Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Gets Positive Injury Update Surrounding Shon Abaev

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats are as healthy as they've been in months after Shon Abaev (ankle) was taken off the injury report entering today's game against Oklahoma State.

Abaev has not played since January 24 with the ankle issue, but he's back to try to turn around a tough freshman season so far. He's averaging eight points and three rebounds per game.

OSU is a substantial betting underdog in this game, with sportsbooks setting them as 9.5-point underdogs. The absence of 14 PPG scoring big man Parsa Fallah is a big reason.

He just tore his ACL this week and is out for the season. Cincinnati has to win out the rest of the regular season and snag a couple of Big 12 Tournament games to have any chance of dancing into the NCAA Tournament in two weeks.

"It's the Big 12, playing on the road is difficult," UC head coach Wes Miller said after Tuesday's loss to Texas Tech. "We just won a game a couple of days ago. I liked our competitive spirit and fight, even though it didn't go our way. Now we need to respond and get ready for a home game on Saturday."

The Bearcats have top play every game like it's their last, moving forward.

They did that to start against Texas Tech, going 9-9 from the field, but things tailed off.

"I thought both groups struggled to get stops early," Miller continued. "We scored. They scored. That's why it was close early, because both groups doubled to get stops. And I think both groups settled in, and, you know, you all of a sudden, shots are getting missed on both ends. The difference is that they got the offensive rebounds, and those resulted in baskets. So, you know, again, I liked our offensive start. It didn't like our defensive start."

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