UC basketball starts AAC play with win, holding off late Tulane rally

The grind of league play has arrived for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats along with the reality that no lead is ever safe.

Thursday night at Fifth Third Arena, coach Wes Miller's Bearcats led by as many as 17, only to see Tulane cut the deficit repeatedly in the second half. Many of the 9,484 comfortable in their seats early were squirming when the Green Wave cut UC's lead to a bucket with just over seven minutes left.

Landers Nolley II's 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring at 3:56 put the Bearcats up 9 points and they were able to fend off all late challenges from there, eventually beating Tulane 88-77. The Bearcats led for nearly 39 of the game's 40 minutes.

"Any league win is a good win," Coach Miller said. "That's a really good basketball team, a terrific offensive basketball team. Finishing games out needs to be a bit better, but you did see some stops down the stretch, that's how you finish it."

UC had five scorers in double figures led by redshirt senior Nolley with 23, senior Mika Adams-Woods with 18, grad senior David DeJulius with 13, redshirt sophomore Viktor Lakhin with 13 and senior Jeremiah Davenport with 10.

Nolley's old-school shot fakes were effective most of the night. His 23-point effort was second only to his 33-point outing in Maui against Arizona. Afterward, he admitted to working on his pump fakes in practice even when he's not guarded.

"Everyone on the team tells me to shoot more," Nolley said.

Said Miller, "He does what good offensive players do. They have a weapon and they have a way to play off of it. He's such an elite shooter. There's sometimes he shot fakes and I want him to shoot it because every time he shoots it, I think it's going in."

Nolley canned five treys on the night, while Lakhin achieved a double-double for the fifth time this season, all Bearcat victories. He had 13 boards and the Bearcats outrebounded the Green Wave 38-31.

"I still think he's just scratching the surface of who he is as a player," Miller said of Lakhin. "You're not seeing anyone close to their ceiling. He's going to keep coming and coming and coming."

Tulane was topped by juniors Kevin Cross with 22 points and Jaylen Forbes with 20. Coach Ron Hunter's Green Wave falls to 7-5. Preseason First Team All-League pick Jalen Cook was held to 15 points, with just two of those coming in the second half. He came in averaging 20.2. Credit DeJulius on the defense.

"I thought him fouling out had a huge outcome on their possessions down the stretch," Miller said. "There were a couple offensive fouls that David drew beating him to the position. Those are humongous plays for our team."

Unlike last year's meeting when the Bearcats dug a 26-point hole in the first half before trying to rally back, UC came out on target. In their lone game last season, Tulane hit 9-of-14 of their treys in the first half. On this night, they went 0-for-10.

UC's biggest lead of the half was 17, but Tulane was able to cut it to 10 by the break, largely on free throws. Lakhin sat the final five-plus minutes of the first stanza with two fouls but was active on the boards with seven by the break. As hot as they were to start, the second half began ice cold as UC's double-digit lead was whittled to four by Tulane at the 15:39 mark. They would eventually make it a two-point game before the Bearcats found the accelerator, prevailing by 11 in the end.

Nolley II was 5-for-9 from the arc while Adams-Woods was 7-of-8 from the floor. The hard-driving lefty also dished out six assists.

"I know I need to step up and do whatever my team needs me to do," Adams-Woods said. "Whatever it takes. Whether it's assists, scoring, guarding, that's my mindset going into conference play."

The 10-4 Bearcats ring in the new year in Philadelphia on Sunday when they take on 7-7 Temple at the Liacouras Center at 3 p.m. The Owls won their AAC opener Wednesday night at East Carolina, 59-57.

SEEN IN THE GYM: Point guard recruit Jasper Johnson from Woodford County (Kentucky) shot some video courtside before the UC/Tulane game. He is a class of 2025 prospect.

Also, former Bearcat Mamoudou Diarra was in the front row for Thursday's action. Diarra finished his college career at Tennessee Tech.

HUNTER NEAR HOME: Tulane coach Ron Hunter is from Dayton and played his college ball for Miami University. Before the game, he blew kisses to well-wishers behind the Green Wave bench. Prior to Tulane, he coached against UC for Georgia State in the NCAA tournament in 2018. The Bearcats won 68-53. Then-coach Mick Cronin's 31-win season would end two days later in the second round vs. Nevada. UC had won 18 of 20 against Tulane before the Green Wave outshot the Bearcats on Jan. 1 of last season.

GOODBYE JOE, ME GOTTA GO: After being charter members of the old Metro Conference, Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference, the Bearcats will part ways with Tulane after this year's AAC tournament to join the Big 12. Trivia buffs may know Tulane was once a member of a Power Five conference as a charter member of the Southeastern Conference until 1966.

CINCINNATI 45 43 88

TULANE 35 42 77

T -Holloway 1 0 2 Cross 7 6 22 James 3 5 12 Cook 6 3 15 Forbes 4 11 20 Pope 3 0 6]

UC -Lakhin 4 5 13 Nolley 7 4 23 Adams-Woods 7 3 18 DeJulius 5 2 13 Davenport 3 3 10 Skillings 3 1 7 Oguama 2 0 4

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats beat Tulane for AAC win