The college basketball season has begun and NEOSportsInsiders will be watching the men’s and women’s programs in Division 1 and below this season. This past October, Ohio State, Dayton, Xavier and Cincinnati played an exhibition in Mason that fans loved. The CareSource Invitational was played outdoors in the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason. The event raised awareness and funds for mental health and suicide prevention.
There was a time when these schools ALWAYS scheduled each other prior to conference play. But conference affiliations had changed things over the past 20 years. But regular season matchups are back in vogue! Here is a quick review of the past few days.
Dayton Flyers
The University of Dayton is seemingly stuck in neutral the past few seasons. Last night, the Flyers lost in overtime to Northern Illinois, 81-76. Senior guard David Douglas, Jr. dropped 27 for the Huskies. Dayton clawed back from a halftime deficit of 40-29, only to see NIU’s Max Weisbrod hit a triple with 13 seconds left to send it to OT. The Flyers were led by super frosh Aiden Derkack, who dropped 20 again for the second time in this young season. The 6’6” guard had some help from Landen Joseph, UD’s sophomore guard, who contributed 19.
The Flyers were 2 of 17 from behind the arc, with Joseph netting both. This is NOT a good loss for Dayton, since NIU had lost to Grambling and Tulsa before this win.
Dayton has Sienna at the UD Arena on Tuesday night.
University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati didn’t play Saturday, but their Thursday night win over Green Bay saw Senior Myles Colvin light up the scoreboard at Fifth Third Arena dropping 31 points for the Bearcats in their 81-64 romp. Cincy plays Minnesota Monday evening then heads up I-75 for a date with the Flyers on Saturday, November 14. UC recorded 21 steals that led to 23 fastbreak points Thursday night. Cincinnati was 10 of 31 from triple territory, with Myles hitting seven.
Xavier University
Xavier played Friday night at the Cintas Center and cruised to a win over Eastern Michigan, 76-53. Senior guard Chance Westry led all scorers with 13 points in 21 minutes of action. This is Chance’s fourth team in four years, with stints at Auburn, Syracuse, UAB and now Xavier. Richard Pitino’s Musketeers are an interesting team to watch this year. In his second year in Cincinnati, Pitino could be primed to lead his team in the brutal Big East conference this year.
Ohio State
Ohio State needed a second half surge to defeat Youngstown State Friday night, 89-65. Junior point guard John Mobley Jr. netted 25 points on 7 of 9 shooting. It wasn’t until a 2nd half push by teammates Andrija Jelavic and Amare Bynum that saw the Buckeyes take control of the contest. OSU will host Marshall Monday at the Schottenstein Center. But they don’t want to look too far ahead. Friday, Ohio State heads to UConn to play the #2 ranked team in the country!
Miami University
Finally we look at the team that hasn’t lost a regular season game in 617 days, Miami University. The Redhawks jumped out to a 36-31 lead and hung on to defeat a tough Bellarmine squad, 80-73. Miami had five score in double figures as coach Travis Steele used the game to get more game time for his bench. With two wins so far, Miami continues its stretch of being undefeated during the regular season. But with two Missouri Valley Conference foes back to back this next week or so in Evansville and UIC, that streak is in jeopardy.
So football might be on the wane, but basketball is heating up!
Stay tuned for Ohio University, Toledo, Kent, Akron and a host of others!
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