Cincinnati Basketball opens their season up on Wednesday evening in a rematch of last year’s season opener against Ohio State, can the Bearcats get revenge?
Cincinnati Basketball will take the trip up to Columbus to take on Ohio State in hopes of getting the Buckeyes back after suffering a 64-56 loss last season in Cincinnati.
Plenty of storylines to cover for this one as this will be the first regular-season game for Bearcats’ new head coach John Brannen. Brannen joins the Bearcats from Northern Kentucky replacing long-time head coach Mick Cronin. Brannen was 82-52 at Northern Kentucky and managed to lead the Norse to the NCAA Tournament last season.
American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland headlines what should be a deep and talented roster for the Bearcats this season. With the addition of Jaevin Cumberland and Chris McNeal, the Bearcats also return quite a few of their starters from last season.
Ohio State enters the season ranked 18th in the AP Preseason Poll and will be looking to cement their place with an early-season win against Cincinnati. The Buckeyes are led by the two Wesson brothers. Kaleb Wesson went for 15 points in last seasons triumph over the Bearcats in Cincinnati and Andre chipped in six points himself. Ohio State will turn to a number of young guys looking to take a step up and will likely find themselves as challengers for the Big Ten crown.
The Bearcats will need to avoid getting off to a slow start like they did last season against Ohio State, only 18 first-half points and four made field goals made life hard for Cincinnati as they tried to climb out of a hole in the second half. Cincinnati will be looking for a different result this season and a road win against a top 25 program would be a big statement to the rest of the AAC.
I’ll look at three keys for the Bearcats to try and knock off the number 18 Ohio State Buckeyes at their place.