Bearcats Mbodj Past Miami

Cheikh Mbodj gave UC fans a lot to clap about tonight. He scored a team high 12 points with 4 boards to pace UC to a 56-47 win over the rival Miami Redhawks. That’s now 13 straight over J.Crew U. 13 scored 5 huge, HUGE points late in the game. A jumper to make it a 4 point game, and after Miami came up empty, the JUCO transfer drilled a 3 with the confidence of LaZelle Durden, according to the man Paul Dehner, to ice this puppy. He did all of that in 14 minutes. And while he was in for Gates. 

The rest of the game was not exactly good. Miami shot 50% the second half. They outrebounded UC the second half as well. Miami shot themselves in the foot with 8 second half turnovers, 15 overall. The Redhawks hit only 4-10 at the stripe to boot. that spoiled a great performance by Julian Mavunga. The senior had 26 points on 11-16 shooting and 12 rebounds. He turned it over 5 times and shot 3-8 at the line, which hurt. Jon Harris had 8 points. Quinten Rollins was the only other Redhawk to make multiple FGs, finishing with 4-6-5 assists-2 steals. 

UC shot 41.8% overall, but hit 14-25 the second half. Like Miami, UC hit 4-10 at the line. Yancy Gates put up a 10-10 double double, his 3rd of the season. He only shot 5-11 and didn’t get to the line. Sean Kilpatrick had 10, but was 5-11 and turned the ball over 4 times. Dion Dixon, best friend, had 10 on 3-8 shooting. He had 1 assist. Cash had 9-7-2 turnovers. 

I don’t know what to think of this team. The offense went through giant lapses. The defense was not good. The rebounding was poor. A big lead was blown and blown quickly. They got some issues, folks. Issues that aren’t going away any time soon. 9 assists, 10 turnovers. 9 assists on 23 FGs. 10 FT attempts. That’s just not good enough. Georgia isn’t good at all. That game is a mystery. Anyway, more on Miami tomorrow. 

Box score via ESPN