Cincinnati Basketball: Takeaways from Bearcats opening defeat to Ohio State

Bearcats style of Play Hasn’t Changed Under Brannen

“I’m sure it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, but I don’t really care,” said Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann during his meeting with the media at the conclusion of Wednesday’s game.

And that’s Cincinnati basketball in a nutshell. A scrappy fast-paced game where the Bearcats want to play in chaos and they got just what they asked for in the first half.

Defensively the Bearcats were stout in the first half but got a little help from Ohio State who had some bad misses. Cincinnati was able to create turnovers and get out and run but they just were unable to execute on the offensive end.

Brannen rolled with a seven-man rotation for most of the game but the Bearcats found themselves in some foul trouble early in the first half with Vogt picking up a quick two, and down the stretch. 18 personal fouls in the second half for UC is eye-catching.

Cincinnati will continue to be that gritty team that will grind out games, it’s not pretty basketball. Brannen has made it clear that’s not going to change. It worked well in the first half where it took Ohio State seven minutes to record a basket but caught up with them in the second half when they failed to knock down shots.

There’s nothing wrong with this style of play but the Bearcats have got to shoot the ball better, they really struggled in last seasons opener as well when it came to shooting percentage and things turned out all right.