Takeways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball exhibition loss at preseason No. 14 Arkansas

After taking down preseason No. 7 Michigan Friday, Oct. 17, the Cincinnati Bearcats were in Fayetteville a week later, testing their abilities against preseason No. 14 Arkansas (No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll).

As satisfying as the Michigan victory was, the Bearcats were firmly paddled in Bud Walton Arena Oct. 24 by a Razorbacks team coached by John Calipari, 89-61 in front of 14,832 fans doing the “Pig Sooie” chant.

That was even without Arkansas scoring over the final 3:11 of the game. Meleek Thomas led five players in double figures with 18 points. Thomas played at Overtime Elite in Atlanta with Shon Abaev, but had the edge in this game, shooting 7-for-12 and adding seven rebounds.

Halvine Dzellat was the only UC player in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds in 11 minutes of playing time.

“It was a miserable experience out there tonight for all involved on the Cincinnati side,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “The game doesn’t count, but it will only matter if we make it count.”

The Bearcats did get 13 players in the game. It may be a different game on a different court on a different day, but on this night, it was a Fayetteville fire drill for hot shooting Hogs (53% to UC’s 28%)

John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks looked worthy of their No. 14 preseason ranking Oct. 24 as they beat the Cincinnati Bearcats by 28 points.

Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson has his name on the court. His style of play in his heyday was “40 minutes of hell.” UC, at the very least, got the exhibition version of that as they struggled to shoot from anywhere on the court, while the Razorbacks soared up and down the court like the Harlem Globetrotters dunking on the overmatched Washington Generals.

The TV announcers called it, “a great teaching tool.” Miller will probably be cutting the tape up all weekend, which might rival the pre-Halloween horror flicks.

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Cincinnati Bearcats tested vs. Michigan, Arkansas

However you want to look at it, you can’t deny the Bearcats probably got a better test of things to come by playing in front of partisan crowds at Michigan and Arkansas. One went swimmingly, while the other was a struggle to tread water.

There are lessons to be learned from both. UC has roughly a week to figure out the difference in the Wide World of Sports “thrill of victory” versus the dreaded “agony of defeat”.

“I think with this preseason schedule, there was real intention to have some adversity,” Miller said. “I didn’t want to get to the point that it did tonight. But, I’d much rather have some real things to deal with than just go feeling good when you know there’s a lot you need to work on.”

Baylor transfer Jalen Celestine saw his first action for the Cincinnati Bearcats Oct. 24 scoring nine points against Arkansas in the 89-61 exhibition loss.

1. Cincinnati Bearcats must shoot better than 25% from perimeter

Give some credit to the Arkansas defense for pushing the Bearcats out and forcing bad looks, but UC was just 9-of-36 from three-point range. Arkansas was at 40% going 8-for-20.

At times, UC seemed over-reliant on the shot, which can make or break a team. Freshman Shon Abaev and senior Kerr Kriisa combined to go 3-for-14.

Miller thought they were settling too much for threes early and asked them to go to the rim. He wants them to be more than a three-point shooting team.

When the long ball doesn’t go, something else must. Unfortunately, the issues were magnified by UC having several guys with poor shooting nights, led by Day Day Thomas, who went 0-for-7. Abaev finished 2-for-11 and Kriisa was just 2-for-9. Other than Dzellat’s 10 points, Jalen Celestine was the only other bright spot with nine points on three 3-pointers.

“I’m not discouraged about our team,” Miller said. “I’m certainly discouraged about how we played tonight. We’ll use this to respond and get better.”

2. Cincinnati Bearcats pulverized in paint

Arkansas outscored the Bearcats 44-24 in the paint. Baba Miller had six points and six rebounds and Moustapha Thiam had four points and four boards. Both looked awkward and uncomfortable at times.

Rebounds on the night were even at 43, but Arkansas had 23 fastbreak points to UC’s 11 and 12 dunks, with UC only getting one by Thiam. UC missed 13 of 22 layups.

“Transition defense was a disaster,” Miller said. “Defending the basketball was a huge problem. Pick-and-roll defense was a nightmare. I didn’t think we had a good week this week. It’s good for us to learn that if we don’t take some things seriously, what can happen.”

3. Cincinnati Bearcats brought down to Earth

In their defense, Miller had Big 12 obligations along with Thomas, Kriisa and Thiam at Big 12 media day in Kansas City, Wednesday, Oct. 22. A day later, they were flying back out to Fayetteville for the game. None of the three had stellar games.

Whether or not the other UC players had stars in their eyes over beating Michigan remains to be seen, but they’ll probably be seeing flying Razorbacks in their dreams, throwing down “posterizing” dunks.

The Bearcats led the game just once, after Kriisa’s first 3-pointer 51 seconds into the game.

“We aren’t as good as we felt as a team when we left Ann Arbor,” Miller said. “We ain’t as bad as we’re feeling leaving Fayetteville. We’ll make this count. We’ll get back to doing things with intention the next 10 days and we’ll be ready for the start of the season.”

Cincinnati Bearcats, Arkansas Razorbacks injuries

UC post player Jalen Haynes, the 6-foot-8, 260-pound transfer from George Mason, remains out indefinitely with a lower leg injury. It’s believed all options are being explored, including returning later in the season or a medical redshirt, if eligible.

Jalen Celestine returned to action for the Bearcats, playing 12 minutes against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks are playing without freshman Karim Rtail this season.

Next up for Cincinnati Bearcats

UC’s season opener is Monday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena vs. Western Carolina. The Catamounts were 8-22 last season.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How did Cincinnati Bearcats basketball stumble at No. 14 Arkansas?

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