Recap: Cincinnati 83 DePaul 61

by Ryan Roberts

Cincinnati (19-15) returned to the court Tuesday with a dominating 83-61 win over DePaul (14-20) in the opening round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown Tournament held in Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena.

 

The Bearcats opened up a 33-23 halftime lead, led by Dillon Mitchell's 10-point, 6 rebound effort, and outscored the Blue Demons 50-38 during a second half that saw the Bearcats shoot 57% from the field.

 

Mitchell finished with a team-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while also pulling down seven rebounds. 

 

In total, six different Bearcats reached double figures as Cincinnati shot 49% from the field and made 9-of-21 three-point attempts.

 

 

Josh Reed's 3-pointer at the 8:20 mark of the second half would be the first of four consecutive makes by UC over 1:57 as the Bearcats used a 12-2 run to turn a 17-point lead into a 74-57 advantage with 6:23 remaining in the game. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jizzle James and Day Day Thomas both made three 3-point attempts during the game as both finished with 13 points, on a combined 6-of-11 from deep. Thomas also finished with seven steals. He now has 17 over his last three games after finishing with six steals against Oklahoma State in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament and four against Iowa State.

 

Dan Skillings paced the Bearcats during the second half with 10 points, scoring 12 for the game. Skillings was an efficient 6-of-8 from the field and has now reached double figures in three of his last four games. 

 

Simas Lukosius and Aziz Bandaogo both finished with 11 points to round out the Bearcats' balanced scoring attack.

 

 

The Bearcats won the rebounding battle, 38-30, and also had an advantage in both paint points (42-24) and second-chance points (18-9).

 

Defensively, UC was able to force DePaul into 19 turnovers, converting those opportunities into 18 points. Wes Miller's team also finished with a 12-2 advantage in fast break points as UC consistently got out and ran for easy opportunities around the rim. 

 

UC averaged 1.169 points per possession, finishing 16-for-21 from the field on layup and dunk attempts. 

 

DePaul was led by the trio of CJ Gunn (16 points), NJ Benson (15 points), and Isaiah Rivera (14 points). 

 

David Thomas also reached double figures with 11 points for Depaul. 

 

With the win, Cincinnati advances to Thursday night's quarter-final against the winner of UCF-Oregon State. Tip is set for 7:00 pm.

 

 

 

 

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