By Henry Rawn

1 11 2025

GAME NOTES

https://gobearcats.com/documents/2025/1/10/2024-25_Game_Notes_vs._Kansas.pdf

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team is back in the friendly confines of a sold-out Fifth Third Arena on Saturday afternoon when it hosts No. 11 Kansas at 2 p.m. Fans are asked to wear white and be safe arriving to campus with this week’s winter weather. Doors open at 12 p.m. as part of the new initiative for weekend home games.

There will also be 5,000 bucket hats distributed upon entry, courtesy of Fifth Third Bank. The arena’s happy-hour-and-a-half includes $5 domestic beer and $3 popcorn from 12 – 1:30 p.m. Limited 2025 all-sport calendars remain as well.

THE RUNDOWN

• Cincinnati is seeking the highest-ranked win of the Wes Miller era (No. 12 BYU on road in Big 12 opener last year) and overall since No. 11 Houston in the 2019 AAC Championship game.
• The Bearcats are looking to rebound from a Tuesday night defeat at Baylor, in which a rough offensive stretch over the final eight minutes of the first half allowed Baylor to lead 35-20 at the break and not look back.
• Dan Skillings Jr.’s has scored 18 points in each of the first three Big 12 games (the most of any Bearcat for a three-game stretch this year), with those 18.0 ppg ranking fourth in league play. Among that, he is 11-for-22 from deep (50 percent), which ranks second, and he was 3-for-15 in the non-conference slate (20 percent). His five treys at Baylor on seven attempts were a career-high.
• Jizzle James last year has been described as having the most consistent work ethic that Miller had ever seen out of a freshman. While he was held without an assist against Baylor, it’s important to note how he responded in two games he didn’t have one last year: first scoring 16 points on No. 10 Iowa State, then 12 against No. 14 Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament.
• “He was in a full lather this morning, probably working harder than I’m comfortable with in January when we have another practice in the afternoon,” Miller said in his Thursday presser. “Everybody out there that follows our team, if you’re going to take it on the chin, you take it with him. He gives it everything he’s got.”
• The Bearcats rank second in the Big 12 in allowing 61.0 ppg for the season.
• Simas Lukosius is looking to find his groove again, especially as Big 12 teams witnessed him hit game-winners over Texas Tech and Kansas State. Now, he did shoot 37.7 percent from deep last year for November and December before 23.9 percent in January and 42.2 percent combined over February and March.
• CJ Fredrick saw action against Baylor, his first since Dec. 22 and second game since Nov. 27. The former Iowa and Kentucky sharpshooter is in his second year with his hometown Bearcats, and injuries limited him to only 41 minutes in Big 12 play last year.
• Dillon Mitchell faced Kansas four times while at Texas, splitting the series over two years. His last game was a 12-point performance on 6-of-10 shooting in Lawrence. Skillings led UC with 16 points at KU in the first meeting and had 25 in the Bearcats’ 72-52 win in the Big 12 Tournament.
• UC, despite allowing 50 percent shooting for only the first time Tuesday, is still 11th in KenPom defensively.

SERIES HISTORY

• UC leads 5-4 all-time. Since 1949, only Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Notre Dame, Iowa and Michigan join the Bearcats as having winning records over the Jayhawks (min. seven games).
• The only meeting since the 1960s, before the Big 12 era, came at the United Center in 1996. Cincinnati, coming off an Elite Eight appearance, fell just short to arguably the greatest team to not win a title.
• The Jan. 23 meeting between the teams last year, on Big Monday in Lawrence, saw KU come out with a 74-69 win. The Jayhawks led 19-7 after a 10-0 run, but the Bearcats fought back to a 35-all halftime draw. UC had 16 turnovers and shot 17 percent from deep.
• The Big 12 Tournament rematch was a different story. The Bearcats led 38-25 at the break, let Kansas back within two after missing 14 of 15 shots to begin the second half, but never surrendered the lead and pulled away for the emphatic win in a de facto home game for the Jayhawks.
• Wes Miller took his UNC Greensboro team to Lawrence early in the 2019-20 season, falling 74-62 to the No. 3 Jayhawks.

COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS