KOCH: Rebounding Helped Bearcats Top Bluiett, Xavier Last Season

By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com

CINCINNATI – The memory of Trevon Bluiett's eye-popping shooting performance last season against the University of Cincinnati would be a lot more painful for the Bearcats to discuss if they hadn't withstood it to earn an 86-78 victory over Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout at Fifth Third Arena.

Because they did, they were able to recall it Wednesday with a mixture of admiration and determination to make sure it doesn't happen again when the 11th-ranked Bearcats face No. 21 Xavier on Saturday at XU's Cintas Center.

Bluiett, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, scored a career-high 40 points against UC on Jan. 26 to become the first Xavier player to score 40 points in a game since National Player of the Year David West scored 47 against Dayton in 2003. Bluiett made 12 of 15 shots from the field and an incredible nine of 11 from 3-point range. He also made seven of his nine free throws. He had 26 points at halftime, which staked the Musketeers to a 44-36 lead, and didn't miss a shot until the 14:07 mark of the second half. By then he had already scored 32 points.

He buried uncontested shots and closely guarded shots, some from well behind the 3-point line and others closer in. Nothing the Bearcats tried on defense seemed to matter.

"Fortunately we had enough time to recover because most of Bluiett's onslaught was in the first half," said UC coach Mick Cronin. "If it happens in the second half, you're going to get beat. It got to the point where if you let him get a shot off it seemed like he was going to make it."

Jacob Evans III, who had a big game of his own with 21 points, took his turn trying to slow Bluiett.

"Once you give him the confidence, once he sees that ball go through the net, whether it's free throws, easy layups, pull-ups or just wide open ones, that adds to the fire," Evans said. "We just continued to try to run him off the line as much as we could. We still had to play defense and guard the other guys. They're not just a one-person team. We just tried to control the glass as we always do. That's how we got the victory."

The Bearcats outscored the Musketeers, 50-34, in the second half and out-rebounded them, 42-33 for the game. They scored 30 second-chance points to four for Xavier to help nullify Bluiett's outburst.

UC would no doubt like to stage a repeat performance on the glass this time, but it goes without saying that a huge part of its defensive game plan will be trying to make sure Bluiett doesn't go off again. He'll enter the game leading the Musketeers with a 19.7-point average, which ranks second in the BIG EAST Conference, and shooting 46.5 percent from 3-point range.

But he scored only 11 points Tuesday in Xavier's 76-63 win over No. 16 Baylor and 10 points in its 102-86 loss to Arizona State last Friday. He was two-for-10 from long range in those games. That could mean that he's fallen into a rare shooting slump or that he's about to deliver another masterpiece. Probably it means nothing at all.

"What's a good shot for some kids is different," Cronin said. "You might say, that's a bad shot. Well for Trevon Bluiett, if he can get it off with his feet set, it doesn't really matter how contested he is, versus the normal player, especially a college player, who needs to shoot an uncontested shot to shoot a high percentage."

Bluiett is not the only concern defensively for the Bearcats, especially with the emergence of J.P. Macura, who has averaged 14.6 points. But few, if any, players in the country can shoot accurately from the distances that Bluiett can.

"We've got to know all of his habits and what he does," said UC's Kyle Washington. "Sometimes when a guy gets it going like that, it's hard to stop. But we're going to try our best to make sure we know where he's at at all times."

The Bearcats proved last year that they can beat Xavier even if Bluiett, rated a preseason All-American by several publications, has the game of his life. But they'd prefer not to have to try to do it again. 

"In my mind he's as good a senior as there is in the country on the offensive end of the court," Cronin said. "So you've got to limit his attempts. If you let a guy like that get into a rhythm…that's the biggest thing. A great player, you can't let them get started. If you let him get started, the basket gets bigger to him."

Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.