Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Wins College Basketball Crown Opening Round Battle Against DePaul

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats rolled past DePaul 83-61 in the first round of the College Basketball Crown on Tuesday. The Blue Demons had a gutted roster that went 4-16 in Big East play before losing a few key players and that was glaring.

Those exits helped Cincinnati enter cruise mode for much of the game to set up their next matchup on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 against the winner of UCF/Oregon State. Dillon Mitchell (15 points, seven rebounds, three assists) looked hungry to power a tournament run as an offensive weapon all afternoon.

Cincinnati topped the Blue Demons out on nearly every traditional category and has now lost six games in a row to the Bearcats.

"I think obviously, after the Big 12 Tournament, we had, like a week off to just get off our feet," Mitchell said after the win. "I think that was the biggest thing for me. I'm athletic, so i'm jumping all over the place. I think I needed to sit down for a good week, get my legs together and then I mean we got right back to work after that break."

Depleted DePaul

The Blue Demons were missing a handful of rotation pieces to the transfer portal, including guards Conor Enright and Jacob Meyer, plus, forward JJ Traynor.

It was a death knell to any offensive rhythm, highlighted by horrid three-point shooting (5-19) keyed in on well by the Bearcats. UC looked like a team that had been together and practicing all season long. DePaul looked like a team that had to fill a Big East spot on the tournament roster.

UC gave up just six assists and forced 19 turnovers in the win, with multiple players sporting strong sub-90 defensive ratings. Carrying that through the week is key to capturing the College Basketball Crown.

Different UC Rotations

Halvine Dzellat (three points, three rebounds, 15 minutes) entered the game early in the first for the first time in his UC career on Tuesday. He acclimated well early and got on the board quickly in a little preview of what we could see out of him this week and next season.

The outing marked his career-high in minutes during his ninth outing at UC. Dzellat probably could've played more against the shorthanded Blue Demons. Wes Miller rolled out 10 Bearcats for the game on Tuesday, with a strong six of the starting five and Josh Reed (three points, four rebounds) taking a bulk of the minutes.

It's a huge bonus to have the full roster at Miller's access to try and win the first postseason title this decade at Cincinnati. The whole crew helped lend a hand in an efficient effort from two-point range
(25-55).

Bearcats Engaged

Cincinnati has a much tougher opponent coming up on Thursday and will have to raise a strong energy level even higher. The full roster looked refreshed and ready to roll this week following a nice break after the Big 12 campaign.

Six different Bearcats scored in double figures as every star showed up and got back into game rhythm. DePaul entered this game ranked 110th on KenPom and was closer to the 200s without all those portal players available.

Cincinnati took full advantage of a pseudo-tune-up game while upping the pace and finding an offensive balance that they've missed too often in the past few months.

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