Preview Pawprints: Cleveland State

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats (1-0) continue a home-heavy non-conference slate on Thursday against Cleveland State (0-1). Like many games in this series, UC is a big favorite to take out the Vikings.

CSU is 0-12 all-time against the Bearcats and enters the game having lost to Division II Notre Dame College in their season opener 72-68.

ESPN's Matchup predictor gives UC a 91.8% chance of beating the Vikings. According to SI Sportsbook, UC is a 20-point favorite over CSU.

Here are three things to watch in the second game of the season.

Rolling Rotation

The Bearcats have plenty of worthy talents making a case for the season-long rotation. At the final buzzer of the 98-55 win over Chaminade, 11 players had logged at least 10 minutes.

It wasn't just the bench getting shuffled early this year, the starting lineup had a pair of surprises as well. A leap from Viktor Lakhin earned him his first start at UC, while Mika Adams-Woods got the nod over Rob Phinisee.

"Honestly, there hasn't been a ton of separation," Miller said about the roster. "Top to bottom on the roster through the preseason. Some of that's because we got a lot of guys that have played well, we got a lot of depth, we played 13 [players] tonight. So, part of that's because we got a lot of depth and we got to figure out how to utilize it. But figuring out the right combinations, the right lineups to start and finish games, that'll be a process."

Expect UC's lineup experimentation to be fluid over the next ten days before traveling to the Maui Invitational. Miller didn't set this starting lineup in stone after the game as the program searches for the best five-man combination to lean on.

Cleveland State (271st in KenPom) is a great team to keep testing things against. If UC keeps sharing the ball as they did against Chaminade, there shouldn't be many weak links to exploit before the Big Island trip.

Cincinnati hit plenty of singles against Chaminade to build up a 43-point win.

"We've really stressed sharing the ball," Miller said. "making this simple play, playing together from the first day of summer until now, and the guys have really embraced that. It was really good to see us share the ball at times tonight, and there was sometimes I thought we got a little stagnant or tried to maybe make the difficult pass instead of the easy pass. But 24 assists listen, anytime your coach and then you get 24 assists you're going to feel pretty good."

Bash Brother Bond Forming?

The energy Landers Nolley (19 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Jeremiah Davenport (14 points, four rebounds) played with on Monday defined contagious. Having that spark to lean on could be a key competitive edge for the Bearcats.

This duo hit their first two shots of the game each and had the roof ready to explode with joint celebrations. They scored 14 of the Bearcats' 16 points.

"It's crazy because we were talking in the locker room before the game," Nolley said. "Usually when I hit my first shot, I don't play good. So honestly, for the second one to go in, and a couple more to go in, it felt good. My teammates provided for me—and I took advantage of what the defense offered."

Whether it was the dunks (14 as a team) or contact at the rim, Davenport and Nolley brought a physicality that let David Dejulius (game-high 24 points) quietly assassinate in the half-court.

in 2021-22, UC had a big two—that became a one-man Dejulius show when Davenport would start slow on offense and lose confidence. Now, UC has three high-level perimeter scorers that can share the load and allow each other into the game flow at different points.

Nolley couldn't have started his Bearcats career much better offensively, posting the most points in a UC debut since Sean Kilpatrick in 2010.

Double-Double Vikings

It's tough to gauge much off one game, but the Vikings sport two clear offensive leaders in guard Tristan Enaruna (20 points, 11 rebounds) and guard Deshon Parker (13 points, 11 assists).

The former is a transfer from Iowa State with plenty of big-time experience over the past few seasons. Enaruna started 26 games and played in 33 contests overall for the Cyclones in 2021-22, including a career-high 23 points against Baylor.

He's a bruising 6-foot-8 power forward that could give Davenport and UC's wings some trouble on interior drives. The man distributing to him has been at CSU one year longer following a transfer from App State.

Parker is an entrenched starter for the Vikings and is efficient with the basketball. He finished second in the Horizon League last season with a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio and 14th in the conference with 3.0 assists per game. He should be a much better test for UC's added defensive wrinkle: ball pressure.

Miller's team has the horses to press more consistently this year, and it helped them turn Chaminade over 22 times (12 steals). A repeat of that mark will make this another blowout at Fifth Third Arena.

Catch the game at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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