While they hung tough with a projected top-five team in the country, even taking the lead late in the first half, there were several contributing factors that will need to be corrected before UC faces any of its high-major non-conference opponents and gets into Big 12 play.
"We learned a ton about our group, that we're not going to quit. We did the same thing against Ohio State in the second half, but there's points in games where you have to win the margins. I thought when we tied it up, we were right there. They beat us on a couple 50-50 balls and offensive rebounds, and great teams are going to make you pay," Cincinnati head coach Jerrod Calhoun said.
The game reminded Calhoun of a closed scrimmage he was a part of while coaching at Utah State. He called the Aggies' 30-point loss at Oregon "the best thing that ever happened to us." Utah State went 26-8 that season and earned a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament. This loss wasn't quite the same nature, but it's a game that teams schedule when they have high hopes for a season.
The first 46 seconds were less than desirable for UC with Calhoun spending a timeout after just two possessions. The Bearcats lost track of Andrej Stojakovic in the paint for an easy layup, then three players collapsing on a driving Quentin Coleman led to a wide open corner 3-pointer for Tomislav Ivisic.
While Ivisic, who stands at 7-foot-1, went 3-of-4 on 3-pointers, the Illini also found success in the paint, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds and scoring 42 points in the paint. With 10 players that stand at 6-foot-5 or taller, their length caused problems for the Bearcats on both ends of the floor. While UC played a relatively clean offensive game with 10 turnovers, Illinois blocked four shots, sealed passing lanes and turned the Bearcats away from opportunities in the paint.
"There were points that they got such deep penetration on the drives that they were so close to the basket. We've got to do a better job of chesting drives and keeping them out of the paint," Calhoun said.
Yes, UC was without 6-foot-11 Deshaun Vaden and 6-foot-9 David Iweze registered only 10 minutes, but the Bearcats will need to play with physicality if they want to be a factor in February and March. Elijah Perryman and Akai Fleming were also injured in practice in the week leading up to the game, but Calhoun doesn't expect them to be out more than one week.
To Calhoun and the Bearcats' credit, they took full advantage of every Illini defensive lapse. Tylen Riley continued to prove his scoring prowess at all three levels (he finished with 31 points), junior Eric Mahaffey scored five points in the first three minutes of his homecoming, and well-schemed pick-and-rolls led to four Jayden Hastings dunks.
"The guy I'm most proud of outside of Tylen Riley tonight is Eric Mahaffey. For him to come in and spell our point guard position, never having done that, against a potential national championship team took a lot of courage," Calhoun said.
The biggest positive from UC's highest-profile preseason game is that they'll have nary a problem scoring the ball this season. With eight new faces on the roster that all averaged 10-plus points per game in 2025-2026, the Bearcats can potentially be near the top of the Big 12 in scoring offense. They're unselfish with the ball but one player can take over if needed. Through two exhibitions, that's been Riley while newly-eligible MJ Collins gets his feet wet with game action.
Collins was the lone player to foul out, finishing with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting and two rebounds in 26 minutes.
"It was my night tonight and it could be anybody's night, but when you have a lot of good players, you can do whatever you want to do out there," Riley said.
But the defense presented the biggest concern. The Bearcats held Ohio State to 33 second-half points and only allowed one Buckeye to finish in double figures. On Saturday evening, 10 different Illinois players scored, six of them in double figures, led by Stojakovic's 24. And that was without David Mirkovic, who is out with a foot injury but is expected to be one of the highest-impact players in the sport.
"They got a lot. of weapons. You've got to pick your poison. Stojakivoc tonight, every time we cut him off, we couldn't get a trap from behind and he was just living at the rim," Calhoun said.
Cincinnati welcomes Oakland to Fifth Third Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 27, for the final exhibition game before tipping off the regular season against American University at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2.
"I'm so impressed with Jerrod (Calhoun). It's my first time in the building, a place that I felt like I was familiar with because of my relationship with coach Huggins. I knew exactly what we were getting when we scheduled this, and it is a very well-coached team," Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. "This team's going to be fun to watch. This is an NCAA Tournament team that's going to continue to get better."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats aren't panicking after exhibition loss to Illinois