First-year University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach Wes Miller put his team through the wringer Monday in practice.
"(It was) a lot longer than I've ever pushed them the day before a game," he said.
Miller's team responded.
Jeremiah Davenport scored a team-high 16 points, Mika Adams-Woods added 11 points and the Bearcats coasted to a 77-50 win over Florida A&M on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena.
"Coming off a loss, teams can either fall back or progress," Davenport said. "One thing about coach, he's not going to let up at all. That practice, he was on us."
Monday's practice and Tuesday's game were the first for the Bearcats (8-3) since Saturday night's 83-63 loss at crosstown rival Xavier.
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"It just feels good to get back in the win column," Miller said. "I'm happy for our players because it's been a lot of doom and gloom around here. And certainly I hadn't been in the best mood. We've been really demanding, as we should be after the way we played (Saturday) and the way we've been playing."
After being outrebounded by the Musketeers 41-28, including 27-16 on the defensive glass, Cincinnati dominated the Rattlers on the boards, 48-33.
Ody Oguama had nine points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Bearcats.
"Plain and simple, we've just got to find and locate the ball," Oguama said. "I think we did a better job of it today. It's just something we've got to emphasize and have in our minds every single time we take the court."
Hayden Koval also had eight rebounds, Abdul Ado added seven boards and Viktor Lakhin chipped in with six rebounds.
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The Bearcats owned a 38-10 edge in points off the bench and a 36-24 advantage in points in the paint.
Mike Saunders Jr., who scored all of his nine points in the first half, sped through the Florida A&M defense for a layup to give Cincinnati a 13-12 lead with 14:14 to play in the first half. UC never looked back.
Cincinnati led 34-22 at halftime.
M.J. Randolph had 22 points for the Rattlers (2-7) to lead all scorers.
Sophomore guard Mason Madsen did not play for the Bearcats. Miller said Madsen has been dealing with an injured hip.
"Mason's been playing through some pain in his hip for a while, which explains why he's not necessarily been playing to the standard that we all know he can play to," he said. "And so you find out it's something a little more serious than we thought. Nothing serious that's going to be long-term, but he needs to get shut down and rest a little bit. (I'm) not sure on the length of that. I think we'll kind of re-evaluate it after a couple days."
Up next: Cincinnati plays the second game of its three-game homestand Saturday against Texas Southern. Tip is scheduled for noon on ESPN+.
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