Recap: Kansas State 54 Cincinnati 49

The lack of effort and fight down the stretch by Miller's team was particularly frustrating for the head coach considering there were no signs of a regression following Saturday's loss at Houston.

 

"I don't care about the results Saturday. We played our butts off on Saturday. We competed," Miller said. "We didn't compete tonight."

Still, Miller put the blame on himself. 

"Don't blame it on kids. Blame it on the freaking head coach. Blame it on my butt. It's on me man. I'm responsible. I'm the leader. I'm the adult in the room."

Kansas State was led by David N'Guessan, who scored 18 points to lead all scorers, while also pulling down 10 rebounds. N'Guessan scored 14 points during the second half, making all six of his field goal attempts.

Dug McDaniel also reached double figures, scoring 13 points, while Max Jones and Coleman Hawkins both scored 9 points to help the Wildcats pick up the road win.

Both teams struggled to get going from deep, making a combined 5-of-36 attempts from beyond the arc, but Cincinnati's free throw struggles heavily contributed to the Bearcats not being able to pull away throughout the game. 

As a team, UC finished 5-of-11 from the free throw line. UC also finished 37% from the field, while K-State shot 41%. The Wildcats made 50% of their field goal attempts during the second half.

Day Day Thomas led the Bearcats with 12 points. Jizzle James scored 10 points and also pulled down six rebounds. 

Aziz Bandaogo finished with nine points, seven rebounds. 

With just one game remaining before the start of the Big 12 Tournament next week, Cincinnati will have to try to regroup and find the necessary mentality and approach that it takes to win during this time of the year.

"It's March in college basketball. You live for this as a competitor. You work the whole year to be in March," Miller said. " I don't think that I have to motivate competitors to play in March. Are you kidding me? It's March in college basketball. You live for these moments, these opportunities man. We control our own destiny. You live for the opportunity to come here and compete and try to show the NCAA tournament why you belong in the field."

"We've been a competitive, hard playing team for four weeks. Confident team. I don't know what happened tonight."

Game Notes

1st Half:

14:34:  UC leads 7-4 at the first media stop, keyed by Day Day Thomas' five points. KState has missed four straight from the field and have not scored in 2:20. Defensively, UC limited the Wildcats to a 2-for-8 start from the field, 0-for-5 from three.

9:11- Kansas State hasn't scored in 4:19 and are 1 of last 10 from the field, including five straight misses. UC leads 13-7 with Dillon Mitchell shooting two free throws out of the media timeout. 

7:30- Kansas State's seventh turnover of the half leads the under-8 media timeout with UC leading 15-9. 

3:21- UC hasn't scored in 2:28 and lead 19-16 after KState scores on consecutive possessions on second chance opportunities.

0:39- Dan Skillings extends the UC lead to 25-22 following a missed free throw by K-State's Brendan Hausen.

0:01- First half ends on a block by Dillon Mitchell on David N'Guessan's drive and layup attempts

Second half:

14:47- Day Day Thomas buries a deep three to extend the UC lead to 34-28. Kansas State turns the ball over on their next possession on a turnover by N'Guessan.

11:53- Coleman Hawkins' basket in transition caps an 8-0 run over 1:52 to put K-State ahead 36-35. UC hasn't scored since the 14:30 mark when Aziz Bandaogo split a pair of free throws to extend the UC lead to seven. 

8:39- Following a Jizzle James turnover, James is called for a flagrant 1 foul. Dug McDaniel makes both free throws to extend the Kansas State lead to 44-39.

7:42- Max Jones is called for his fourth foul on a Josh Reed layup attempt in transition. KState leads 44-40 after Dan Skillings split a pair of free throws on the prior possession. Reed made 1-of-2 out of the media timeout to make the score 44-41.

4:48- Kansas State extends their lead to 50-45 on a basket by David N'Guessan. Josh Reed cut the lead to one at the 6:21 mark.

2:57- Coleman Hawkins throws the ball out of bounds leading to the final media timeout with UC trailing 52-47. 

1:47- Jizzle James knocks down a runner in the lane to cut the KState lead to three, 52-49. KState hasn't scored in 2:25. 

0:22- Kansas State ends a three minute, 42 second scoring drought to extend their lead to 5, 54-49. 

Final: Kansas State 54 Cincinnati 49

Postgame Video: Wes Miller, Dillon Mitchell

Postgame Video: Jerome Tang, David N'Guessan, Dug McDaniel

Final Thoughts:

There's really not much to say after the way this team performed in a must win situation. Miller brought up the rebounding following the game and his teams' lack of effort in defensive rebounding, but that was actually an area UC did well. The Bearcats won the rebounding battle, 37-36, and also had 10 offensive rebounds compared to 8 for Kansas State.

The problem was not being able to capitalize on extra opportunities. K-State outscored UC 17-12 in points off turnovers. as well as 9-7 in second chance points. In a five-point game, those stats matter. 

While UC got decent production from Dan Skillings off the bench (7 points), Simas Lukosius struggled to get going with just four points. Dillon Mitchell pulled down seven rebounds, but scored two points and missed all four free throw attempts. Mitchell had made 7 of his previous 11 free throw attempts prior to Wednesday night. Josh Reed was limited to three points on 1-of-9 shooting, as well as 0-for-6 from three. You simply can't get that type of production from three of your top six and expect to win. 

At the end of the day, this team is likely out of the NCAA Tournament conversation and will not return unless they find a way to win the Big 12 Tournament. We are going to find out real quick how much fight this team has left over the next week.