In December 2020, Travis Steele walked out of Fifth Third Arena with a narrow win in the Crosstown Shootout over Cincinnati. Two years later as the head coach at Miami (OH), his team was on the losing end of a 103-76 beating.

When UC runs the make-shots offense, they’re good. Really good. Now Miami (OH) isn’t going to get confused with Tony Bennett’s pack-line defense, but Cincinnati shot 63 percent from the field and made 12-of-20 three-pointers. Pretty good.

The defense was just OK. Miami shot 48 percent of the field, but Cincinnati was at least active in passing lanes, causing many of the 17 Redhawk turnovers.

I spend much of these blogs talking about the importance of David DeJulius and Landers Nolley II, but it’s well warranted. The duo combined for 42 points on 17-of-24 shooting. Nolley had one of those nights where the basket looked like the ocean. DeJulius is turning into a knock-down long-range shooter, making 43 percent of his threes this year.

Jeremiah Davenport did exactly what fans wanted to see. Don’t force up contested shots, but shoot the open ones and keep the ball moving if the shot isn’t there. It was a solid nine-point showing in 18 minutes for JD.

I thought that was the best floor game of the year for Mika Adams-Woods. Shoey scored nine points with four boards and six assists. He took care of the ball, played with great pace, and made shots when the opportunity presented itself. You can’t ask for much more from a 4th or 5th option.

Viktor Lakhin was quiet in the first half, but he took Anderson Mirambeaux to school in the second half. Vik has taken a substantial leap in just one year. He’s been the skilled post-scorer that was missing last season. Lakhin is an off-season in the Monster Factory away from an even bigger leap.

Ody Oguama is showing things. He’s starting to look like a Bearcat. He’s not super-skilled. But Ody plays hard, he rebounds, and he’s starting to improve on the defensive end. This team has little depth in the frontcourt, and they’ve needed this from Ody.

I’m often wrong, but I don’t think I’ll be wrong about Dan Skillings Jr. He’s going to be a dude. You have to remember he didn’t start playing basketball competitively until 9th grade. He’s starting to play with confidence, and when more jumpers start falling with regularity, he will be near the top of the scouting report. Freshmen don’t typically shoot it well, so he’s right on schedule if not ahead of schedule.

Huge shoutout to walk-on CJ Anthony for canning a corner three in the final minute.

Three straight halves scoring 50 or more points can’t be understated. It was a nice bounce back after a tough loss Saturday. This team still has a ways to go defensively, but they’ll have two more buy games before conference play to hopefully rectify that.

Game Ball:

Landers Nolley II (2)

Post-game quote:

“I’m thrilled about it (contract extension). This is where I want to be. This is home. I love it here.” – Wes Miller.