Recap: Bearcats 95, Owls 67

If you believe Coach Cronin (and you have no reason not to) this was the last tune-up before UC starts to really find out how good they are. USC Upstate comes in Tuesday with talent and ability to knock off the Bearcats if they're not ready to play. The Spartans have already won at Virginia Tech and taken Tennessee (world beaters) and MAC favorite Kent State to the wire. So they're tested (unlike the Bearcats) and will be ready to play. But, for now let's go back to the Kennesaw State game shall we?

What I Liked:

• 95 points. Who doesn't like a lot of offense? A communist, that's who!
  
• Sean Kilpatrick's three-point percentage. I think we'll take 50% every game.
• Justin Jackson's activeness. JJ was all over the place again Friday.
• Offensive rebounding. Rebounding in general, but on Friday the offensive glass was attacked heavily. When you have nearly the same offensive (20) and defensive (24) rebounds that's a good effort.
• Balanced scoring. 4 guys in double-figures and Jermaine Lawrence with 9 plus Guyn with 8.
  
• Free throw shooting. 16-of-20 is certainly acceptable every time out. And Titus Rubles made all 8 of his. Wow!!
  
• Three-point shooting. We'd take 41% every game as well.
• Ball movement. In the first 5 games there weren't many assists for so many baskets. But Friday they changed that and worked the ball and the 95 points were the byproduct. 20 assists of 36 baskets is not bad. There were numerous times where the extra pass created an easy bucket or dunk and, well, that's a good thing isn't it?

What I Didn't Like:

• The amount of three-pointers SK took. He does not EVER need to take 10 threes. I know he made 5 of them, but I think we all would agree the more the ball gets distributed the better the offense will be. It cannot be one guy taking a third of the shots and everyone else stands around. Again, I know he was "on" and that's great. I just don't want this to quickly revert back to last year's version of SK where he settles for threes. With the new rules, SK could and SHOULD be getting to the foul line 10 times per game.
  
• Justin Jackson taking 12 shots. Even worse, he only made 5 of them and 3 were dunks. If Justin Jackson is taking the second-most shots this team will lose. Sorry, they will. I like his attempt at banking the shots, but until he's making a higher percentage he should stop shooting outside of 5 feet. A big man has to make at least 50% of his shots or he's shooting too much. When the majority of those shots are inside the paint you should be making more.
  
• Jeremiah Davis III only played 6 minutes in a blowout. I hate to say it but he's buried behind everyone and I'm starting to think he may be a transfer candidate. At the 10:00 mark of the second half Kevin Johnson (a freshman) picked up his 4th foul. Up 30 points at the time, Mick rushed Kilpatrick into the game instead of letting JDIII play. Obviously I'm not a coach and I won't question Mick's substitution patterns (at least on this one) but I guess JDIII hasn't earned more time in practice (where guys earn such things). Once Deshaun Morman is able to play next year, JDIII will be buried behind Johnson, Caupain, Guyn, and probably Morman himself. If Mick and staff decides to add a high-scoring guard you can bet JD will be behind that guy as well. It's a shame but we all know the business. It's very cruel and cutthroat. But it's not changing anytime soon. I like JD but if he's not good enough he shouldn't play.
  

That's it for now. Not going to nitpick (any more) over a 28-point win. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!