Short-handed Cincinnati Bearcats fall to Memphis 81-74 on '70s throwback night

The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team's woes continued Tuesday night.

Without 6-foot-11, 255-pound defensive stopper Abdul Ado patrolling the paint, the Bearcats lacked the size and depth needed to keep up with Memphis, falling to the Tigers 81-74 on 1970s throwback night at Fifth Third Arena.

"Don't think for one second I'm going to get into the excuse business," UC coach Wes Miller said. "We've got to get our asses better. Everybody's had guys miss games. That's just college basketball. But we're better with Abdul. His defensive impact is as good as anybody in the American (Athletic) Conference on a possession-to-possession basis."

Miller said Ado, who entered the night averaging 1.6 blocks per game, rolled his ankle Wednesday night at South Florida and was hampered by the injury Saturday night at Tulsa. Miller said the Mississippi State graduate transfer probably shouldn't have played against the Golden Hurricane.

"It swelled up a lot on him after the Tulsa game, maybe even worse than it was after South Florida," Miler said. "He did not practice this week. He tried to give it a go in shootaround and could not."

Donning alternate throwback uniforms that pay homage to Gale Catlett's UC teams that earned three straight NCAA Tournament bids from 1975-77, Cincinnati (16-9, 6-6 AAC) lost its second straight game and suffered its second defeat to the Tigers this season. (UC fell 87-80 Jan. 9 at Memphis.)

Memphis (15-8, 9-4), which upset then-No. 6 Houston 69-59 on the road on Saturday, extended its winning streak to six games.

With Ody Oguama starting in place of the injured Ado, the Tigers opened up an early 23-12 lead. Reigning AAC Freshman of the Week Jalen Duren scored seven of Memphis' first nine points.

"He's a great player," Miller said of Duren. "Guys, we're going to be watching him play 82 games (NBA regular season) next year."

Even after the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Duren was forced to the bench for most of the first half with foul trouble, the Bearcats failed to get much going offensively.

"They had us spooked the first 10-15 minutes," UC junior guard Jeremiah Davenport said.

With "Dream on" by Aerosmith (1973), "Fire" by the Ohio Players (1974), "War" by Edwin Starr (1970) and other anthems from the '70s blasting through the speakers, Cincinnati made just one of its 10 first-half 3-point attempts and were outscored 22-10 in the paint.

The Tigers turned seven first-half turnovers by the Bearcats into 13 points and worked their way to two 17-point leads before carrying a 41-26 advantage into halftime.

"Their pressure in the first half, I thought it just had a tremendous impact on us offensively," said Miller, who coached while his mentor, Roy Williams (sporting a black pullover with a C-Paw on the chest), watched from the crowd while . "They tried to do it in our first game and I thought we handled it really well. But (tonight) it took us out of our running game. It took us out of our half-court offense. They're doubling Dave (David DeJulius) it felt like on every on-ball action. Sometimes not even on on-ball action. We struggled to handle that and convert and make plays.

"That had an effect on the possessions in the first half where they didn't do that, I mean, because it had us so out of whack. You start pressing. Guys aren't in the right spots. So it had a big effect on us. And then I thought we adjusted to it later in the first half and we talked a lot about it at halftime."

After scoring just four points before intermission, DeJulius got going in the second half. The senior guard scored seven points in the first five minutes to bring UC within 44-35 at the 16:39 mark.

DeJulius jump-started a Cincinnati squad that pulled within six on three separate occasions before a dunk by Oguama cut Memphis' lead to 60-56 with 8:15 remaining. But the Bearcats couldn't close the gap any further.

Davenport did his best to keep the score close, posting 13 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. The former Moeller High School standout also had 11 rebounds, with five coming on the offensive end.

DeJulius, who scored 20-plus points in each of the last three games, finished with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (0-for-3 from 3-point range). Mike Saunders Jr. scored 10.

More: Playing with renewed confidence, David DeJulius steps into go-to role for UC Bearcats

Memphis had five players score in double figures. Tyler Harris led the way with 15. Duren and Landers Nolley II each had 13.

Former UC players Andre Tate and Tarrance Gibson as well as Cincinnati football coach Luke Fickell and several members of the Bearcats football team were honored with applauses from the sold-out crowd.

Cincinnati will stay home Thursday to host Wichita State (13-9, 4-6). Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Shockers are 4-2 in their last six games.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati basketball: Bearcats fall to Memphis 81-74 on '70s night