Though coming off some of their better basketball, the University of Cincinnati got its first win in two weeks Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats didn't have a banner shooting night to tip off February but sent enough down the cylinder for the 81-55 victory over Tulsa.
They countered a 38.2% effort from the field to start by hitting 54.5% in the second half for the 26-point advantage at the buzzer.
Landers Nolley II achieved his fourth double-double of the season, all in American Athletic Conference games. It wasn't the best night as the AAC's top 3-point marksman but good enough, much like the rest of his teammates.
Nolley's number on the night was 13. He has now had 13 straight games in double figures after finishing with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. On Wednesday, 5-for-16 from the field and 2-of-7 on threes still resulted in a positive result.
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For the first time since the Dec. 29 win over Tulane, the Bearcats had five players in double figures. In addition to Nolley, senior Jeremiah Davenport had his best game since Wichita State with 20 point, hitting 4-of-8 from the arc. David DeJulius added 11 and nine assists, and Mika Adams-Woods and Viktor Lakhin had 10 each. A missed dunk by Dan Skillings Jr. late would have made it six in double figures.
Tulsa came into the game holding teams to less than 30% behind the arc. The Golden Hurricane actually led with 9:39 to go in the first half, but UC began to find range late in the stanza to separate. In the end, they would shoot 9-for-28 from distance for the game for 32.1%.
Sam Griffin paced the Golden Hurricane with 15 points.
Lethargic start
After draining eight first-half triples and 11 overall last Saturday at No. 3 Houston, the clank-meter was out for both teams on the perimeter to start. With 7:09 left in the half, Nolley broke the seal, which put both teams at 1-for-13 at the time.
It did inspire the Bearcats as they followed with a steal and an eventual tip dunk by Viktor Lakhin, forcing a Tulsa timeout with UC on an 11-0 run and up 24-14. The UC streak would go to 16-0 as the Golden Hurricane didn't score for over seven minutes. At the same time, UC went on a scoring drought of nearly three minutes.
Late in the half, Davenport hit a pair of treys to give UC the 36-18 advantage.
The Hurricane wouldn't hit their first 3-pointer until early in the second half. After hitting a paltry 21.4% of their shots in the first half, Tulsa's players picked it up in the second, cutting UC's lead to 14 at one point.
UC would hit four of their last five shots and hold Tulsa scoreless in the final 2:08 of the contest.
Tulsa drops to 5-16 (1-9 AAC) with the loss while the Bearcats advance to 15-8 (6-4 AAC). They are three wins away from last year's season total of 18.
Meet at 12 Saturday for a possible 2
The Bearcats are back home at noon Saturday against Central Florida with the possibility of a Quadrant 2 win. The Golden Knights coming into Wednesday had a No 73 RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) and were No. 66 in the NCAA NET rankings. A home win versus a team ranked No. 31-75 would qualify as a Quadrant 2 victory. The Bearcats have yet to record a Quadrant 1 or 2 win.
Selebangue on the boards
Tulsa's 6-foot-8 Bryant Selebangue came in leading the AAC in rebounding with 9.3 per game. He lived up to his billing by grabbing 10 before the half. Selebangue would finish with a game-high 15 boards but the Bearcats would win the team margin 44-32.
Dunkin' for some doughnuts Tuesday
Before Wednesday night's Tulsa tilt, the Cincinnati men's basketball program held an open gym for students as a measure of goodwill and to generate interest.
Coach Wes Miller and staff provided autographs and photos for those in attendance. There was some dunking involved, but it mainly involved the incentives provided by Dunkin' Donuts.
CINCINNATI 36 45 81
TULSA 18 37 55
UC - Lakin 5 0 10 Oguama 1 0 2 Nolley 5 1 13 Adams-Woods 4 1 10 DeJulius 4 2 111 Skillings 4 0 9 Davenport 6 4 20 Ezikple 2 2 6
T - Dalger 4 0 8 Selebangue 1 6 8 Griffin 5 4 15 Pritchard 4 4 12 McWright 0 1 1 Gaston-Chapman 2 0 4 Betson 2 0 5 Embery-Simpson 0 2 2
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