UC gets AAC win over USF without big man Lakhin

Minus a 6-foot-11-inch force in the paint, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats dug deep and defeated South Florida's Bulls Saturday night at Fifth Third Arena 84-65. UC outscored USF 50-27 in the second half to the joy of most of the 11,046 in attendance.

Redshirt sophomore Viktor Lakhin enjoyed the festivities from the bench, but teammate Ody Oguama stepped up big by not missing a shot all night. For the second straight game, Oguama scored in double figures. This time it was a career-high 18 points on a perfect 9-for-9 from the field.

For the first time all season, UC triumphed in a game after trailing at halftime. They began the second half down by 4 points but came alive in the second 20 minutes to lead by as many as 21. UC shot 65.6% in the second half and 70% on shots from the arc.

Including three seasons at Wake Forest, Oguama doesn't recall not missing a shot in a game. The last Bearcat to be perfect was NBA player Tari Eason in his one year with the Bearcats who had an 8-for-8 game.

"He went through a stretch earlier in the league where you could almost see it was in his head a little bit," UC coach Wes Miller said of Oguama's scoring improvement. "He's made a concerted effort to work on his game, to get extra time in the gym to focus more in the time we're in there with our team. Now, he's starting to finish."

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Jeremiah Davenport came off the bench firing in 3-pointers from all corners to also rack up 18 points, going 4-for-9 on 3-pointers. Landers Nolley II had his fifth AAC double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. David DeJulius had 10 points and nine assists.

"When the ball was moving, everyone was touching it," Oguama said. "I was just in the right spot at the right time. Teammates were finding me and I just kept it rolling."

USF was led by Corey Walker Jr., who came in averaging 2.9 points per game and finished with 25. The Bulls fall to 10-15 (3-9 AAC).

Lakhin rolled his ankle last Tuesday at Tulane less than 10 minutes into the game. As a result, he was limited to 4 points and a rebound in a game where UC was soundly defeated in the paint in the second half. Lakhin appeared in uniform and headband but with a walking boot on the bench.

Minus Lakhin, fifth-year senior Kalu Ezikpe made his first Bearcat start and his first since taking the floor for Old Dominion March 9, 2022, in the Conference USA tournament. Oguama jumped center to start the game. It was UC's first starting lineup change since the Wichita State game Jan. 4 when Oguama was inserted in place of Davenport.

"They're older players that have played a lot of college basketball," Miller said of Oguama and Ezikpe. "It doesn't surprise me. I'm proud they get opportunities to step into different roles with injuries. I'm proud of that as a coach. That's what a good program does."

USF also was short-handed with 7-footer Russell Tchewa out with a hand injury.

Both teams appeared sluggish shooting the ball with neither team making a 3-point shot until Davenport broke the ice with 8:28 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats would lead for over 10 minutes of the opening frame but surrendered an 8-0 run to the Bulls in the final 1:15 to trail at the break 38-34. USF top scorer Tyler Harris had no field goals until draining a 3-pointer as the first-half buzzer sounded.

UC shot just 31% in the first half, including just 3-of-13 from the perimeter.

The Bearcats would regain the lead early in the second half as Oguama had three consecutive baskets and Davenport hit a fall-away 3-pointer for a 43-40 advantage at the 15:56 media timeout. Davenport would catch fire and launch a 30-footer from the Fifth Third logo on the floor to up the lead to 52-43 forcing a USF timeout a few minutes later with UC on an 18-5 run.

"We knew what we had to do," Oguama said. "We rallied together and played a little bit harder, gave a little bit more energy. We just picked up defensively, shots started falling offensively and we just kept it rolling."

Later in the half, the lead would extend to double digits as Oguama and Davenport dominated. Meanwhile, USF's Harris was held to just 7 points, shooting just 3-for-15.

"You want him to be aggressive and you want him to take shots and make plays," Miller said of Davenport. "He's fun to coach and I was proud of how he responded tonight."

Miller admitted to chewing out No. 24 earlier in the season and coaching him hard. On his NBA-plus 3-pointer in the second half, Davenport wasn't sure of the length but was sure he was firing it up. Davenport is now 12 points away from 1,000 for his UC career.

"I was just thinking, 'I'm so high right now, this is going up,'" Davenport said. "I had to shoot it. My gut was telling me, 'this is going in.' I shot it. It went in. I had to shoot it."

UC also defeated USF by 16 on Jan. 18 in Tampa in one of their better games, so the Bearcats earned the season sweep. Lakhin was limited to 20 minutes that night, fouling out with only 6 points and a rebound. So, the Bearcats have learned how to play without him, though they're much better with him.

"I asked him today, 'Hey, can you give us four to six minutes?'" Miller said. "I'm going to wake up in the morning and call him. I'm going to say, 'Big fellow, are we better?' He's probably going to say 'no' tomorrow. Monday, I'm going to call and say, "Big fellow, are we better?' He's probably going to say 'no,' but I'll keep doing it until he says 'yes.' The minute that him and (head Athletic Trainer) Bob Mangine tell me he can play, he's going to be back out there and everybody will be happy."

UC is also without Rob Phinisee for the rest of the season. He had surgery on his knee injury Saturday. The Indiana transfer suffered the knee issue late in Tuesday's game at Tulane.

The Bearcats now have a week on the road where conference wins never come easy. They'll be at East Carolina at 7 p.m. Wednesday night with a 17-9 record (8-5 AAC). That's followed by a Sunday, Feb. 19, date at noon in Orlando with UCF. East Carolina will play with heavy hearts as their long-time announcer Jeff Charles died suddenly over the weekend, forcing the cancellation of their game with Tulane.

The Problem

Former UC big man Gary Clark Jr. attended Saturday and threw out t-shirts to the crowd. Clark is one of three Bearcats players to score more than 1,400 points and grab more than 1,100 rebounds. The other two are Naismith Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman, whose numbers are retired.

Football fodder

Coach Scott Satterfield's football Bearcats added a couple of notable locals Saturday with Will Kocher and Michael Mussari from Kings. Kocher, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound quarterback, led the Eastern Cincinnati Conference with 4,741 yards passing and 50 touchdowns and ran for 750 yards and 15 scores. Mussari at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds led the ECC in receiving with 84 catches for 1,750 yards and 29 touchdowns. Kings made it to the Ohio Division II state semifinals where Kocher threw for 568 yards and five touchdowns in a 52-49 loss to Toledo Central Catholic. Mussari caught three of those touchdowns. Both come in as preferred walk-ons.

CINCINNATI 34 50 84SOUTH FLORIDA 38 27 65

UC - Ezikpe 2 1 5 Oguama 9 0 18 Nolley 4 4 13 Adams-Woods 3 0 8 DeJulius 4 1 10 Davenport 6 2 18 Skillings 3 0 8 Hensley 0 4 4

USF - Walker 10 4 25 Hines 3 0 6 Conwell 1 0 2 Harris 3 0 7 Chaplin 1 0 2 Miguel 2 4 8 Muordar 3 1 7 Smith 1 0 2 Boggs 2 0 6

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC gets Saturday night short-handed AAC win vs.USF