University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach John Brannen and the Bearcats gathered for a socially distant pregame meal on Thursday and had every base covered but one: The food.
The chef never showed.
"First time in 25 years I went to a pregame meal with no food," Brannen said.
Despite the culinary snafu, the Bearcats snapped a five-game losing streak and captured their first American Athletic Conference win of the season by outlasting SMU 76-69 in Dallas.
The victory marked Cincinnati's eighth win in a row against the Mustangs (6-2, 2-2 AAC), who lost their second straight.
"We don't give game balls out in basketball, but if we gave a game ball out today, it would be (assistant coaches) Craig Heatherly and Jake Luhn," Brannen said.
The two assistants went out and came back in 30 minutes with food for the team.
Whatever the meal was, it worked.
UC (3-6, 1-3 AAC) outscored SMU 20-6 in the final six minutes.
"Their aggressiveness defensively, their scrappiness, which we talked about all week, their ball-hawking, the way they approached the game, from how connected they were, it was good to see it pay off," Brannen said. "I told them before the game, it's like a father when your children are sick and you want to take the pain from your children. I really wanted our guys to get this one, because they deserved it."
Up next: Cincinnati stays on the road for a clash at Wichita State (6-3, 2-1 AAC) on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
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What we learned from Thursday's win:
New starting lineup could be a game-changer
Sophomore Jeremiah Davenport got his first career start and scored the game's first basket. The 6-foot-7 guard, who has been the team's most consistent performer and spark plug off the bench this season, had his first career double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds while playing at the power forward position.
More:Jeremiah Davenport: The Cincinnati Bearcats' human spark plug in an unconventional season
"I just do whatever for my team," Davenport said. "Whatever, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. Coach want me to do something, I'm going to do it. Hands down."
Brannen shifted Davenport to the starting unit and moved senior center Chris Vogt, who has been struggling on both ends of the floor this season, to the bench.
More:Cincinnati coach John Brannen: Struggling big man Chris Vogt needs to find his 'mojo'
With the 7-foot-1, 260-pound Vogt out and 6-foot-8, 215-pound freshman Tari Eason at center, the Bearcats were obviously smaller but played with more quickness and efficiency.
"I don't want to overstate it, it's one win, albeit an outstanding team in SMU," Brannen said. "But I think it gave you a closer look at how we want to play."
Vogt was the first player off the bench for the Bearcats, but he quickly went back on it after committing two fouls in three minutes.
Vogt had no points, no rebounds and one turnover in eight minutes.
Young guns proving to be key to UC's success
Entering the season, the belief was that the Bearcats would only go as far as their two seniors, Vogt and preseason first-team All-AAC guard Keith Williams, took them.
Though Williams, who is averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game and scored 10 of his 12 points Thursday in the final nine minutes, is still the centerpiece, it's Eason and the sophomores who are proving to be Cincinnati's secret sauce.
More:Keith Williams leads late comeback as the UC Bearcats beat the SMU Mustangs
Davenport, fellow sophomores Mika Adams-Woods and Zach Harvey, and Eason found a groove on the court together.
Harvey scored 13 points and at times was the best player on the floor, while Adams-Woods and Eason each had 14 points. Eason added five rebounds, four blocks, two assists and a steal in his most impressive outing as a college student-athlete.
The Bearcats had some lapses defensively, but they were plus-16 with Eason on the floor.
"The conversations that Tari and I have during the course of the game is ... umm ... I hope I'm in that kid's life a long time because I'm probably going to get a chance to write a book one day," Brannen said.
Mason Madsen got his first taste of college ball
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound freshman guard made his UC debut.
A week after his twin brother, Gabe, opted out, Mason Madsen took and made his first career shot, a 3-pointer with 7:24 to play in the first half.
Madsen hadn't played in the first eight games due to a high ankle sprain.
"He looked pretty comfortable," Brannen said. "I thought he looked the part. He communicated well with me. He's going to be a guy that's going to be hard to keep off the floor as his career goes."
Madsen played just three minutes but could prove to be the lethal shooter Cincinnati needs.
"He's tough, he understands how to play," Brannen said. "The value of making shots is really, really, really something that's pretty important in the game of basketball."
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