebraska game, Troy Caupain put the team on his back down the stretch, and ended up leading all scorers with 16 points.
The Bearcats pulled out the victory, defeating a GW squad that had beaten highly ranked Virginia earlier this season.
Bearcats leave Brooklyn with their perfect record intact. They are 7-0 and await the Butler Bulldogs who will travel to Fifth Third Wednesday night.
By Brian Fox