By Cord Rankin
GAME NOTES
https://gobearcats.com/documents/2024/11/14/2024-25_Game_Notes_Nicholls.pdf
ABOUT JACK TWYMAN AND MAURICE STOKES
CINCINNATI — The No. 17 Cincinnati men’s basketball team is back after a week off to host Nicholls at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
THE RUNDOWN
- The Bearcats will be without Dan Skillings Jr. for “a couple of weeks” after suffering a knee injury in the season opener. He had 17 points and a team-high 11 rebounds after leading UC with 12.9 ppg to go with 6.4 rpg last season. Connor Hickman started in his place last Friday, and the senior Bradley transfer has 968 points.
- Skillings’ rebounding absence could have been felt against Morehead State, where the Bearcats tied the Eagles on the boards after a 48-25 margin the opener. However, UC did shoot 60 percent and commit only four turnovers to skew those numbers.
- The four turnovers were one off the school record. It was the third-such instance under Miller, with the other two coming against Detroit Mercy and South Florida in 2022-23.
- Simas Lukosius is off to a scorching start from deep and when penetrating the paint, shooting 82.4 percent from the field and 5-for-7 from long range. His 17.0 ppg leads the squad, and the senior reached 1,000 points for his career in the NIT Quarterfinals last year. He also has 10 assists to no turnovers so far.
- Day Day Thomas’ return is possible on Friday. He suffered a season-ending foot injury in the NIT opener and had a similar incident in practice on Oct. 22. Thomas, who averaged 10.4 ppg and was UC’s leader with 116 assists and 61 steals last year, was a full participant in Monday’s practice.
- Dillon Mitchell went 7-for-7 from the field for 14 points and nine rebounds, which included a plus-37 in the box score against Morehead State.
- Head coach Wes Miller said the following on Mitchell: “I’m not a big plus/minus guy, because that stuff can be misleading, especially in limited data like a one game situation, but it’s not misleading tonight. I thought he was a difference maker on both ends when he was in the game tonight. I was pleased with that; I thought he looked really good defensively.”
- Arrinten Page showcased his skillset with a career-high 13 points against Morehead State, including a 7-for-8 mark from the foul line. His post counterpart, Aziz Bandaogo, is 10-for-11 from the field and has seven blocks in the first two games. He also had four in only 15 minutes against No. 14 Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament.
- A win would give UC a 3-0 start in each of Miller’s four years at the helm. He earned his 250th win last Friday.
TWYMAN-STOKES CLASSIC
Cincinnati’s MTE against Nicholls on Friday and at NKU the following Tuesday are part of the Twyman-Stokes Classic.
Friday’s game will feature a halftime presentation spotlighting the story that transcends the city and basketball as a whole. Rising NBA star Maurice Stokes, while playing for the Cincinnati Royals, suffered a life-changing injury at the end of the 1958 season that left him paralyzed and unable to speak. His teammate, Bearcats legend Jack Twyman, became his legal guardian at 23 to give him financial and physical support.
After years of grassroots fundraising nationwide, NBA stars held out at the 1964 All-Star Game to get the players’ union recognized, largely in part after seeing what Stokes had gone through. Stokes died in 1970, and when Twyman passed in 2012, the Reverend Jesse Jackson helped lead a call to the NBA to establish the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award.
SERIES HISTORY
- Nicholls head coach Tevon Saddler played for Wes Miller at UNC Greensboro from 2013-15, earning SoCon Freshman of the Year honors. He scored 34 points against East Carolina in his second career game and finished his career at Nicholls.
- Saddler, at 29, is the youngest Division I coach in the nation. Miller, hired at 28 at UNCG, was the youngest when the two overlapped.
- The only other game this season that features a head coach going up against his former coach as a player was last Friday, Nov. 8, when Nicholls hosted Richie Riley and South Alabama. The Jaguars prevailed, 70-64.
- Cincinnati won the only all-time meeting in December 1998 at home, 82-48.
COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
