Three Man Weave: Tulane Green Wave Wash out Bearcats 68-60 in AAC Opener

Tulane cashed in nine three-pointers in the opening half.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Jan 1, 2022 9:55 PM EST

CINCINNATI — The passing tides weren't kind to UC sports this weekend. Cincinnati (10-4, 0-1) fell to the Tulane Green Wave (5-6, 2-0) 69-60 in a rough upset at Fifth Third Arena.

Oddsmakers favored Cincinnati by nearly 10 points, but the Green Wave made like Alabama on New Year's Eve and controlled the game from start to finish. Jeremiah Davenport did all he could, yet the Bearcats' inability to consistently hit open shots struck again.

Here's the Three Man Weave on UC's conference opener.

Tulane Rains Fire From Deep

Jalen Cook and company came out searching for the kill shot in Clifton. Tulane hit 64% of its three-point attempts (9-for-14) in the first half. Cincinnati entered the game as one of the best three-point defenses in the country (27.4%, 20th nationally), but allowed Tulane to hit 48% of its attempts on Saturday.

Cook and Jaylen Forbes (13 points, four rebounds, 2-for-5 from deep) powered a dynamic offensive attack from Tulane. Cincinnati is now 1-2 this season when allowing teams to shoot 45%-plus from deep.

The triple is a talent stripper that Cincinnati has luckily avoided all season long. Variance from outside was bound to flip at one point, and it struck in the AAC opener. Scott Spencer added two threes of his own on a night where six Green Wave players cashed in on the game's most-valuable bucket.

Jalen Cook Fires Up A Delicacy

Tulane is enjoying all the fruits of the country's most-electric freshman scorer in 2021. Cook kept up his great season with a game-high 20 points to pace a 19.7 PPG average on the year. The guard got whatever he wanted in the first half and found contact that earned him crucial free throws in the coend half.

It wasn't an efficient showing overall (6-for-14 FGs) as Cook missed all five of his second-half field goals, but he made 3-of-4 second-half free throws in key spots. The LSU transfer shows up when the lights are brightest, and he pounced all over the Bearcats in UC's first 2022 showing.

Tulane soundly worked the clock on each second-half possession to make sure a 23-point opening half lead didn't turn into a loss. Cook had a lot to do with that and continued showing why he leads all Division I freshmen in points per game.

Davenport Guides Second-Half Surge

Cincinnati's best-scoring talent took advantage of his scoring opportunities. Davenport posted a team-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field.

The junior never flinched in the wake of Tulane's opening half storm, but the rest of the Cincinnati roster took too long to wake up. Davenport worked well to find open Bearcats, but the looks didn't fall, continuing a familiar shooting theme this season. His team-high three assists could've been much higher.

The Bearcats have had nearly two weeks off and looked out of sorts from their all-for-one identity in conference play. No one could get into a consistent rhythm throughout the 40 minutes. Davenport bullied his way to the hoop for a game-high nine free throw attempts, but free buckets didn't fall.

Cincinnati shot 13-of-26 from the charity stripe; When you can consistently crack 45% from the field as a team, free throws have to go in.

Davenport (4-of-9) didn't light it up on his freebies but created scoring opportunities when he got aggressive. The AAC debuted as a different animal than the 266th ranked strength-of-schedule UC faced in non-conference play.

Davenport looks ready to attack a down year in the conference; we'll find out what the rest of the Bearcats can respond with against SMU inside Fifth Third Arena on Jan. 6.

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