Cincinnati opens regular season against Arkansas Pine-Bluff
After eight long months, college basketball season is finally upon us.
Cincinnati will open the 2024/25 season Monday night in a home opener against Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
Pine Bluff and head coach Solomon Bozeman enter this season with a new look roster after losing 2,200 points and eight players from a team that finished 8-10 in the SWAC last season.
Entering his fourth season as head coach at UAPB, Bozeman will try to improve on last season's 13-18 finish.
6-foot-6 guard Jyre McCloud (5.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and 6-foot-9 forward Robert Lewis (4.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg) return from last season's team, but Bozeman was tasked with utilizing the transfer portal for other key contributors.
The key addition for Bozeman this off-season was 6-foot-6 wing Quentin Bolton from Charleston Southern. Bolton averaged 7.6 points, 4.3 rebounds per game last season.
Other additions for UAPB this off season include 6-foot-9 forward Kleman Vuga (Monmouth), 5-foot-11 point guard Christian Moore (North Texas), 6-foot-9 forward Mathew Spears (D2 LeMoyne Owen), and 6-foot-8-forward Dennis Asoro (Hocking CC).
All five additions bring experience and scoring from their previous stops.
Moore was a part of the 22/23 North Texas team that went on to win the NIT, shooting 47 percent from three during the season.
Pine-Bluff was picked to finish 10th in the SWAC Preseason Men's Basketball Poll.
Cincinnati was picked 20th in the preseason AP Poll, sixth in the preseason Big 12 Coaches Poll, after returning six of their top eight scorers from last seasons' team that advanced to the NIT Quarter Finals.
One of the biggest additions for Wes Miller this off-season was 6-foot-9 forward Dillon Mitchell.
(Photos: Taylor Keeton / RiverfrontU )
After spending two seasons at Texas and playing in 72 games, Mitchell feels this Cincinnati team has a similar brotherhood, connection, and family vibe to the Texas team that advanced to the Elite Eight during his freshman season.
"That's something I see with this team and it was so natural," Mitchell told media last week. " When we get on the court, we're fighting for one another, we're fighting for the name on our chest, we're fighting for this university."
After a strong end to last season, sophomore point guard Jizzle James is among virtually all national conversations as a player who is primed for a big second season.
With Miller surrounding his point guard with more weapons, it has allowed James to focus on the finer details of his game and put more of an emphasis on being a leader when on the floor.
"Last year I used to come in with a score mentality but this year I'm more of a team oriented player," said James. "I really want to see everybody flourish so I try to get everybody open and in to their spot."
James was among several players on Cincinnati's roster who privately received interest from other programs this off-season.
For the Florida native, leaving Cincinnati was never an option or on his mind.
" Just seeing what I did my freshman year, (things) I know I could build on, being in the city, crosstown shootout, things you want to come back for, being a part of it makes you want that feeling again."
James went on to mention the culture of the program and his loyalty as other contributing factors to him deciding to return to Cincinnati.
Cincinnati opened their preseason exhibition schedule with an 80-62 win over Ohio State. The score was not reflective of how one sided the game actually was as Cincinnati led by as many as 27 points in the second half.
The Bearcats were humbled with a 71-62 "super-secret scrimmage" loss to Pitt the following Saturday, which prompted Wes Miller to put his team through a three-hour film session to show all of the small things that the Bearcats still need to work on before Monday's season opener against UAPB.
" There's some things they (Pitt) do style-wise that were different than what we've played against on an everyday basis in practice and that was really healthy for us. We learned a lot."
Despite the mixed bag of results during the two preseason exhibitions, Wes Miller is proud of the preseason that his team has had and used this past week of practice to focus on checking the fundamental boxes at both ends of the court.
" It's the very basic stuff, that's the main focus," said Miller. " It's been all preseason, we're trying to continue to build and make sure that we have the right amount of things in to play a game because the first real one is Monday and that's when it matters for the first time."
Day Day Thomas Update:
Miller mentioned during Big 12 Media Days that senior point guard Day Day Thomas did not travel to the event because he re-aggravated a foot injury during practice the day prior.
After sustaining a season-ending fracture in his foot during an NIT win over San Francisco, Thomas had surgery during the off-season to repair the issue.
Prior to the setback, all signs pointed to a full recovery with no issues heading in to the season opener. In fact, Thomas scored 11 points in the exhibition win over Ohio State.
On Sunday afternoon, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports confirmed that Thomas would be available for Monday night's opener, but it would be a coach decision on whether or not he would actually play.
Miller told media earlier last week following the Pitt scrimmage that there was no rush to get the veteran point guard back and his health would be the first priority.
"I will tell you guys that we're going to be cautious with him because his role in this team is really important to our success," Miller said. "He's a leader on this team. He's obviously a great returning player, so we want to make sure we bring him back in the right fashion and don't rush things....we don't want this to be something that he's dealing with all season long."
In a game where Cincinnati is a 33.5 point favorite, odds are good that we do not see Thomas.
How to watch:
7 pm ESPN+