Three Man Weave: Bearcats Wallop East Carolina 83-55

David DeJulius recorded a stat line the program hasn't seen in over five years.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Jan 12, 2023 7:19 AM EST

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CINCINNATI — A nice bounce-back win for Wes Miller and the Bearcats.

Cincinnati Basketball (12-6, 3-2) destroyed East Carolina (10-8, 1-4) 83-55 on Wednesday night behind a pair of double-doubles from Landers Nolley II (20 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds) and David DeJulius (11 points, 12 assists).

The latter showcased a special offensive night from UC (20 assists).

Cincinnati is now 5-0 this season when they hit 20-plus assists. It was the second-largest win by point differential this season.

“Twenty assists and the balls popping around tonight," UC head coach Wes Miller said. "nine turnovers and a couple were careless I didn't like that, but the balls popping around and thought that part was good. It's something we've been emphasizing and working on a lot, and we've had some nights where that's really happened, and that happened for us tonight that was good. The rebounding, 46-29 That's the kind of stuff that gets me warm and fuzzy inside as a coach."

Here's the Three Man Weave on Cincinnati's 83-55 win, moving them to 10-0 all-time at home against ECU.

Three-Point Barrage

Jan 11, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Landers Nolley II (2) reacts to making a three-point basket against the East Carolina Pirates in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports — © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Cincinnati hit a whopping 10 threes in the first half to just 3 two-point UC field goals (3-of-17). That outside acumen powered the Bearcats all night with a 14-of-26 final line, their second-most triples in a game this season.

“As I've told you guys before it's always for me. I mean, certainly, when balls go in guys, you're going to feel better that's not rocket science," Miller said. "You guys all know that. It is always to me about quality shots. I didn't think we took bad shots. I thought Jeremiah and Landers making some early that really opened the game up for us. I thought we took pretty good shots."

Three different Bearcats hit 3-plus triples in Jeremiah Davenport (16 points, 6 rebounds), Josh Reed (9 points, 3 rebounds), and Nolley.

"I thought it's because we were trying to play the right way and share the ball in the open court. And when you do that, you're going give yourself a better chance to make them, and then you're going get your going to give yourself a better chance to get the offensive rebound when you don't. And there were a couple longer possessions, but we kept moving and kept trying to attack and we made some shots at the end of possessions too, because we were playing the right way. So, it's not always going in like that. I get that. It hasn't always gone in like that this year, but I did think we were playing the right way.”

Process, process, process. Cincinnati has gelled into an offensive system and sometimes talent just isn't there to capitalize on the opportunities.

It all came together Wednesday night as Cincinnati's defense turned into offense and the shots fell. ECU is right in the middle of most national metrics, marking another example that UC can hammer mediocre to bad teams with its system and continuity.

Double-Double DeJulius

Cincinnati Bearcats guard David DeJulius (5) passes the ball from the ground as East Carolina Pirates guard Quentin Diboundje (4) defends in the second half of the NCAA men s basketball game at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. Ncaa Basketball Eastern Carolina Pirates At Cincinnati Bearcats — © Albert Cesare / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Bearcats leading scorer just pulled something off that no other UC player has done in the past five years. DeJulius became the first player with an assists double-double since Troy Caupain on Feb. 4, 2016, versus South Florida. It was also his first-career double-double.

The assists area career-high for DeJulius, who has a fantastic sense of when to use his offensive gravity against defenses. His shot wasn't super sharp again on Wednesday (4-of-11 FGs), but great players will ways to impact games.

“Yeah, one thing I don't want us to ever take for granted is David’s value to this team," Miller said about his guard's performance. "Watching him grow in the role that he's in. We go as David DeJulius goes, we know that, and I don't mean we go as he scores; we go as he goes. He's really growing in that leadership role. It's been really neat to see. And he's learning that his impact on our team is so much greater than any one thing on the floor."

DeJulius was the most impactful player on the floor, notching a team-high 20.2 points produced, on UC's highest usage rate (25.4%).

"You're seeing nights over the course of the last month or so where he impacts winning by defending and setting the tone out front defensively and taking on challenges," Miller continued. "You're seeing nights where he impacts winning by scoring. You're seeing nights tonight where he impacts winning by finding the right guy. And I think that's what we need him to be."

Overall, DeJulius is pacing towards career bests in effective field goal rate, steals, turnover rate, and points produced.

"He's really grown into a role where the only thing he cares about is this program taking steps forward, this team winning," Miller concluded. "He's willing to do whatever it takes, and that's been neat. And I can't state enough how much we value that and how much we need that from him.”

Blunt Pirates

Jan 11, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; East Carolina Pirates guard Javon Small (12) controls the ball against Cincinnati Bearcats guard Mika Adams-Woods (3) in the first half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports — © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Cincinnati's defense was stellar on Wednesday night, holding ECU to 34% shooting and just 21% from deep.

The patented man-to-man scheme left the Pirates with zero options given the lack of on-ball creators they roster. Cincinnati stayed disciplined against one of the nation's highest-volume free throw shooters (11-of-15 FTs).

"No matter what happens," Miller said. "We got to try to win the next possession. So, defensively it can't matter what just happened. That's always a fight. With young people that are still trying to learn what it's about. This team still has some work to do there."

Nolley led the team in scoring and was their best defender. He and Viktor Lakhin (8 points, 6 rebounds) recorded a team-high 8 stops, posting a 77.1 defensive rating to Lakhin's 73.1 mark.

"I always say my favorite wins as a coach are when you shoot 20 or 30% because you can't go in the ocean. You still win because your team just defends and rebounds and we still got a lot. Obviously, we won the game and that's all great and everything. We still got a lot of room to grow in terms of how we approach every possession.”

The Bearcats posted their third-best performance all season by defensive efficiency (67.5). Cincinnati is a perfect 9-0 when they hold opponents below 43% shooting in 2022-23. That's how good the offense has been.

Cincinnati now travels to Texas for a bout against SMU on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The game is available via fuboTV—start your free trial here.

Make sure you bookmark All Bearcats for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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