By Henry Rawn

2 15 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/2/14/2024-25_Game_Notes_-_ISU.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team, winners of three-straight games, will look to bring its momentum into Saturday afternoon’s contest at No. 10 Iowa State. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

THE RUNDOWN

• Cincinnati withstood a relentless Utah attack in an 85-75 win on Tuesday. The Bearcats never trailed after 15:51, but following ties at 7:27 and 3:55, Josh Reed’s driving floater and Day Day Thomas’ deep 3-pointer started a game-deciding 11-0 run.
• Cincinnati is averaging 87.3 ppg (55.4 FG%) over the last three contests after 59.6 (39.0%) over the prior 10 to start league play. It’s the first instance of three-straight conference games with 84-plus points since 2004.
• Jizzle James went 10-of-15 from the field to match his career-high of 25 points. It was his fourth game with 20 or more, and it followed his season-high of 24 against BYU. Since going scoreless against WVU, the sophomore is averaging 21.3 ppg on 66.7 percent shooting, including 6-of-14 from deep. James’ six dimes marked 10 games with five or more this year.
• Josh Reed’s 13 points marked his second-straight game with a career-high. Entering last Saturday’s win over BYU, he had scored in double-figures only once in his career. He has also been a combined +25 over the last two wins, as well as +13 in the Jan. 28 loss at Utah (only two others under Miller that high in a defeat).
• Cincinnati out-rebounded Utah 41-29 after getting beat 41-23 on the glass in Salt Lake City. It was 32-17 against BYU as well, including 11 offensive boards, in addition to its 14 against BYU last Saturday.
• UC’s 3-point shooting has been 10-of-20 and 11-for-22 the last two contests, both its Big 12 season-highs by a considerable margin. Thomas’ team-leading 38.6 percent clip comes after 28.0 last year. Simas Lukosius and Tyler Betsey are second at 35.4. Betsey is 7-for-15 the last five games after starting Big 12 play 2-for-15.
• Aziz Bandaogo’s 10-point, 10-rebound double-double was his first of the season and fifth over his two-year UC career. The Bearcats are 14-2 overall and 8-1 this year when he scores in double-figures. He is 15-for-21 (71.4 percent) for 11.7 ppg over the 3-game win streak after averaging 3.7 over the previous seven.
• Cincinnati is seeking its highest-ranked win since No. 2 Syracuse in the 2012 Big East Tournament, as well as its 48th over a top-10 team all-time. Last year, the Bearcats won at No. 12 BYU and No. 15 Texas Tech, as well as defeating No. 14 Illinois in Kansas City in Miller’s first season.
• Cincinnati has trailed only 21:42 out of its five Big 12 wins, leading by double-digits in all. UC is 13-1 when leading at the half (2-8 when down). The Bearcats are also 28th with only 10.1 turnovers per game, while Iowa State’s defense is 19th at forcing 15.4.

SERIES HISTORY

• Cincinnati leads 4-3, with Iowa State emerging victorious in last year’s meeting.
• Freshman Jizzle James rose to the occasion with 16 points, Dan Skillings had a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double and Simas Lukosius scored 15 points, but Iowa State forced 25 turnovers to counter UC’s 39.1 percent clip from deep.
• CJ Fredrick scored 11 points for Iowa in a road win at Iowa State in the 2019-20 season, then scored nine in a home win during COVID. Dillon Mitchell, while playing for Texas, went 1-2 against the Cyclones, playing at Hilton as a freshman in 2022-23.
• Jacob Evans’ two free-throws with 20.1 seconds left in overtime gave Cincinnati a win in Ames during the teams’ last non-conference meeting, in 2016.
• The UC win snapped Iowa State’s 37-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents, the third-longest such streak in the country.

UTAH’S CRAIG SMITH ON JIZZLE JAMES
“We recruited him some out of high school, and it became clear we weren’t getting him. He’s a dynamic player, strong guy with good size and is very athletic. He’d been struggling shooting coming into our game two weeks ago, and the first shot he makes a corner three. I think he made three of those in the first half. I don’t remember the WVU or UCF, but he had six against BYU. He’s just a hard guy with a really elite pull-up jumper. He and Day Day Thomas both have that…(Cincinnati) was struggling a couple of weeks ago, but that’s certainly changed. He’s good. We didn’t have a lot of answers for him, and it started right from the jump. When we got here for shootaround at 10 a.m., he was in a full lather after a morning workout.”

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS