Recap: Cincinnati 69 Baylor 67

The Bearcats had to overcome a furious second half rally, but Wes Miller and his team added a much needed signature win to their resume Tuesday night, defeating Baylor (16-12, 8-9 Big 12) by a final score of 69-67.

 

 

"It was a big time win for us, and I'm proud of our kids. I was really pleased with our playing there in the last seven minutes of the first half. That’s the level that we can play consistently," Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said following the win. "Our defense was active. We were getting deflections and steals. Our offense kind of found some rhythm moving the ball and getting more quality shots versus switching and I was really pleased with that. We didn't play our best basketball there in the second half. Give Baylor some credit, and I didn't like us defensively. We stagnated a little bit offensively. "

 

(Photos: Taylor Keeton / RiverfrontU )

 

After UC built a 39-26 halftime lead, Baylor opened the second half making 15 of their first 23 field goal attempts to take a one-point lead with 8:13 remaining. UC responded with a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to build a seven-point lead, and limited Baylor to a 1-of-8 showing from the field over the final 4:21 to prevent a comeback win for Scott Drew's team.

"The part I'm the most proud of is we've had moments like that this year, and we've let it affect us and our teams growing a lot like it didn't affect us like that," Miller explained. "Our team's getting more vocal amongst each other, which I think is a sign of a team growing like they're talking about it. They talk about how we got to pick up our energy, how we got to pick up our activity, and how we got to defend. I thought that was a really good sign."

 

UC was led by point guard Jizzle James, who finished with 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting. The sophomore guard is averaging just shy of 20 points per game over his last 7 games.

 

"I think Jizzle's kind of found his confidence and rhythm again as a player," Miller said. "That's been going on here for a while and I think it changes the dynamic of our team offensively."

 

"I want him to shoot the ball. We want him to shoot the ball and I think we found that with Day Day as well. Starting those two guys together, there's two guys when the chips are down, can go create offense when there's not an advantage and they got my confidence and even more important, they have their teammates' confidence to do that."

 

 

Thomas was one of four Bearcats to score in double figures, contributing 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting. 

 

Josh Reed pitched in 11 points, while Dillon Mitchell was one rebound shy of a second consecutive double-double, scoring 13 points to go with 9 rebounds.

 

"Man, he was pretty good," Miller said of Mitchell. "I got on him a little bit to start the game. I thought he was defensively, just had a couple breakdowns early in the first couple possessions."

 

"He responded and I thought he was pretty dang good guys. In hindsight, we probably should have given him a couple more down the stretch cause he was pretty good. We probably missed an opportunity there to get him a couple more catches."

 

Offensively, UC finished the game shooting 46% from the field and made 10-of-23 three-point attempts. Simas Lukosius returned to the lineup after missing the past two games with a shoulder injury and scored seven points while making 2-of-5 from deep. 

 

 

"It wasn't our best offensive half in the second half but our team's improved quite a bit here and you know to get him back, and if we can continue to get him healthy, I think that'll be important for us," Miller said.

 

UC outscored the Bears 16-4 in points off turnovers, while also limiting Baylor to just 18 points in the paint. The physicality that Cincinnati played with around the rim at both ends was noticeable. The Bearcats outscored Baylor 24-18 in the paint, which was a big difference from January 7th when Baylor scored 40 points in the paint, to just 16 for UC. 

 

"They have a really athletic, talented team and defensively they're really good," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "Their home crowd is really good. It's the first time I played in this new facility and I think that gave them great energy. First time we played, we got in transition, we took care of the ball. This time we didn't take care of the ball."

 

Baylor finished with 12 turnovers for the game.

 

Freshman VJ Edgecombe scored 18 points to lead Baylor, while Norchad Omier scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

 

As a team, Baylor shot 47% from the field, made 11 of 25 from deep, but were limited to just 4-of-7 from the free throw line. 

 

With the win, Cincinnati improves to 17-11 (7-10 Big 12) and will now turn their attention to Houston, who recently wrapped up the Big 12 Conference regular season title with a win over Texas Tech.

 

"I'll keep it really simply," Miller said.

 

"They've clinched atleast a piece of the Big 12 regular season championship, didn't they? I don't need to praise them. They're already champions of what I think is a ridiculously challenging league and to me I think our team feels the same way, what an awesome opportunity to go down there and compete against the team that's already clinched a championship. That's a great opportunity and we'll leave it at that.  

 

 

Game Notes

 

15:11- UC opens the game making four of their first seven field goal attempts and lead 10-9 at the first media stop. Jalen Celestine led all scorers with 5 points for Baylor.

 

11.32- Baylor leads 19-14 after going on a 10-2 run over 3:07. The Bears made four straight field goal attempts during the run, including three-straight from Jeremy Roach for six points. 

 

7:43- UC leads 26-22 after Dillon Mitchell drains a corner three to cap a 9-0 run over 2:20. Langston Love ended Baylor's scoring drought at 3:22 with two free throws to cut the UC lead to 26-24 with 6:50 remaining in the first half.

 

 

3:44- UC leads 29-24, despite not converting a field goal in over four minutes. Baylor was just 1 of their last 9 and hadn't scored in 3:06. Day Day Thomas leads all scorers with seven points.

 

2:35- Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jizzle James and Simas Lukosius extends the UC lead to 35-24. 9-0 UC run over 3:26....18-2 UC run over 7:26.

 

1:11- Josh Reed scores four straight on a goaltending call and step-back jumper to extend the UC lead to 39-26, 

 

 

0:01- Dillon Mitchell's three-point attempt off a 3/4 court pass from Josh Reed rims out and the Bearcats head to the locker room with a 39-26 lead. Baylor closed the half 1 of last 10 and did not score over the final 2:17, turning the ball over three times during the scoring drought.

 

Second half:

 

18:28- Robert Wright cuts the UC lead to 39-31 with a three from the top of the key. UC missed their first four field goal attempts, allowing Baylor to quickly cut the lead to single digits. 

 

15:25- Bearcats made just 1 of their first six field goal attempts but made all four free throw attempts to prevent Baylor's hot shooting from cutting the lead any closer. Baylor made 4-of-7 field goal attempts to open the second half. 

 

13:03- Baylor's Norchad Omier scores his seventh straight point to cut the UC lead to 48-43. Omier would cut the UC lead to 50-45 after a Mitchell put back to extend his run to nine straight points with 12:00 remaining in the 2nd half. 

 

10:02- VJ Edgecombe's three cuts the UC lead to 52-51. It was the Bears fourth 3-pointer on eight attempts through the first 10 minutes of the half. UC was 4-of-13 from the field and 0-for-3 from deep.

 

7:12- UC is clinging to a 58-57 lead after Aziz Bandaogo tips in a missed shot by Jizzle James. VJ Edgecombe made three straight 3-point attempts to briefly put Baylor ahead by 1, prior to Bandaogo's put back. 

 

6:03- Jizzle James extends the UC lead to 63-57 with a three from the top of the key. James' three came after a Mitchell put back and Baylor turnover. The Bearcats' 7-0 run to regain the lead came over 1:37.

 

3:13- After Simas Lukosius made a 3-pointer at 5:15 to push the UC lead to 7, Jayden Nunn followed a basket by Langston Love with a corner three to cut the UC lead to 2. Baylor ball out of the media timeout.

 

2:36- Day Day Thomas' turnover extends the UC scoring drought to 2:39. Thomas knocked down a three on the next possession to extend UC's lead to 5 points.

 

0:59- VJ Edgecombe has a layup attempt in transition blocked in to the stands by Dillon Mitchell. Edgecombe would knock down a three off an offensive rebound by Omier out of the timeout to cut the UC lead to two points with 0:49 seconds remaining. 

 

0:27- Jizzle James has a driving layup attempt blocked, allowing one last possession by Baylor.

 

0:06- VJ Edgecombe drives and misses a contested shot at the rim. After a scrum for the loose ball, Day Day Thomas comes out with it and is able to call a timeout with 1.5 on the clock. 

 

 

0:01- Dillon Mitchell misses the front end of a 1-and-1 after being fouled but has his missed tipped out to midcourt by Bandaogo, allowing UC to hold on for a two point win, 69-67.

 

Postgame Videos: Wes Miller, Jizzle James, Day Day Thomas

 

Postgame Video: Scott Drew, VJ Edgecombe

 

 

Final Thoughts:

 

With this win, Cincinnati keeps their tournament hopes alive. Still work to do over the final three games, as well as in the Big 12 Tournament, but the Bearcats added a second Quad 1 win to their resume.

 

UC has been frustrating to watch at times, but at the end of the day this team has won five of their last seven games and are in position to control their own destiny as March approaches. 

 

This team is playing with confidence, swagger, and having fun. Back to just playing basketball.