By Henry Rawn

2 11 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/2/10/2024-25_Game_Notes_vs._Utah.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team is looking for its third-straight win Tuesday night when it hosts Utah at 7 p.m.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and happy hour includes $5 domestic beer until 6:30 p.m.

THE RUNDOWN

• It was a banner Saturday night in a sold-out Fifth Third Arena as Cincinnati rallied from a 3-point halftime deficit to open the second on a 22-2 run and win, 84-66. The Cougars’ shooting prowess pulled them within 66-58 with eight minutes left, but the Bearcats locked in to hold BYU to only five points over the next seven.
• Jizzle James, who was 4-for-32 from deep in Big 12 play, went 6-for-8 against BYU. He is averaging 19.5 ppg over the last two wins on 66.7 percent shooting. His 24 points on Saturday marked his and the team’s season-high, as well as his third 20-plus point outing (25 vs. Bradley and 21 at Indiana State to finish last year).
• Day Day Thomas, in his first three starts of the year, is averaging 15.0 ppg on 52.6 percent shooting. Over his first nine Big 12 contests, he averaged 6.4 ppg on 35.8 percent.
• Josh Reed turned in the best game of his UC career, posting a career-high 12 points and helping shut down BYU’s prolific offense, from breakaway steals for slams, 3-pointers and fadeaway jumpers. It was only the second double-figure scoring game of his career, previously in December 2022 against Bryant as a freshman.
• The Bearcats went 10-of-20 from beyond the arc against BYU, their fifth game with double-digit makes and first since Thanksgiving Eve. CJ Fredrick’s 3-pointer in the first half made UC 6-0 when he scores this year, including three Big 12 wins.
• Aziz Bandaogo followed his 16-point game at UCF with nine against BYU, shooting 11-of-13 over that stretch. He had 26 points over the prior seven games. UC is 13-2 in his two years, and 7-1 this year, when he scores in double-figures.
• While there weren’t many rebounds in such an offensive game, UC crushed the Cougars on the glass, 32-17, including 11 offensive boards while allowing zero second-chance points to BYU. Both UC’s first half of the Jan. 25 game and second half of Feb. 8 mark BYU’s fewest points scored in any half on the year.
• The Bearcats are shooting 58.5 percent on 88.5 ppg the last two games, up from 39.0 percent and 59.6 ppg in the first 10 Big 12 contests.
• UC is third in the Big 12 and 19th nationally in allowing 64.0 ppg, all while ranking first and 11th, respectively, with only 13.6 fouls per contest. Offensively, the squad is second in the league and 28th overall with only 10.0 turnovers per game.
• Cincinnati has trailed only 19:12 out of its four Big 12 wins, leading by double-digits in all three.

SERIES HISTORY

• Despite 19 Utah turnovers and Cincinnati’s 14-0 run to take a 50-44 lead midway through the second half, the Utes responded with a 12-2 burst of their own to eventually win, 69-66, on Jan. 28.
• The highlight of this game is Gabe and Mason Madsen returning to Cincinnati. Gabe played only two games as a true freshman in 2020-21 before opting out in that COVID year, and Mason played 2020-22, with the second being Wes Miller‘s first year as the head coach. Mason did not make his UC debut until after Gabe had departed.
• Mason averaged 3.9 points per game as a sophomore for UC, where his 36.3 percent clip from beyond the arc leading the team. He then played the next two years at Boston College.
• It is the first game against a former Bearcat since the 2021-22 season, when Mamoudou Diarra and Tennessee Tech came to Fifth Third Arena.
• The last time these two teams played, former letterwinner and national champion assistant coach Tay Baker was in his first year as the Cincinnati head coach. At 97, he is believed to be the oldest living former Division I basketball head coach.
• Cincinnati defeated Utah in the 1961 Final Four before taking down Ohio State for its first of two-straight titles.
• UC also competed in the Huntsman Center in the 1995 and 2003 NCAA Tournaments. The first was a win over Temple before falling to UConn, followed by a first-round defeat to Gonzaga.
• The Bearcats last year faced Caleb Loener at Baylor and Mike Sharavjamts at San Francisco.

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS