CINCINNATI — The Bearcats basketball team has pretty much the same injury report as we’ve seen in recent weeks, leading into today’s matchup against Kansas.
Shon Abaev (ankle) is unlikely to play with a doubtful status as he continues working his way back from the tough sprain. UC head coach Wes Miller noted he got into more practice work this week, but is still on the mend from the injury.
Abaev could be targeting next Saturday’s home game against Oklahoma State to return. He is averaging eight points and three rebounds during a struggle-filled freshman season.
Cincinnati is playing much better overall across the past few weeks since a players-only meeting in Arizona after the ASU loss. UC is 22nd on Bart Torvik’s overall ratings in the past 10 games.
“I thought we just stayed poised. Baba [Miller] misses the free throw,” Wes Miller said on Sunday. “Moustapha [Thiam] misses a three-footer, maybe two of them. Baba misses three, four-footers. Jalen [Celestine] misses a six-footer. Day Day [Thomas] misses what is a great look for him from three, come on; maybe we’re shooting too many threes, so then we get it inside to move it there on a big possession. That’s one of the ones you make; it just kind of had that feeling like nothing’s going to go our way.
“I thought we held our poise, and then guys made some big-time plays in the last couple of minutes of the game. I thought the stop, the conversion, Jizzle [James] throws, a terrible pass coming up the floor to Jalen. Jizzle was bad tonight. Again, he has an out, but Jalen gets it, goes two feet in the paint, and drops it off to Baba for the dunk. We kept our poise no matter what was going on and made some plays. I thought that was the difference. Again, a big step for us tonight.”
Check out the Kansas contest at 1 p.m. ET this afternoon on CBS.
Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, breakdowns, and so much more. Be sure to check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.
Also, don’t miss the podcast, Bearcat Blitz, wherever you get your shows!
Read more on Sports Illustrated
