Cincinnati Bearcats beat ECU Pirates from perimeter for AAC victory

A blistering first half from long range helped Cincinnati's Bearcats bomb the incoming Pirates from East Carolina Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The final in front of 9,118 for the late-night tip was 83-55. UC improves to 12-6, 3-2 in the American Athletic Conference and 10-2 on its home floor. The Pirates fall to 10-8 and 1-4 in the league.

The Bearcats were tremendous early, making 10 of their 14 three-point attempts in the first half for 71.4%. The rims seemingly were as large as hula hoops. Conversely, ECU was 1-for-10 and down 13 points. The hole would grow deeper in half two as the Bearcats led by as many as 27.

Leading the way Wednesday was Landers Nolley II with 20 points, 10 rebounds and a 4-of-9 night from deep. The redshirt senior was most pleased with his glasswork.

"I worked hard tonight for them boards," Nolley said. "That was my whole mindset coming out. I told John Newman 10 boards. That was my main focus."

Jeremiah Davenport had 16 points and was 4-for-8 from long range. Josh Reed made all three of his treys and Mika Adams-Woods made both of his.

"The ball was popping around, I thought that part was good," UC head coach Wes Miller said. "(It's) something we've been emphasizing and working on a lot."

David DeJulius returned to double figures after a two-game absence. He did so with a double-double with 12 assists to his 11 points.

"We were able to get in transition and make simple passes," DeJulius said. "Guys were able to get in the lane and find guys on the outside. When you have the opportunity to get good shots like that you see guys have the good games that they had tonight."

Said Nolley of the grad student's effort, "11 points and 12 assists? That's crazy! No way he felt like Chris Paul tonight."

Grad senior Newman, who is injured, was so excited about the efforts of Nolley and DeJulius that he made a cameo in the interview room. Mainly it was to ask DeJulius for his post-game chicken wings.

Viktor Lakhin missed out on double figures for the first time since the NKU loss as he had eight points and six rebounds. UC outrebounded the Pirates 46-29 as Ody Oguama added eight boards.

"46-29, that's the kind of stuff that gets me warm and fuzzy inside as a coach," Miller said. "It wasn't just one guy. Certainly Chez (Landers Nolley II) with 10 that's been a huge emphasis for his development as a player. It's multiple guys. Jeremiah has six, Viktor has eight, Ody has eight. I thought David was good chasing down defensive rebounds getting those long ones."

Javon Small led ECU in the loss with 23 points. The Pirates shot just 34.5% and were only 4-of-19 from the threes compared to UC's 14-for-26. Their top scorer, sophomore Brandon Johnson, came in averaging 13.2 points and nine rebounds. He exited with just two points and three boards.

UC has now won seven in a row from the Pirates and 19 of 21. The last time ECU beat the Bearcats was four years ago in Greenville, 73-71 in Mick Cronin's final year at the helm.

It was ECU's lowest-scoring output since being held to 50 against Old Dominion in November. To show you the quirkiness of basketball, they beat South Carolina of the SEC in December and the Gamecocks just defeated Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

Nolley started the game hot as he did against Houston with a pair of treys. UC led 8-4 at the first timeout but didn't get back on defense forcing a Miller timeout less than a minute later. UC quickly started to light up more from the arc as Davenport went back-to-back, then freshman Josh Reed. UC hit seven of its first nine from the perimeter.

At the final media timeout of the half, the Bearcats were 9-for-13 on triples and up 14 points. Cheerleaders were icing their arms from throwing out the celebratory T-shirts. UC would end the half 10-for-14 from the perimeter for a 13-point lead.

The 3-pointers came with less frequency in the second half but the Bearcats were able to maintain their double-digit advantage and never trailed in the contest. Their 14 triples fell short of this season's high mark which was 17 against Arizona in the Maui Invitational.

"I didn't think we took bad shots," Miller said. "Landers and Jeremiah hit some early that opened the game up for us. I thought we took pretty good shots. That's because we were trying to play the right way and share the ball in the open court."

Despite the lopsided win and double-double, Nolley mentioned he wasn't a fan of the late-night tips. Wednesday was UC's third and final 9 p.m. start.

"Honestly, I'm not a big fan of them," he said. "I'd rather get my game out of the way by noon and have the rest of the day to get right."

Said Miller, "I like playing basketball. You guys want to play at six in the morning? Let's throw it up and go! Whenever they say the ball's tipping up, we need to be ready to compete. That's what comes with putting the jersey on."

The Bearcats have a quick turnaround now with a road game in Dallas against SMU Saturday at 4 p.m. EST. The Mustangs lost to Tulane Wednesday night 97-88.

An engaging man

UC's athletic department introduced Stanley Frazier Jr. as Associated AD of Marketing and Fan Engagement Wednesday.

"We're thrilled to have Stanley join us to lead our marketing and fan engagement," Deputy AD for External Relations Anthony Di Fino said. "Stanley will be an integral part of the launch into the Big 12 and beyond."

Frazier is from Dayton and a two-time graduate of Wright State. His college stops include Kent StaTe, New Mexico, UTSA (Texas-San Antonio), Tulsa and Northern Kentucky.

Elias coming

Taft High edge rusher Elias Rudolph has UC in his Top 10 and plans to be at Fifth Third Arena Sunday, Jan. 22 when the basketball Bearcats play Memphis. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder led the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference with 17.5 sacks among his 87 tackles and 15 tackles for loss. Rudolph has offers from numerous Power Five schools.

The kicker

After adding transfer Carter Brown from Arizona State on Tuesday, the ever-busy UC football recruiting crew added Wilmington High's Rory Bell Wednesday. Bell was at Temple and in 2021 kicked a 55-yard field goal in Nippert against the Bearcats. He was Temple's kickoff specialist this past season. In 2020 he was 5-for-5 on field goals and 9-for-16 in 2021. Bell trained locally under former Bearcat kicker Andrew Gantz.

CINCINNATI 38 45 83

EAST CAROLINA 25 30 55

UC - Lakhin 3 2 8 Oguama 1 1 3 Nolley 7 2 20 Adams-Woods 3 0 8 DeJulius 4 2 11 Davenport 6 0 16 Skillings 3 0 6 Reed 3 0 9 Ezikpe 1 0 2

ECU -Ausar 4 2 10 Johnson 1 0 2 Felton 2 2 6 Diboundje 3 2 9 Small 8 5 23 Pinedo 1 0 2 Bayels 1 0 3

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati basketball: UC Bearcats hit 3-point shots for win over ECU