New Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball coach Jerrod Calhoun has thrown a perfect pitch to open up a UC baseball game and delivered on a few others as he enters May with a recruiting class ranked No. 10 in the nation by USA Today (as of April 23). 247Sports lists UC’s transfer class of 10 at No. 18 in the country. Calhoun is now trying to round out his roster with up to five more players, with visits coming from some top-notch high school targets.
At Utah State, Calhoun redshirted five Aggies, including current Bearcat David Iweze.
The Cincinnati Bearcats as of May
Cincinnati Bearcats 2026-27 guards
Myles Colvin – 6-foot-5, 212 pounds from Indianapolis. 11.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for Wake Forest last season. Colvin will be a senior.
Trevian Carson – 6-foot-3, 200 pounds from West Des Moines, Iowa. 11.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, plus 2.9 assists for North Dakota State last season. Carson will be a senior.
Elijah Perryman – 6-foot-2, 190 pounds from San Francisco. 4.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game with 3.1 assists for Utah State last season. Perryman will be a sophomore.
Tylen Riley – 6-foot-3, 190 pounds from Las Vegas. 15 points and 3.9 rebounds per game plus an average of 4.4 assists at Tulsa. Riley will be a senior.
Akai Fleming – The 6-foot-4, 184-pound former four-star recruit from Marietta, transferred from Georgia Tech May 6. Fleming will be a sophomore. Last season, he averaged 10.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, starting 22 of 30 contests for the Yellowjackets.
Cincinnati Bearcats 2026-27 forwards
Tyler Tejada – 6-foot-9, 230 pounds from Teaneck, New Jersey. Tejada has guard skills in a power forward body and averaged 17.7 points per game and 5.5 rebounds for Towson last season. Tejada will be a senior.
Adlan Elamin –6-foot-9, 185 pounds from Arlington, Virginia. Elamin averaged 6.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game playing for Calhoun at Utah State last season. Elamin will be a sophomore.
Eric Mahaffey – 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds from Cincinnati and Moeller High School. Mahaffey is wing-size and versatile, averaging 7.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for Akron last season. Mahaffey will be a sophomore.
Cincinnati Bearcats 2026-27 centers/post players
David Iweze – 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds from Roanoke, Texas. Iweze redshirted for Jerrod Calhoun at Utah State last season. His senior high school season in Texas saw him average 11 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. Iweze will be a redshirt freshman.
Riley Allenspach – 6-foot-11 and 247 pounds from Charlotte. Allenspach averaged 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for George Mason last season. Allenspach will be a senior.
Jayden Hastings – 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds from Orlando. Hastings averaged 6.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for Boston College last season. Hastings will be a junior.
Who starts for 2026-27 Cincinnati Bearcats?
Jerrod Calhoun has mentioned he would play a rotation of 9-10 guys and, as always, it’s about who finishes, not who starts.
Keeping in mind that there could be changes between now and October exhibitions, let’s go with Colvin and Riley at guard, Allenspach in the middle and Tejada and Hastings in the frontcourt. That could change in a heartbeat, and quickly off the bench would be Carson and Elamin, who were primarily starters at their last stops.
Colvin started 24 of 35 games at Wake Forest, Riley started all 38 at Tulsa, Allenspach started 31 of 32 at George Mason, Tejada started 31 of 32 at Towson, and Hastings started 29 of 31 games at Boston College.
Comparing new UC Bearcats with last year’s team
Granted, they all played in different leagues, but for statistical purposes, Tejada (17), Riley (15) and Allenspach (13.6) all averaged more than last year’s top UC scorers, Baba Miller (13) and Moustapha Thiam (12.8).
Guards Riley (15) and Carson (11.9) averaged more than Day Day Thomas (11.5) and Jizzle James (10.9).
At the wing, Jalen Celestine (8.6) slightly topped Eric Mahaffey (7.8). Similarly, Shon Abaev (7) averaged slightly more than Adlan Elamin (6.7) did in his freshman year.
Comparing reserve guards, Elijah Perryman (4.4) averaged more points than Keyshuan Tillery (3.8). Perryman also outrebounded Tillery 1.6 to 1.2 per game and averaged 3.1 assists to Tillery’s 1.8. Perryman played 13.9 minutes on average at Utah State to Tillery’s 12.4 at UC. Both had freshman turnover issues, with Perryman having 50 to Tillery’s 37.
On the boards, Baba Miller (10.3) and Thiam (7.1) both averaged more than the top two transfer rebounders, Trevian Carson (6.5 as a guard) and Allenspach (6.1).
Power conference comparison for new UC Bearcats
Last year’s UC squad was 18-15, 9-9 Big 12. It also played power conference games with Louisville, Xavier, Georgia and Clemson, giving the Bearcats 22 top-notch opponents.
The new roster didn’t play the number of power conference schools that last year’s Bearcats did but had their opportunities.
Allenspach – At George Mason, he had an 11-point, five-rebound game vs. Virginia Tech of the ACC.
Tejada – At Towson, he had eight points and four rebounds vs. Kansas, 13 points and one rebound vs. UCF and 11 points and eight rebounds against Houston, all of the Big 12.
Colvin – At Wake Forest, he had 10 points and four rebounds against Louisville in an ACC game, eight points and seven rebounds vs. West Virginia and 19 points and six rebounds against Texas Tech of the Big 12 and 13 points and seven rebounds vs. Michigan of the Big Ten.
Riley – At Tulsa, he had 20 points, three rebounds and three assists against Auburn of the SEC in the NIT final and 12 points, four rebounds and four assists vs. Kansas State of the Big 12.
Perryman – At Utah State, he had four points, a rebound and an assist vs. Arizona of the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament. In the NCAA game before that vs. Villanova of the Big East, he didn’t score but had a rebound and two assists in the Aggies’ win.
Elamin – At Utah State, he had six points, two rebounds and three blocks in the NCAA second-round loss to Arizona of the Big 12. Against Villanova of the Big East, he had 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Carson – At North Dakota State, he had 11 points and seven rebounds in the NCAA Tournament vs. Michigan State. Against Oregon State (Pac-12), he had seven points, six rebounds and three assists.
Mahaffey – At Akron, he had eight points and four rebounds in an NCAA Tournament loss to Texas Tech of the Big 12. Against Purdue of the Big Ten, he had 10 points, two rebounds and four assists.
Hastings – Hastings played in the ACC for Boston College with a season-ending average of 6.7 points and 5.6 rebounds. As for common UC opponents, against Louisville, he was held to two points and four rebounds.
USA Today rates Cincinnati Bearcats transfer class at No. 10
In an April 23 post, the UC Bearcats transfer class was ranked No. 10. Indiana was No. 1, Tennessee No. 2, Louisville No. 3, Duke No. 4, Texas No. 5, North Carolina No. 6, Houston No. 7, Providence No. 8, Iowa State No. 9 and the Bearcats 10th and the third of three Big 12 teams listed.
Cincinnati Bearcats transfers among ESPN’s Top 100
Tejada from Towson is UC’s highest-rated transfer at No. 74 with guard Tylen Riley coming in at No. 91. UC recruited several of the Top 100 and lost 7-foot-2 center Thiam (No. 11) to NCAA champion Michigan April 24.
UC coach Jerrod Calhoun wants to play Ohio State
In an April 21 visit with UC AD John Cunningham on “Coffee with Cunningham,” Calhoun brought up an interesting series.
“We should be playing Ohio State home-and-home for the next 30 years,” Calhoun said. “I think it’s great for the state. Obviously, you’re going to play the team up the road (Xavier). There are things that I think make a lot of sense.”
UC’s Jerrod Calhoun has fans in former Bearcats Nick Van Exel, Melvin Levett
Calhoun appeared at the premiere of the Bob Huggins documentary recently, along with several former players. Many former Bearcats are pleased to have someone with ties to Huggins, including former NBA great Nick Van Exel.
“I’m loving it!” Van Exel said. “Once they hired JC, he reached out. I told him how happy I was, how excited I was for him. He gets UC. He gets the toughness, the grind, the grittiness of the program. That’s something I think we were all looking for from our former coaches. There’s certain games you’ve got to get up for, and you’ve got to treat it as such. Xavier is one game, but it’s a big **** one game. He understands that. I watched the last few years at Utah State. He can freaking coach.”
Calhoun referenced his Cleveland ties to the Bearcats when he was hired, mentioning Melvin Levett, Ruben Patterson and Steve Logan and their influence on him.
“I was too outdone, I fell over,” Levett said when hearing Calhoun’s remarks. “You really don’t know who’s going to be watching and who you’re influencing. For him to share that, it’s pretty cool and says a lot about his character. I’m excited for him to bring that Cleveland flavor to Cincinnati basketball again.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats basketball position-by-position roster heading into May
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
