Houston 1/28 2:15 CBS

[Lobot]

National TV. Should be interesting to see who the announcers are for this game.

Houston has been struggling at home lately with a close win over USF and a close loss to Temple yesterday, if you can call 18-2 struggling. The Cougars are in first place in the conference and probably will not relinquish that this season one would think. It's doubtful they have another shooting night as bad as the Temple game.

UC has to play lights out from deep in this game and Houston will probably need to have a defensive breakdowns for us to grab a win. This is just a bad matchup for us as Houston is long and athletic at almost every position and they really don't have a weak spot. If anything the Cougars have to beat themselves like they did against Temple. We cannot give up easy dunks and layups on the interior. This is a tall task against Houston's offense.

Here's the Box score of the previous meeting:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401492691

Stats:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/248

[red_n_black_attack]

UC is able to beat Houston, but they at minimum need to do these three things:

1. Get the ball inside to Vik. Between his scoring and getting their bigs into foul trouble the Cats will need to have a monster game from Vik for 35 minutes or more.
2. Sometimes Vik will need to pass out to an open shooter, and they have to hit a good deal of those shots. If they miss some or too many, the D will collapse on Vik. These need to work hand-in0hand
3. Stop the bad passes. I get there will be some turnovers. Both Memphis and Houston has athletes that create trouble. I mean the lazy passes. UC is sometimes careless with the pass and it lets the other team get an easy bicket without much effort.

[leeraymond]

I had a chance to go back and look at all the wins from last year's team. Believe it or not, UC held opponents under 70 points in 16 of their 18 wins. This year, UC has held teams under 70 points in 11 of the 14 wins. Also, check this out. In UC's losses this year, they have given up 70 or more points in 6 of the 7 losses. It appears to me that UC's BIGGEST PROBLEM IS DEFENSE. Miller needs to take defense personally. If Miller were to take the team's defense personally, I believe the players would pick up on that. He should express to the team that it is unacceptable to give up 70 or more points, especially at home. I remember one game where, I believe, Temple scored over 70 points and Cronin was upset about it. He told the team, "an opponent should not be able to come into our gym and score 70 points". Those players took defense seriously. I recall Jacob Evans saying, during the time that he was at UC, defense was pretty much what the UC coaching staff was all about. If only UC could hold teams to under 70 points. This UC team is NOT far off the mark. The team's stats for this year are, most definitely, better than last year. The thing that is now missing is big time college defense. Miller has got to find a way to make these guys play some D.

[John P]

The team's stats for this year are, most definitely, better than last year. The thing that is now missing is big time college defense. Miller has got to find a way to make these guys play some D.

I agree with this but I'm just not sure some of these guys have the ability to play good D. All the desire in the world won't help you if you just don't have the ability.

[Lobot]

Houston took down UCF in Orlando tonight by 10. Marcus Sasser sustained a knee injury during the game. Doesn’t sound serious but status unknown for Saturday.

[Black and Red Attack]

Have to believe our defense improves once Newman returns. How much is the question, and since that's his calling card, does that have a negative impact on our offensive improvements?

[Carthage World]

Have to believe our defense improves once Newman returns. How much is the question, and since that's his calling card, does that have a negative impact on our offensive improvements?

Is Newman actually expected to return? I assumed he would be going for a medical redshirt this season.

[bearcat1518]

I had a chance to go back and look at all the wins from last year's team. Believe it or not, UC held opponents under 70 points in 16 of their 18 wins. This year, UC has held teams under 70 points in 11 of the 14 wins. Also, check this out. In UC's losses this year, they have given up 70 or more points in 6 of the 7 losses. It appears to me that UC's BIGGEST PROBLEM IS DEFENSE. Miller needs to take defense personally. If Miller were to take the team's defense personally, I believe the players would pick up on that. He should express to the team that it is unacceptable to give up 70 or more points, especially at home. I remember one game where, I believe, Temple scored over 70 points and Cronin was upset about it. He told the team, "an opponent should not be able to come into our gym and score 70 points". Those players took defense seriously. I recall Jacob Evans saying, during the time that he was at UC, defense was pretty much what the UC coaching staff was all about. If only UC could hold teams to under 70 points. This UC team is NOT far off the mark. The team's stats for this year are, most definitely, better than last year. The thing that is now missing is big time college defense. Miller has got to find a way to make these guys play some D.

Now tell me which of those 11 teams we held under 70 are any good…

they didn’t score over 70 against us because they are terrible teams.

[Lobot]

Is Newman actually expected to return? I assumed he would be going for a medical redshirt this season.

Newman is not expected to return this year if that's what the question was. Or was the reference to him returning for next year ?

[Carthage World]

Newman is not expected to return this year if that's what the question was. Or was the reference to him returning for next year ?

I was referring to this season.

It wouldn't surprise me to see him return next season or go elsewhere.

[GoBearcats31]

UC is 13-9 all time versus Houston. UC won 8 of 9 in the AAC before Houston reeled off 8 of the last 10 (including 5 straight and 7 of the last 8, save for that exciting 64-62 win in the first year of JB).

[Bearcats1232002]

UC is 13-9 all time versus Houston. UC won 8 of 9 in the AAC before Houston reeled off 8 of the last 10 (including 5 straight and 7 of the last 8, save for that exciting 64-62 win in the first year of JB).

I think you are a bit off. UC is 33-12 versus Houston all time.

[GoBearcats31]

I think you are a bit off. UC is 33-12 versus Houston all time.

Good call... I thought up until several years ago UC had a really, really good record at them. So shame on me for relying on Houston's history page which I now realize only shows the history from 2002 to present haha
https://uhcougars.com/sports/mens-ba...cincinnati/226

Either way, it's been a tough run of late by UC against UH

[swilsonsp4]

The Cats' downfall in the first meeting was the accumulation of live ball turnovers. They can't repeat that. Throughout this season, turnovers have not been much of an issue for UC. They need to get back to that in the face of the Cougars' quickness and length.

Plus, battle them on the boards, just as they did at 5th/3rd, and hit some shots. No quick bombs that don't come out of the flow of the offense.

In both of the past two meetings with Houston, the Cougars didn't let David DeJulius run off of pick-and-rolls. When Vik or Ody would run up to set the pick, both DeJulius's defender and the pick defender jump him and force him back to midcourt. That blows up the play and takes DeJulius out of position. Look for them to do that once again. Wes needs to have a way to counter it.

[GoBearcats31]

Well, folks, Wes Miller turns 40 on Saturday. So say goodbye to the "most wins under 40" graphic/stats and get ready for the "most wins 40 and under" graphic/stats

https://gobearcats.com/news/2023/1/27/mens-basketball-heads-to-no-3-houston-for-saturday-bout.aspx