By Henry Rahn

1 25 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/1/24/2024-25_Game_Notes_at_BYU.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team will return to the mountain time zone for the second time in 10 days when it plays at BYU late Saturday night (10:30 p.m. ET).

THE RUNDOWN

• Texas Tech’s 12 three-pointers, including five-straight makes in the first half, were too much for Cincinnati to overcome on Tuesday night in an 81-71 defeat. UC had allowed only 11 treys over the previous three games.
• Cincinnati entered that game second only to Tennessee in 3-point defense (26.9 percent) and seventh nationally in allowing 60.6 ppg, in addition to seventh in KenPom defense and 39th overall.
• A new, but familiar, challenge awaits in BYU’s Trevin Knell and Richie Saunders, both over 43 percent from deep. From Miller: The coaching changes, and the style changes a little bit, but the way some of those returning players are going, it’s very similar to last year.”
• Offensively, the Bearcats shot 51.9 percent, their highest percentage since Howard on Dec. 8. Curiously, it came on a season-low 14 deep attempts, though they did shoot 73.7 percent from the foul line. Cincinnati is shooting 75 percent from there the last three games after 52.3 the previous four.
• UC fell to 21-3 under Miller when shooting above 50 percent, as well as 8-1 this year when scoring 70-plus.
• Jizzle James “saw the lid come off,” as Wes Miller remarked postgame, with a team-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. His mid-range game, arguably his biggest strength, was in full form as well.
• Former Utah Valley State standout Aziz Bandaogo is enjoying a mini-homecoming, where he also had a double-double against BYU last year that included his only 3-pointer out of two attempts in a UC uniform. He was a game-time decision on Tuesday night, but he still started and had seven points and three boards.
• Arrinten Page, like he did against Kansas, scored nine points, this time in only 10 minutes. He also had four rebounds over that stretch as he continues to showcase his playmaking ability down low.
• Dillon Mitchell remained a machine with 12 points and three blocks. He has scored in double-figures in 15 out of 18 games, the most on the team, while leading in steals (29).
• Simas Lukosius’ field-goal percentage in wins (49.6 percent) is double of his losses (24.0). He is a career 38.0 percent shooter from deep.
• Dan Skillings leads UC with 15.3 ppg in true road games. He also scored 15 in a neutral-site contest over Dayton, his first game away from home this year, then had 18 each at K-State and Baylor to rank fourth in the Big 12 at that time.
• Cincinnati is 22nd nationally with 10.1 turnovers per game after averaging 8.3 the last three contests.

MORE ON BANDAOGO’S RETURN

Aziz Bandaogo’s lone year in the Beehive State was a memorable one. That 2022-23 season, in which he helped Utah Valley to the WAC regular season title and wins over BYU, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon, saw him average 11.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Bandaogo joins only three Gonzaga players as the only active players in the nation to have two road wins in the Marriott Center. Also, his only 3-pointer as a Bearcat came at the top of the key in the second half against the Cougars on Jan. 6, 2024.

SERIES HISTORY

• This is the fifth all-time meeting between the teams with a 2-2 record overall.
• Cincinnati stunned the No. 12 Cougars in Provo last year, the first-ever Big 12 contest for both teams.
• The Bearcats claimed their highest-ranked win since the 2019 AAC title game, as well as its highest on the road since No. 11 Wichita State in March 2018.
• BYU (12-2, 0-1), previously 9-0 at home, entered as the national leader in scoring (90.4 ppg) and rebound margin (13.8). Cincinnati, second in rebounding, held the Cougars to their season-low while winning the boards, 45-36.
• The Cougars’ 46 three-point attempts marked the most all-time by a Cincinnati opponent.
• James’ 12 points included 10 over a 3:36 span. Skillings scored 10 in his first-career start, while Aziz Bandaogo posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
• That meeting was the first since the 2001 NCAA Tournament, when No. 5 Cincinnati won 84-59 over No. 12 BYU to open play in San Diego.
• Steve Logan led the Bearcats with 21 points, while Kenny Satterfield followed with 14 at Viejas Arena.
• The Cougars’ last win came in Lawrence, Kan., in 1971 as the nation’s No. 6 team.

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS