Jerrod Calhoun was happy for a win in his first game as the head coach at Cincinnati on Monday, but he will be even happier if his team can play a consistent and “settled” 40 minutes.
The Bearcats (1-0) led just 35-33 over American at halftime in their season opener Monday before pulling away in the second half for a 79-53 win.
Cincinnati will host Green Bay (1-0) on Thursday night.
“I thought we took a lot of ‘me’ shots early,” Calhoun told Sports Illustrated. “We settled. I think four of our first five shots were contested threes. I hadn’t seen this group do that. Not to say we’re selfish. I just think we were way, way too antsy, and hopefully we’ll be more settled on Thursday.”
The Bearcats found trouble right away in the first half when starting senior forward Jayden Hastings went down with a shoulder injury in the first minute. He is questionable for Thursday.
“Looked like it popped out of the socket and then it came back in,” Calhoun said.
The Hastings injury, and American’s 12 points off turnovers, were among the factors that kept the game close at the break.
Senior guard MJ Collins Jr. came alive in the second half with nine of his 13 points. Towson transfer Tyler Tejada also had 13 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Bearcats.
Green Bay, meanwhile, is coming off a 94-51 win over Lawrence in its opener Monday. The Phoenix nailed 15 3-pointers.
Ne’quan Brown led Green Bay with 14 points off the bench, and forward Marcus Hall had 12.
“When we put this team together, we felt like we needed more quality shooting, and we needed more length and athleticism on the wings defensively,” coach Doug Gottlieb said. “I think we got a lot of hands on a lot of basketballs with deflections. The first half we played excellent defense. … We just wanted them to get a rhythm of playing together.”