Scouting report: Cincinnati Bearcats basketball home with Grambling State Sunday

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For those up to a doubleheader of Cincinnati sports on Sunday, shortly after the Bengals and Browns do business at Paycor Stadium, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team has a tilt with Grambling State.

The late afternoon tip is UC’s last non-conference game of the season. A week from Monday the winter slog of Big 12 games begins at Kansas State. As of Saturday, seven Big 12 teams are among the top 30 according to the NCAA NET rankings and KenPom.com.

Dayton Flyers guards Posh Alexander (5) and Malachi Smith (11) attempt to defend against Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jizzle James (2) Friday at Heritage Bank Center. James had 14 points as UC won 66-59.

The Bearcats are coming off back-to-back local rivalry games with Xavier and Dayton. Both were wins in front of noisy crowds. Friday the No. 19 Bearcats led by as many as 18 points against the 22nd-ranked Flyers and never trailed in a 66-59 victory.

“That’s a team right there that could play in the Sweet 16 or the Elite Eight, they’re that good,” UC coach Wes Miller said of the Dayton Flyers.

Now Miller goes from what he called his toughest preparation of the year for Dayton to Grambling State slumping into Fifth Third Arena at 2-9.

Grambling State is coming off a Thursday-Friday Chris Paul HBCU tournament in Connecticut where they played Delaware State and Norfolk State and fell short both days.

Grambling State power opponents

The Tigers, as many non-Power Four teams do have taken some paydays to get to this point with five of their losses coming against USC, New Mexico, Florida, Ole Miss and Pepperdine. It should be noted the Ole Miss Rebels were No. 24 when Grambling State played them in November and the Tigers only lost by a bucket, 66-64.

Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Wes Miller leads his team into their final non-conference game Sunday afternoon at 4 when the Grambling State Tigers come to Fifth Third Arena.

A chance for double-digit wins by New Year’s Day

With a win over Grambling State, UC would be at 10 wins…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/scouting-report-cincinnati-bearcats-basketball-161857993.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-12-21 16:18:00

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