Bearcats Beat: ‘Crazy Resilient’ Bearcats Finally Show Their Potential in 79-70 Stunner Over No. 2 Iowa State, No. 1 Arizona Is Next

CINCINNATI — Wes Miller could finally laugh.

After a season of near-misses and stunning losses, the Bearcats basketball coach got to enjoy the signature win of his five-year tenure at Cincinnati.

Day Day Thomas scored 19 while Jalen Celestine had four 3-pointers and 12 points off the bench to help unranked Cincinnati shock No. 2 Iowa State, 79-70, Saturday afternoon at a raucous Fifth Third Arena.

Baba Miller grabbed 12 rebounds to go with eight points and Jizzle James added 15 points to help Cincinnati (10-8, 2-3) grab its best win of the season and second straight in Big 12 play. As a matter of fact, it was the first home win over a top two team in the nation since a 59-58 win over Louisville on Jan. 21, 1967 at Armory Fieldhouse. It was the first win over a Top-2 team since Cincinnati beat 31-1 Syracuse in the Big East Tournament in 2012.

Cincinnati, which had chances at a top-10 win on its home court last year against Arizona and two weeks prior against Houston, finally got the win that fans were expecting from Miller and the program. The embattled Miller was booed loudly prior to the last two home games, including Saturday’s game against the Cyclones.

The Bearcats led by as many as 17, 67-50, with 7:37 left and it appeared this was finally going to be the moment for the Bearcats to celebrate. But the Bearcats were well aware they were playing the No. 2 team in the country and one of the best sharp-shooters from three-point range. They were reminded that no win against a Top 5 team is in the bank until zeros on the clock.

Buck Harris had a steal and was going in for a dunk and a 71-56 lead with six minutes left. Harris missed the dunk and Iowa State answered with the next eight points, cutting the margin to 69-64. It felt like the demons of Bearcat basketball were coming to the surface at the worst possible moment again.

On top of it all, the Bearcats were fighting foul trouble thanks to some questionable calls on Day Day Thomas and Harris late in the second half that allowed the Cyclones to hang onto hope.

“We have this really special relationship, Buck, and I do, it might not always look like that. We’re interacting on the court, he’s something,” Miller said. “He’s really is something. But he was frustrated with the officials. There were some moments that I was too. I thought our guys were really working to get into position, legal guarding position to make shots difficult. And when some of those calls don’t go your way, doesn’t mean they’re bad calls.

“And I don’t get up here do that, but you want, you want to make sure you’re rewarded when you do the right thing. And we’ll go back and look at the tape. I thought the officials, for the most part, did a nice job. There’s a bunch of those plays as the game goes on where we finish the defense with discipline and contest the shot and don’t foul. But it was frustrating to have some foul trouble.”

The botched dunk doesn’t happen without great defense, a steal of a pass by Iowa State’s Killyan Toure that led to Harris’ drive to the basket. Then what does Harris do after the missed two-points? He hustles back and blocks a layup on the other end. It was something Miller was talking about with Thomas and Harris as the three made their way to the postgame press conference.

“I thought they showed a ton of resilience,” Miller said. “Day Day and Buck, they were talking before we walked in, about Buck’s missed dunk, … but what a defensive play to get that play, and then what a defensive play, because he sprinted, got the block. And, certainly we’ll talk about taking that dang two points in film (review).”

The missed dunk was part of a 14-2 run helped the Cylcones cut a 17-point deficit down to five before Thomas drained a jumper at the free throw line with 3:22 remaining. Thomas followed in the next possession with a basket and Cincinnati led, 73-64, with 2:41 remaining.

Milan Momcilovic connected on 8-of-14 from three-point range to lead the Cyclones (16-2, 3-2) with a career-best 34 points. Joshua Jefferson was the only other Iowa State player in double figures with 16 points. Cincinnati’s bench outscored the visitors, 20-5.

“We were crazy resilient,” Miller said. “I mean, Momcilovic hits (eight threes), man, that was pretty impressive. Some of the threes that he hit, some of them, we made a couple defensive errors. Some of them, he just made tough shots. But we didn’t put our heads down. We didn’t worry about anything. We just tried to get the next stop. And so again, this group has been building a resilient mentality and approach, and it served us well when they made a run.”

It should also serve the Bearcats well for their next test, No. 1 Arizona on the road Wednesday in Tucson. The Wildcats are 18-0 and the consensus best team in college hoops. Wins over the top two teams in the sport would go a long way to resurrecting the hopes of what was tossed away as a lost season just a week ago.

“I’m really happy for our players, first off, because they’ve they keep coming into the gym every day. They they keep trying to figure out how to just get a little bit better, because they’ve had some heartbreaking losses, and I’m just glad they get to feel it and and they know they can play with anybody,” Miller said. “I have so much respect for (Cyclones coach) TJ (Otzelberger), Iowa State’s team, and so I do think it’s a really, really, really quality win. And I’m glad our players get to feel that.”

Three straight threes from Celestine and another from Thomas sparked an early 14-0 run and gave Cincinnati a 19-8 lead. It was just the third time this season the Cyclones trailed by double figures in a game. Cincinnati’s sharpshooting in the first ten minutes from deep allowed Bearcats to maintain control. The Bearcats drained five of their first eight attempts from distance to build leads of 21-10 and 25-14.

But after missing their next six 3-pointers and nine of their next 10, the Bearcats maintained a solid lead thanks to their trademark tenacious defense. Cincinnati had a commanding 14-0 lead in points off turnovers for the first 17 minutes of the game. The Bearcats were also helped out by poor free throw shooting from the Cyclones as the visitors missed five of their first 10 attempts from the stripe.

Cincinnati missed its last six shots over the final three minutes of the first half as Iowa State closed on a 7-0 run to draw within four, 35-31, at the half. Iowa State opened the second half by outscoring Cincinnati 7-3 to finally tie the game, 38-38. But after Joshua Jefferson’s jumper with 16:19 left in the second half, Cincinnati held Iowa State without a field goal for the next five minutes, going on an 11-0 run to build its biggest lead, 56-42, on a Jizzle James jumper with 13:05 remaining.

A number of former players were in the house for the game and got to experience that magic that the program has enjoyed in its history. Miller was taking it all in Saturday, as he should.

“I’m also very happy for our former players that are we have a special former player contingent in this program,” Miller said. “You can count on one hand how many programs have that, and so I’m happy for them. I got to see a couple of on the court when I walked out to do radio. And I’m happy that our fans get to experience, you know, Cincinnati basketball playing at the level that it’s supposed to tonight. And so I’m pleased for everybody there, but mainly for our players.”

Beating the top two teams in back-to-back games would be a historic accomplishment in program history. It would bring the Bearcats back even in the Big 12 and provide this team a much-needed boost for the rest of the season. As Miller reminded everyone after Saturday’s stunner, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played.