By Bert Leeson

2 21 2024

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2024/2/19/2023-24_MBB_Game_Notes.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati basketball team is back home Wednesday to host Oklahoma State at 7 p.m.

Fans are asked to arrive early due to high traffic. One benefit is $5 Cincy Light beer and select food items until 30 minutes before tip-off.

THE RUNDOWN

• Cincinnati rebounded from back-to-back defeats to current top-6 teams to jump out to a big lead and hang on, 76-74, at UCF on Saturday. It also came on the heels of a 12:20 a.m. landing in Orlando due to plane mechanical and de-icing issues in Cincinnati. The 37-30 lead was UC’s largest at the half in league play, and the Bearcats are tied for the Big 12 lead with a 3-3 road record.
• The Bearcats won the boards, 45-33, against the Knights that included 18 on the offensive end. Jamille Reynolds, playing against his former team (2020-22), had nine in 14 minutes, his most rebounds in a Big 12 game this year. Cincinnati’s 9.3 margin is ninth nationally and tops in the Big 12.
• Aziz Bandaogo had a season-high 13 points to go with eight boards and two blocks. He has a team-high 24 swats despite missing eight games overall. Rebounding, as well as a modest 11 turnovers, gave Cincinnati a Big 12-season-high 67 shot attempts following an overall season-low 50 against Iowa State.
• Simas Lukosius, who had the game-winning shot at No. 15 Texas Tech for the last road game, dropped in a tipped-layup to lead 76-73 with 13 seconds left. He is also the team’s leading foul shooter at 80.6 percent.
• Jizzle James’ hesitation drive and layup with 1:36 left broke a 71-all tie, and he also calmly sank a mid-range jumper at 5:32 after the Knights pulled within two. The freshman Orlando native and Reynolds (St. Petersburg) played in front of countless friends and family in attendance. Reynolds has been rock-solid the last five games as well, shooting 53 percent and providing improved defense to max out his time on the floor.
• Dan Skillings Jr. has scored in double-figures seven-straight games, with 13-plus in each of those. Saturday was his first start since scoring 21 in the Jan. 27 win over UCF, his 21st birthday.
• Cincinnati is one of seven teams nationally to record a win with eight different starting lineups (only power conference team as well). Viktor Lakhin had started 28-straight games in which he appeared, the longest on the team, before Saturday.
• The defense is allowing only 4.4 three-point makes over the last five games. For the season, it is 22nd nationally with a 95.7 KenPom rating and sixth in the Big 12. Day Day Thomas had four steals on Saturday for the fourth time this season. His 41 are already the most by a Bearcat since Tre Scott’s 46 in 2019-20, with at least seven games left.

SERIES HISTORY

• The last meeting between the teams came during an interesting seven-game stretch for the Bearcats in 2002-03.
• They lost three C-USA games in a row before toppling the No. 11 Cowboys at home on Feb. 9, then lost two more before defeating No. 4 Louisville, 101-81. That matchup pitted coaching legends Bob Huggins against Eddie Sutton.
• OSU won the previous meeting, which was the 2001-02 season opener in Stillwater.
• The first two meetings came during the 1957-58 season as juggernauts of the Big 8 and Missouri Valley Conference, with the home team taking each one.
• Leading Oklahoma State scorer Javon Small played the last two seasons at ECU, scoring 23 in a road loss at Cincinnati on Jan. 11, his last game of the year before a season-ending injury.

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS