Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team is down one post player as 6-foot-9, 240-pound freshman has been on crutches and is out indefinitely

The Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team is down one post player as 6-foot-9, 240-pound freshman Tyler McKinley has been on crutches and is out indefinitely with a knee injury. He had a surgical procedure on Thursday.

Just last week on a podcast with CBS insider Jon Rothstein, Bearcats coach Wes Miller mentioned McKinley as a freshman who could be a possible contributor.

“Tyler Betsey and Tyler McKinley look like guys that can walk in and play as freshmen,” Miller said.

Tyler McKinley the latest Cincinnatian to hoop for Bearcats

Both Tyler McKinley and 6-foot-8 Tyler Betsey from Connecticut signed with the Bearcats last November. After returning from the Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, McKinley played his senior season at Winton Woods High School. Before that, he started as a freshman and sophomore at Walnut Hills High.

At Walnut Hills in 2021-22, he was the Eastern Cincinnati Conference Offensive Player of the Year and he repeated that feat in 2023-24 at Winton Woods averaging 18.5 points per game and 9.9 rebounds.

With McKinley out, Former Taft star Rayvon Griffith and Covington Catholic shooting guard C.J. Fredrick are the local Bearcats hoopers. The 6-foot-6 swingman Griffith is a redshirt freshman while Fredrick is in his final season of eligibility.

UC added French FIBA player Halvine Dzellat in September, but the 20-year-old 6-foot-10 post player is not expected to be academically eligible until next season. As Miller alluded in speaking to Rothstein, the upside is that the Bearcats will likely play with one post player.

“In the second half (of last season) we were playing more four perimeter-oriented lineups,” Miller said. “I think we’ll be exclusively that way this year. I think that opens up the floor a little bit.”