Jerrod Calhoun And More Detail Illinois Home Exhibition Showdown

The first home action in front of fans for Jerrod Calhoun.

Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Jerrod Calhoun looks on from the sideline in the second half of the CareSource Invitational exhibition game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. The Bearcats won 79-68. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Cincinnati is now 1-1 in its exhibition run to start the Jerrod Calhoun era. He spoke after Saturday's 105-96 loss to Illinois at home, which featured a nice 31-point outing from Tylen Riley.

Cincinnati is still coming together as two weeks remain until opening night against American. They have one more exhibition on Oct. 27 against Oakland at home.

"Trying to piece practices together. Akai Fleming goes down, Elijah Perryman goes down. Both kids will be back in probably about a week," Calhoun said. "The guy that I'm most proud of outside of Tylen Riley tonight is Eric Mahaffey. For him to come in and fill our point guard position - never have done that ever against, I think, a potential national championship team - took a lot of courage, so yeah.

"I think all in all, we learned a ton about our group: we're not going to quit. You know, we did the same thing against Ohio State in the second half. But there are points in games where you have to win the margins, right? And I thought when we tied it up, we were right there. I don't know what the time was, but they beat us on a couple 50-50 balls, offensive rebounds, and great teams are going to make you pay, and they did."

MJ Collins returned to the floor in game action, scoring eight points and grabbing two rebounds in 26 minutes, while committing five fouls.

As of now, Collins is eligible thanks to Ohio Governor Mike Dewine's executive order from this week.

"Anxious," Calhoun said about Collins in the game. "When you don't play, you don't have that rhythm, right? You're trying to impact winning; he's a wonderful kid, first and foremost. And he'll get better with game reps. He gives us another dimension of shot-making. And tonight, he looked just a little bit slow defensively. Typically, he's much better defensively. But I think as the season goes, he'll get better defensively."

Oakland tips off against UC on the 27th at 7:30 p.m. ET. Check out all of the comments below:

Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, breakdowns, and so much more. Be sure to check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.

Also, don't miss the podcast, Bearcat Blitz, wherever you get your shows!

Apple  

Spotify  

YouTube

Be sure to keep it locked in on Bearcats Talk, as we cover the trials and tribulations of the Big 12!

Follow Bearcats Talk on Twitter: @BearcatsTalk

Like Bearcats Talk on Facebook: Bearcats Talk