Game 6: Howard Preview
The Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0) will travel to Washington DC Tuesday night for a 7:00 tip off against the Howard Bison (3-4).
The game can be viewed live on ESPN+.
Cincy Reigns, the official NIL partner of Cincinnati Athletics, will host a watch party starting at 6:00 pm at Rhinegeist Brewery.
What you need to know:
- Tuesday's game will be the third meeting between HU and Cincy with the Bearcats winning the first two matchups. In 2006, the two programs met at Cincinnati where they came away with a 70-39 victory at home.
- On the season, the Bison are averaging 77 points per game while shooting 43-percent from the field as a team, 34-percent from three and 76-percent from the free throw line.
- Howard was picked to finish first in the MEAC as the defending conference champions and feature three first team All-MEAC selections
- UC is playing its second road game all-time at an HBCU (1988, Tennessee State), and this is its third defending conference champ out of a four-game stretch. UC is 5-0 for the second time in three years, and a win would mark its first at 6-0 since 2017-18.
- Jizzle James' brother, Eden, is an All-MEAC running back at Howard
- CJ Fredrick's scored a career-high 20 points against Howard in the 2022-23 opener, his debut for Kentucky.
- The Bearcats are sixth nationally in assist-turnover ratio (2.02) and 11th in fewest turnovers (8.6). Simas Lukosius boasts a 20:4 ratio in that category over the last four games, which leads the team.
Players to watch:
- 6'2 Jr G Marcus Dockery:
First team preseason All-MEAC selection. Dockery comes in averaging 11.4 ppg & 16 3FGMs despite being held scoreless in Howard's most recent game. Small sample size, but his 31% shooting from outside is down from last season's 43% showing. He finished with 16 points against Rutgers and 21 points against James Madison.
- 6'4 Jr G Bryce Harris
Harris is the Bison leading scorer at 17.1 ppg to go with 6.4 rpg nad 9 total blocks. The reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Week finished 10-for-10 from the field and 3-for-3 from the charity stripe in Howard's 87-83 double overtime win over Mount St. Mary.
- 6'6 Soph F Shy Odom:
The Preseason MEAC Player of the Year enters Tuesday night's game averaging 11.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, & team-leadng 19 assists to go with eight steals and six blocks. He is a guy that is going to do a little bit of everything and do it well. Odom was also named the MEAC Tournament Outstanding Player of the Year after leading the Bison to their first MEAC Tournament title in 30 years last season.
- 6'9 GR F Seth Towns
The Columbus, OH native is averaging 16.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg & shooting 48-percent from three. Towns is coming off a 26-point, 11-rebound performance against Mount St. Mary.
- 6'5 Grad G Jelani Williams
First team preseason All MEAC First Team selection. Finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and a team-high five assists off the bench in the Bison most recent game. The 6'5 guard is averaging 9.3 ppg, 7 rpg in 31 mpg.
- 6'5 GR Isiah Warfield
Played at Liberty last season. Averaging 7 ppg, 5 rpg
- 6'0 G Joshua Strong
Held scoreless over the past two games but averaging 7 ppg and shooting 50% from three on 30 attempts.
Final thoughts:
Howard is a good MEAC team but simply don't have the size or overall depth to compete with UC for 40 minutes. Bearcats are favored by 10.5, which seems somewhat low.