The Detroit Titans and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet in college basketball action from Fifth Third Arena on Friday night.

Detroit Falls In Opener

The Detroit Titans come into this one looking to rebound from a 94-60 loss to Toledo in their last matchup. Donovann Toatley led the Titans with 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting with a pair of threes, a team-high 6 assists and 3 steals, while Jayden Stone added 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting with 3 threes and a team-high 6 rebounds as the only other double-digit scorer for the Titans in the losing effort. Edoardo Del Cadia also added 6 rebounds of his own in the losing effort for the Titans. As a team, Detroit shot 53.2% from the field, 30% from three and 40% from the foul line in the losing effort.

Cincinnati Takes Out UIC In Debut

The Cincinnati Bearcats come into this game looking to add to their 69-58 win over UIC to start the year. Day Day Thomas led the Bearcats with 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting with 3 assists and 3 steals while Dan Skillings Jr. added 13 points along with a team-high 8 rebounds. CJ Fredrick added 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting with 3 threes as well to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Cincinnati in the winning effort. Viktor Lakhin and Ody Oguama each added a team-high 8 rebounds of their own in the victory for the Bearcats. As a team, Cincinnati shot 41.8% from the field, 20% from three and 61.5% from the foul line in the winning effort.

Chris’ Pick

I’m backing Cincinnati here, though I don’t love the game because the Bearcats weren’t all that convincing in their opening game. That being said, what was convincing was that Detroit is going to look lost without Antoine Davis this season, as the offense was practically non-existent, and the 23 turnovers didn’t help much either. Cincinnati is still a decent team from a talent perspective, and I think they show up and get the job done here. Give me Cincinnati laying the points.