By Henry Rawn

4 3 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/4/3/2024-25_Game_Notes_vs._UCF_New.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team will look to build off its explosive second half against DePaul when it takes on UCF at 7 p.m. Thursday for the College Basketball Crown quarterfinal.

THE RUNDOWN

• Cincinnati trailed for only three minutes early, led by 10 at the half and stayed ahead by double-digits all the way for an 83-61 win over DePaul to open Crown play. The Bearcats’ defense saw six assists and 19 turnovers, the largest difference of the four-year Wes Miller tenure.
• The Bearcats had six players in double-figures for the first time since the season-opener, led by Dillon Mitchell with 15 points, seven rebounds, three steals and three assists. Aziz Bandaogo also had 11, putting UC at 9-2 (and 15-3 over his two years) when he scores in double-digits.
• Mitchell has been counted on for more roles this year than his last two years, including extended minutes playing the small 5. Cincinnati has won the last four games in which he has scored in double-figures, including his 18-point, career-high 15 rebound double-double against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament.
• Mitchell postgame on FS1 about locking in: “the joy and love of the game. You can’t teach that, it’s either you love it or  you don’t…every time I step on the court…we all picked up the ball when we were a kid because we loved it.”
• Halvine Dzellat, a freshman from France who joined the team in September and played 16 minutes all year, played 15 against DePaul, including his first-career field goal in the first half. RS freshman Rayvon Griffith also appeared in a career-high 16 minutes.
• Dan Skillings has scored in double-figures thrice out of the last four games, his first time doing that since Jan. 7-18. He was UC’s leading scorer in 2023-24 at 12.8 ppg.
• Thomas’ seven steals tied for third in program history, and in the three weeks has two of the top-six steal games. His 17 swipes the last three games marks the most in the nation over such a stretch. He was also 3-for-3 from deep, upping his team-high mark to 38.8 percent, (27.0 last year), and he has one year remaining following the junior-college ruling.
• Cincinnati shot 42.9 percent from long range, the fifth time since the Feb. 8 win against BYU it was above 40. Prior to that, it had been Nov. 23 in the blowout victory at Georgia Tech.
• The Bearcats are seeking their 42nd, 20-win season. They are 17-2 when leading at the half and 2-12 when trailing.
• UC is third in the Big 12 in turnovers (10.3 per game) and margin (2.9). The Bearcats are 13-2 when scoring 70 or more points, which UCF has allowed in 15-straight games. UC’s 93 points in the first UCF meeting was its most against a Big 12 opponent in its two years, and Miller extended his win streak over Duke alumni to eight.
• Cincinnati is 26th nationally in scoring defense at 65.6 ppg. It was 68th in its first Big 12 season last year.

SERIES HISTORY

• Cincinnati has won five-straight against UCF, with the last one seeing a spiritual rebirth of the Bearcats, who after a 2-8 start to Big 12 play opened the second half with a 3-game win streak. After dispatching the Knights, 93-83, on the road, UC routed BYU by 18 and then defeated Utah.
• UC was averaging 59.6 ppg on 39.0 FG% over the first 10 Big 12 games before scoring 93 on 58.5 percent in Orlando, in addition to holding UCF to 5-of-22 from deep.
• The second 2023-24 meeting featured a clutch Bearcat win despite landing at 12:20 a.m. the night before the afternoon tilt due to mechanical and de-icing issues on the runway.
• Still, UC raced out to a 17-6 lead, with 10 of those points from Skillings. Simas Lukosius’ contested layup with 13 seconds left made it a 76-73 lead. Skillings ended with 15 points, Aziz Bandaogo had 13 and Lukosius added 12.
• UC is 18-5 in the all-time series, with all but one of those matchups coming in the AAC. The outlier was in the Citrus Bowl Classic in 1983, and it was truly a clash of Bearcat legends. The late Chuck Machock was in his first of two years as the Knights’ head coach, with this one being their final year of Division II. The UC alum was also an assistant coach in Clifton from 1990-93 and later had a lengthy tenure on the radio team.
• Eventual UC head coach, and Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer, Bob Huggins served as an assistant on the opposing UCF bench

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS