UC Bearcats basketball preview with Wes Miller, Hickman, Skillings Jr.
Cincinnati Bearcats basketball preview with Wes Miller, Connor Hickman, Dan Skillings Jr.
Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball hits the floor at Fifth Third Arena for the general public Oct. 18 in an exhibition against Ohio State dubbed the CareSource Charity Classic.
ESPN has UC at No. 19 in their preseason poll. CBS Insider Jon Rothstein has the Bearcats at No. 21, behind No. 20 Xavier and No. 19 Ohio State in his early rankings.
So, what does 41-year-old Wes Miller say in his fourth season at UC with a 63-43 record but minus an NCAA tournament appearance?
Wes Miller Cincinnati Bearcats before Ohio State exhibition
The CareSource Charity Classic was started by Dayton coach Anthony Grant to support mental health. The Flyers played an exhibition with Ohio State last season. Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler and Miller had hoped to join this year’s Xavier vs. Dayton exhibition in a twin-bill under one roof. That never came through, but the NCAA allowed UC and Ohio State to play for charity.
As for the Oct. 18 game with the Buckeyes at Fifth Third Arena, Miller cautions the contest won’t be like a normal game.
“You don’t ever play a possession and don’t want to win the possession, but we won’t approach it like a real game,” Miller said. “We’re not going to substitute like we would in a real game. We’re not going to coach from a strategy standpoint like we would in a real game, but we’re going to try to be very competitive possession after possession.”
Roy Williams Tip-off Dinner
Miller brought in his former North Carolina coach, Hall of Famer Roy Williams for the event benefiting UC’s NIL collective, Cincy Reigns.
“I was really fortunate to have my college coach, one of the greatest to ever do it to come spend time with us,” Miller said. “That was obviously really special for me. It’s just really neat for my coach, someone I look up to as much as anybody in the world, to come see where I work and the passion for Cincinnati basketball and get around our players.”
Tyler McKinley injury update
Miller did acknowledge what The Enquirer reported Sept. 27, that 6-foot-9 freshman Tyler McKinley suffered a knee injury that required surgery Sept. 26. He is on crutches and will miss the season.
“He had such a terrific summer and such a terrific fall,” Miller said. “We thought a ton of him. He was exceeding our expectations. He was one of the guys if you said, ‘Who surprised you?’ I thought he’d be good and he was better than that.”
Miller called the news a significant blow to the depth of UC’s frontcourt
Will Halvine Dzellat be eligible?
Dzellat is a 6-foot-10 post from France that came to the Bearcats a little over a month ago. He is 20 years old and was captain of his FIBA team. It was originally thought he’d be ineligible, but there are some wheels in motion.
“Right now, he’s a redshirt,” Miller said. “We’ll see. We’re looking into that. He was the captain of the U18 French national team. That’s a big, big deal. That impacted me a lot when we were talking about bringing him over here. We’ve thrown him in the fire. That’s pretty difficult and he’s handled it pretty dang well.”
The return of Jizzle James could be special
Miller repeatedly has said in his years of coaching that he never had a freshman have a consistent and diligent work ethic as James had as a freshman.
“People talked about, ‘Are you surprised at how he finished the year?'” Miller said. “Heck no, I wasn’t surprised because as a freshman, I’ve never seen somebody work at it like he did day after day. He’s done that again here, this summer, this fall. He’s a significantly improved player.”
Rayvon Griffith prospects, growth in Big 12
The former Taft star redshirted last year but appears to have gained some bulk along with added inspiration to get on the floor.
“He led our team in rebounding this summer on offense and defense,” Miller said. “If you guys know me well, I like that stat. We’ve got an edgy, competitive group. He’s been as competitive, as edgy and as physical between the lines as any player on our team. That bodes well for him finding his way onto the floor.”
UC Bearcats returning
Nine players return from last year’s roster with six of those starting in one form or another. Transfers added were Dillon Mitchell from Texas, Arrinten Page from USC and Connor Hickman from Bradley, plus high school recruits Tyler McKinley and Tyler Betsey.
“You have such a good feel for the returning players because you’ve coached them for a year,” Miller said. “The assimilation for the incoming guys has been more natural and it’s happened faster because they have examples.”
Tyler Betsey outlook with UC Bearcats
The 6-foot-8 forward selected UC over Alabama and Connecticut a year ago and displayed a nice shooting touch.
“He’s going to be a terrific player,” Miller said. “It’s not a question of if, it’s when.”
Simas Lukošius 2024-25 prospects
“One, he got healthy in league play,” Miller said. “He finally found some rhythm. Two, we kind of figured out how to utilize him within our offensive structure. He’s a guy you can put in all kinds of different action with the ball in his hands. There’s a better understanding of what we do and we have a better understanding of him.”
Why should UC fans care about Connor Hickman?
UC assistant coach Drew Adams played at Hickman’s high school, Bloomington South and formerly worked at Bradley where Hickman averaged and shot triples at a 40% clip. Hickman played for the father of Drew Adams in AAU.
He’s had fun since arriving with his new teammates and turned the head of Senior Associate AD/Sports Performance Mike Rehfeldt in the weight room. He began strength training in high school.
“I was able to start dunking, that was pretty cool,” Hickman said. “If you look at my family you’d say, ‘There’s no way he’s going to turn out that athletic.'”
Hickman is so athletic that he actually has a vertical leap of 40″ that he displayed on teammate Rayvon Griffith who is four inches taller.
“I’ve always been able to jump fairly high but I think being here it’s ramped up,” Hickman said. “A lot of people didn’t know I could jump like that coming here. It’s not very expected. I’m 6’2″, white with a combover. I don’t want to put Rayvon on blast, he did find out though.”
Dan Skillings Jr. verifies Hickman’s hovering ability
“Did he really say that?” Skillings said. “In game, really cocking it back and dunking it, he got Ray good! I can’t believe he said that up here!”
Skillings went on to say UC fans may see plenty of orange spheres being flushed down the cylinder.
“We’ve got some high flyers on this team,” Skillings said. “Arrinten Page, a high flyer. Dillon Mitchell, high flyer. Me, high flyer. Rayvon, high flyer. Day Day (Thomas) high flyer. Jizzle high flyer. AZ (Aziz Bandaogo) obviously. We’ve got some dudes that can get up and dunk on somebody. It’s not going to be like last year. We’ve got a lot of players that are going to be doing a lot of exciting dunks. It’s going to be exciting for the fans to see.”
Is this the last year for Skillings?
Before announcing his return, Skillings made it known that this would be his last year. Or, is it?
“My mind’s not on that whatsoever,” Skillings said. “My mind is strictly on the team and how far we get as a team.”
Several returning Bearcats had opportunities to leave
“Bringing back the core players is a huge accomplishment,” Skillings said. “It really says something about Coach Wes. I bet Simas, Jizzle, AZ (Bandaogo), and me got offered more money to go somewhere else. We all came back and stayed together because we believe in what we can do here. There’s a lot of universities that offered them more money for sure and myself.”
After the Oct. 18 exhibition with Ohio State, UC begins the season at Fifth Third Arena Monday, Nov. 4 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
