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Cincinnati cruises to a 30-point win in the Bahamas (VIDEO)

Cincinnati v Louisville

Getty Images

Getty Images

Cincinnati is playing an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, which will be the team’s final game in its six-day stay in the Bahamas. On Friday, the Bearcats played their only game against an opponent outside the program, picking up a 94-64 win over the PJ Stingers at the Sir Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium in Nassau.

Underclassmen Kevin Johnson and Gary Clark led the Bearcats with 17 points apiece. Clark, a top 100 recruit, was part of a new-look front court, along with with junior college transfer Octavius Ellis and three-star recruit Quadri Moore. The trio helped Cincinnati outrebound the Stingers 53-29.

Cincinnati assisted on 24 of its 39 field goals. Although, the team did commit 15 turnovers. Ball movement is something Cronin is stressing this offseason. Last season, the Bearcats had an assist rate that ranked them 145th in the country, according to kenpom. While its defense led Cincinnati to a second-place finish in the American, its offense caused an early exit from the NCAA tournament, as No. 12 Harvard upset the No. 5 seed in the Round of 64.

The offense will need to account for the loss of its top three scorers, including All American Sean Kilpatrick, who averaged 20.7 points per game.

Cincinnati will have seven additions to this year’s team -- five newcomers and two redshirt freshmen -- to go along with returning starters Shaquille Thomas and Ge’Lawn Guyn. This week’s trip to the Bahamas was an important one for Cronin to mold a team looking to contend with conference favorite SMU and reigning national champion UConn.

“We’ve had a great trip,” Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin said after Friday’s game. “Attitude of the team has been great. We’ve got a lot out of this, not just basketball, but just team bonding. When you have a new team like this, with so many new players, you have to become a team before you can worry about X’s and O’s. We’ve really tried to focus on that in the last few weeks.”

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