Another day, another Bearcats W! Coach Calhoun and co. will leave the Bahamas 2-0 as expected. The Bahama Bearcats gave Cincinnati fans a ton to be excited about moving into the future!

Today’s star of the show was Myles Colvin who started red hot with a 6-7 from 3 performance in the first half, good for 20 points. He finished with 25 in his 19 minutes.

The starting 5 was Trevian Carson, Adlan Elamin, Akai Fleming, Eric Mahaffey, and Riley Allenspach.

Again today, no one played more than 23 minutes with Akai Fleming logging a team leading 23, followed by 22 from Tyler Tejada and 20 from Carson. No one else was above 20, though Elamin and Colvin both logged 19. I would not take any real rotation decisions from this, but it is a fun thing to point out to see how things played out.

Now, into the takeaways:

I again remain a bit underwhelmed by the rebounding of this team, though Mahaffey and Fleming led the team with 7 boards each. Tejada had a solid performance with 5 boards, but Allenspach had just 2 and Hastings pulled down 5 in his 16 minutes. UC grabbed 12 offensive boards from 31 missed shots. While those numbers in isolation sound good, this team should be a bit more dominant on the rebounding side of the ball against a team they clearly outclass.

Defense is a positive, holding Calgary to just 66 points and forcing 16 turnovers. They held Calgary to just 58 shot attempts and they shot 38% from the field.

Speed: The Bearcats have sped things up this week and it’s been extremely refreshing to watch. Today, they put up 27 fast break points to 0 from Calgary.

Player Performances:

• Akai Fleming put up 14/7/5, 1 steal and 3 turnovers. His two performances were extremely impressive this week and my already high expectations are now even higher for Akai. He’s likely not a starter, however, he will push for significant minutes if he keeps performing like this.
• Myles Colvin rebounded nicely after his lackluster shooting performance yesterday, burying 7-11 threes and leading with 25 points. He added 2 assists and a block. He did not turn the ball over.
• Tyler Tejada put up an efficient 14/5/5 in 22 minutes of action. He looks to be the best front court player on this team right now.
• Adlan Elamin came back to earth after yesterday’s scorching performance. He put up 14/7/5 and a steal. He did have 3 turnovers.
• Trevian Carson got the start today and added 9/3/2, 2 steals and a turnover. He was a perfect 3-3 from deep. These kinds of performances are exactly what UC need from him this year.
• Elijah Perryman put up 9/2/2, and 2 turnovers. The experience he gained over these two days is invaluable, and he will continue to grow with Tylen Riley out for now.
• MJ Collins scored 9/1/2. He played just 16 minutes today, shooting 3-6 from the field and 1-2 from deep.
• Eric Mahaffey put up just 3 points, but had 7 rebounds and an assist. He played just 13 minutes, but those rebounding numbers are significant and something the team desperately needs.

The Bigs:

• Jayden Hastings remains my pick to become the starting 5 this year. His defensive and physical presence is needed. He put up 7/5/1 in just 16 minutes today.
• Riley Allenspach had another troubling performance today, going 2-8 from the field, 1-3 from deep and put up 5/2/1, he did have a steal. I still believe that Riley is a high major player, and while I understand why fans run to social media immediately, pump the breaks some here.
• David Iweze played 13 minutes, grabbing 4 boards and putting up 2 points. He has a positive impact on the game, but is still a developmental piece.

Noah and I will put together our full thoughts on the Bearcats trip to the Bahamas and more in-depth thoughts this weekend, but these were my immediate thoughts on today’s game. Again, I didn’t get to watch quite as in-depth as I would have liked, but plan to get to dive in better this weekend.