Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Cruises In Season-Opening Win Over Western Carolina

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team rolled to victory on Monday night 94-63 to keep Wes Miller's perfect season-opener record intact. The new-look team looked fluid and connected against Western Carolina.

Cincinnati dominated on defense and turned 22 WCU turnovers into plenty of points that drove the win. Shon Abaev led the break on a lot of those to pace the team at a team-high 18 points.

UC showed why it's one of the projected top defensive outfits in the country early and often. The whole rotation got into the mix during this one with 26 total bench points.

The blowout trend continued in this one as Cincinnati entered the season with a 32-point average margin of victory in season openers under Miller and covered as 22.5-point betting favorites.

“I think that it's good to get the first one under your belt,” Miller said. “We played two exhibition games on the road in front of other fans, so it was really nice to get out to Fifth Third in front of our fans. I want to really thank the people that came out and supported us tonight. There are some positive things we can take from the game. I’m happy with 20 assists. I think we have a lot of guys who can make plays with the basketball, can score the basketball and can make good decisions. But with 15 turnovers, I think the decision-making can keep getting better.”

Fastbreak Storyline: Everybody Eats

Cincinnati is tracking to play a lot of talent on this scholarship-packed roster, and 11 players rolled out during the first half. Cincinnati got points from everyone in that frame but Tyler McKinley and Halvine Dzellat.

Those two came out fiery as well, especially McKinley, who got his first game action at UC after missing all of last season. He was active in this game, especially on the defensive end. He looks to be fully healthy and even growing athletically.

Cincinnati rolled out Day Day Thomas, Kerr Kriisa, Baba Miller, Moustapha Thiam, and Shon Abaev in the starting lineup. It could be the first of many from Miller as he finds the right lineup that fits over the next few weeks before a ranked battle against Louisville.

The uptick in pace was noticeable right away. Kriisa and Thomas are looking to get up court fast, and they caught WCU in shambles. The Bearcats tallied 20 total assists to reflect their strong early offensive chemistry.

Defensively, UC showed early signs of a high ceiling. Sencire Harris and Moustapha Thiam are massive black holes when on the floor, and paired together, it's nearly impossible to penetrate Cincinnati's interior man-to-man looks when they are on point like they were tonight. Harris exited with an undisclosed injury in the second half but was lights out overall.

He had multiple steals in what could be the norm all season. He's tracking to be one of the best on-ball defenders in the country. The danger really comes after that, though. Harris can get up floor and push pace like this team wants to, and he got to the line multiple times in chaos transitions because of that ability. Still, this was terrible competition against a team that's lost six in a row dating back to last year and went 8-22 overall in 2024-25.

WCU is ranked 204th on KenPom and 290th on ESPN's BPI. They looked much closer to the latter number on Monday.

Star of the Game: Shon Abaev

Cincinnati needs a go-to crunchtime scorer this season, and Abaev could be just that. They would've had massive issues if they played any crunchtime minutes in this game, but Abaev was one of the only players to take a midrange look on the evening, and he showed why he has the green light all over the floor.

The freshman finished 7-12 from the floor with a couple of nasty shotmaking moments along the baseline. He has all the signs of a high-level score and became the first UC freshman to score 18-plus point in a season opener since Sean Kilpatrick dropped 21 in 2010.

Baba Miller (18 points, 10 rebounds) deserves love as well, with his relentless rim attacks. The FAU transfer used his dynamic length to slam home multiple dunks and make magic around the rim. He looks like a solid swing man who can fill in a lot of gaps on either end.

Cincinnati is back at it on Friday against Georgia State at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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