By Henry Rawn

3 8 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/3/6/2024-25_Game_Notes_at_OSU.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team is headed to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State for a Saturday afternoon battle that concludes the regular season. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. ET.

THE RUNDOWN

• Cincinnati built an eight-point lead in the first half, and after being unable to bury the Wildcats further, Kansas State inched back into it and took the lead for good with 10 minutes remaining in a 54-49 defensive struggle Wednesday night.
• The Bearcats fell to 33-4 under Wes Miller (7-2 this year) when holding its opponent to 59 or fewer points. The other such loss was to then-No. 11 Kansas on Jan. 11. UC was also 11-8 in March entering this year under Miller, including 6-3 last year that saw wins over West Virginia and No. 16 Kansas in Kansas City.
• Cincinnati had not shot under 41.0 percent for eight-straight games until Wednesday, a sudden difference from its incredible offensive turnaround in the second half of league play, which now includes 72.0 ppg from 59.6, among other notable jumps.
• The perimeter defense has done an excellent job at closing out lately, allowing 6-of-32 shooting from deep the last two games (18.8 percent). The Bearcats have quietly risen to fourth in Big 12 play in scoring defense (68.6) and turnover margin (2.0).
• Day Day Thomas (12) and Jizzle James (10) were the Bearcats’ two leading scorers for the fifth time of the last six games. Thomas had all of Cincinnati’s 3-point makes on Wednesday, upping his team-leading percentage to 38.1, up from 28.0 last year.
• James has nine-straight double-figure games, with the second-through-fourth of those being 24, 25 and 25. He is also up to 34-plus minutes in each of the last three games, the longest-such streak of any player under Miller. With 708 points, he only trails Jacob Evans (765) and Sean Kilpatrick (867) for most points through a freshman and sophomore season at UC dating back to 2010.
• Aziz Bandaogo had nine points and seven rebounds, and he is averaging 7.6 boards over the last five games.
• Dan Skillings contributed seven points and three rebounds over 18 minutes off the bench, and UC will have to count on him in Stillwater and Kansas City. Over this second half of league play, UC is 5-2 when he scores seven or more. Outside of his three turnovers at Houston, he did not have any against Baylor or K-State.
• The Bearcats are committing only 9.9 turnovers per game, ranking 27th nationally, up from 12.0 and 202 last year. It is also 28th in two-point field goal percentage at 55.5, helped by Bandaogo (61) and Dillon Mitchell (57) ranking sixth and ninth nationally in dunks, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY

• Last year saw UC erase a seven-point, second-half deficit, but Oklahoma State shot 56 percent to out-duel Cincinnati, 80-76, in Fifth Third Arena on Feb. 21.
• Oklahoma State has 13 newcomers to this year’s team, so that result has no bearing on this weekend’s matchup.
• The prior 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.

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS