Three Man Weave: Bearcats Rain Fire From Deep in 90-69 Victory over Tulsa

Cincinnati moved to 4-2 in AAC play with the win.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Jan 21, 2022 4:20 PM EST

CINCINNATI — The winning ways continued for Cincinnati (14-5, 4-2) in a 90-69 triumph over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (6-10, 0-5).

It was another night where guards like Jeremiah Davenport (24 points, four rebounds) and David Dejulius (22 points, two rebounds) put on a show from outside to earn a comfortable win. UC struggled with turnover issues but tightened things up in the second half to ensure victory.

Here's the Three Man Weave on Cincinnati's third-straight win and most points scored this season.

Downtown Davenport

Davenport was a man on a mission from the outside against Tulsa. He had shot just 21.7% from deep in the past two games, but shooters don't look back—and he never did on Thursday night. Davenport shot 7-for-9 from downtown in a flamethrower-performance.

His 6-foot-7 frame makes things very difficult once he gets in a rhythm, and Tulsa felt the full force of his shooting acumen. Whether it was catch-and-shoot opportunities or dribble pullups, Davenport destroyed Tulsa on either end from the right wing.

Cincinnati struggled shooting from two-point range (13-for-33), but Davenport and Dejulius made sure to brush that over with downtown volume. UC outscored Tulsa 48-9 from the three-point line as the guard duo finished No. 1 and No. 3 in usage rate. Mason Madsen (14 points, 5-for-6 from deep) took over the three-point party in the second half as Cincinnati moved to 5-0 in school history when he hits three-plus triples.

"Obviously more points on the board probably leads to more wins," Madsen said when he learned the multiple made three-pointers nugget. "That's a good stat, I like that you throw it out there, makes me feel good. I just wanna say too that Jarrett [Hensley] owes me dinner tonight because he told me before the game if I made three threes he'd buy me dinner."

"What are you getting for dinner?" The Athletic's Justin Williams asked.

"Only one spot open on campus, Drunken Taco," Madsen said with a laugh.

Dejulius worked the outside shot nearly as well as his backcourt running mate. The step-back triple is becoming his signature shot—hitting three of his four outside shots with the move.

"He's just so elite at creating space," head coach Wes Miller said about Dejulius's shot selection. "He's very quick twitch, difficult to keep in front, but he can really create space to get a shot.

"And the difficult part of guarding him is he does a good job of doing that, whether it's behind the three-point line or from two. you know I've never been a big fan of that shot (step-back jumper) right? Because you're not breaking the defense down, you're not in great position to offensive rebound, but I've always felt like you allow really good offensive players to play in their comfort zone, play with freedom."

Davenport has taken more control of this offense the deeper UC gets into conference play. He's now scored 20-plus points in three of the last four games as Cincinnati takes advantage of a soft spot in the conference slate.

Koval And Hensley Clamp Tulsa

Cincinnati's big men have taken a step back to the guards offensively in AAC play, but there were plenty of plays that stood out from two bigs at Fifth Third Arena.

Hayden Koval (three points, six rebounds, two blocks) and Jarrett Hensley (two points, six rebounds, two blocks) didn't have eye-popping numbers on Thursday, but they set the tone defensively and brought an infectious effort to the floor.

"It felt really good," Hensley said about his performance. "I just tried to go in there and make plays. Coach [Miller] really challenged me to use my athletic ability and my all-around intangibles to go out there and make plays on the defensive and offensive end."

Both bigs melded into their roles, complemented the hot guards, and went hard after loose balls. Each had their share of timely saves while protecting the rim well. Tulsa only attempted 14 threes and was adamant in testing UC's interior defense.

Both Hensley and Koval made sure that wasn't a winning formula. Hensley played his most minutes of the season (19) on Thursday in place of an ailing Viktor Lakhin. His role then gained more importance when John Newman III went out mid-game with a knee injury. String together a couple more performances like that, and UC has another viable depth piece to feed in the big-man rotation.

"Obviously Vik [Lakhin] is a really good player, and John [Newman III]," Hensley said about helping in his extended minutes. "So I just tried to give my team a lift defensively and tried to make plays on the ball, deflections, blocks, charges...just play hard."

Jeriah Horne Gets His

Tulsa's leading scorer Jeriah Horne (19 points, seven rebounds) made the trip to Fifth Third Arena, but not many of his teammates seemed to show up. Jeriah Horne showed his three-level scoring ability with nifty moves inside, foul-line fadeaways, and a nice feel on the right-wing from outside.

Horne had to be a one-man show outside of guard Darien Jackson (21 points, five rebounds, three assists). The two were the only Golden Hurricane players to finish with a game score over 20 and effective field goal rates over 50%.

Cincinnati's turnovers and unlucky bounces close to the basket were the biggest reason Tulsa didn't get run out of the gym earlier. Cincinnati turned the ball over nine times in the first half and finished with a season-high 19 turnovers. It was an uncharacteristic night from Mika Adams-Woods. The nation's leader in A/TO ratio coughed up four turnovers, tying his career-high set back in 2019.

Their previous high of 14 came in the loss against Arkansas. The biggest difference? UC shot 33% from deep against the Razorbacks and 55.2% on Thursday.

The three-point shot can cover up a bevy of issues, and UC filled up that department beautifully against the Golden Hurricane.

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