Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Posts Sleepy Performance Across 72-55 Win Over Mount St. Mary's

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats won an ugly one 72-55 inside Fifth Third Arena on Sunday night to continue their early-season gelling as a team. Wes Miller is probably thankful conference play is six weeks away after Mount St. Mary's gave his team all it could handle as near 30-point betting underdogs.

A 19-2 UC run in the second half saved them from the most embarrassing loss of the Wes Miller era.

They were losing to MSM as late as the 13-minute mark.

Cincinnati trailed 36-30 at the half, but got its fast offense going in the second half and ended up moving to 4-0 on the season. Xavier Lipscomb (14 points, none in second half) was red-hot from deep for half the night in one of his best college games.

Very few Bearcats played well in one of the most lifeless non-conference showings we've seen from a Wes Miller team. They shot just 37.5% from the floor and only won the rebounding battle by 10 despite a major height advantage.

Fastbreak Storyline: LONGGGGGG Way To Go

Cincinnati's scary matchup against No. 12 Louisville this coming Friday got scarier after another wonky showing from this group. It's one thing to struggle with turnovers in a wire-to-wire win over a top-75 team in Dayton; it's another to struggle even more against a 1-2 team that entered this game ranked 272nd on KenPom with a bottom-50 offense.

MSM shot well from deep throughout the game (37%), and Cincinnati shot poorly to answer. The ball movement was pretty non-existent throughout the night, and Cincinnati's deeper rotation crumbled as Miller went down the bench.

Halvine Dzellat (one point, -5 +/- on the night) and Keyshuan Tillery (nine points, three rebounds) looked lost for much of the game, while Kerr Kriisa and Shon Abaev combined to go 4-20 from the field.

On the bright side, the turnover problem ended (10 total TOs) against one of the least disruptive teams in the nation. MSM only forced eight turnovers per game entering the contest.

Louisville has to be licking its chops thinking about this matchup on Friday. They have been one of the most dominant teams in the country this season, with a 96-88 win over No. 9 Kentucky already on the board and zero point totals below that mark in four games.

Player of the Game: Moustapha Thiam

The Bearcats' big man was one of the few players who showed up in this game. He was dominant defensively against MSM's small lineup with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Thiam kept great care of the ball and picked his spots well to stay efficient throughout the game. He is steadily finding the right areas on the floor to make his mark, and that was aided by another strong game by Day Day Thomas (16 points, five rebounds, five assists).

Cincinnati may have a loss at this point if it didn't have the veteran guard. He continues to play with the most intensity of any Bearcat, and he filled the stat sheet with aggressive driving and continued strong shooting (3-3 from deep).

UC may need him to post his best career game to have any chance against Louisville at Heritage Bank Center on Friday. That game tips off at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

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