CINCINNATI — Don’t look now but the Cincinnati Bearcats look like a team that could be playing some very relevant basketball games in the next three weeks.
The picture was pretty dim following a 63-50 home court loss to West Virginia, dropping Cincinnati to 2-8 in Big 12 action. There was only one team worse in college basketball’s deepest and most powerful conference – Colorado.
Head coach Wes Miller even publicly questioned his team’s desire and whether they had the commitment necessary to compete in the conference, leading to speculation in this space as to whether the coach (now with 263 career wins at the age of 41) was the right man to lead Bearcats basketball.
But since a visit from legendary coach Bob Huggins before the game at Central Florida and a dodgeball outing, the Bearcats have looked like a rejuvenated bunch.
Jizzle James scored 14 of his team-leading 25 points in the second half and Josh Reed added 13 as Cincinnati pulled away for an 85-75 Big 12 win over visiting Utah Tuesday night in Cincinnati.Aziz Bandaogo added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Cincinnati.
“I think he and I both think he got a couple of those defensive possessions back,” Miller said. “He knows that’ll be the film that we look at, but he was terrific, and starting to define the rhythm that we know we can play with. Aziz sitting here beside me, he’s playing with a different pop. He’s converting around the basket. I thought some of those catches in traffic and conversion the last couple games have been a difference-maker. Seeing the double-double and him getting on the board, he’s finally making his presence felt on the offensive and defensive boards a little more, and I’m pleased with that.”
Josh Reed’s layup bounced several times on the rim before falling through with 3:24 left in the second half to snap a 72-72 tie and spark an 11-0 run as Cincinnati (15-9, 5-8) won its third straight in Big 12 regular season play for the first time.
“Josh Reed, as I told you guys, played his best game of his career here this past weekend, and we knew that wouldn’t stand,” Miller added. “He’s not doing anything that surprises his teammates or his coaches, but I thought he played another terrific game and gave us a huge lift. I thought that floater, his last basket, was a big basket for our team, as was Day Day’s three with the shot clock running down was a really, really important play.
“I’m pleased with the win,” Miller said. “The first thing I think our guys made plays down the stretch when it mattered. That part is the part that sticks out to me the most. We needed to make some plays to win a game. It’s a tie game at the under-4 media (timeout). I thought we made plays to win it.”
It was the second straight revenge win for the Bearcats over a Utah team as they beat BYU on Saturday night to split the season series. Utah beat Cincinnati, 69-66, in Salt Lake City on Jan. 28.
The Cincinnati mascot posed with a “Kelce Brothers greater than Madsen Brothers” in front of the Utah bench, referencing the two famous NFL star brothers who both attended Cincinnati. That seemed like tempting really bad juju before a game the Bearcats absolutely needed.
Utah sharp-shooter Gabe Madsen and his twin brother Mason attended Cincinnati, with Gabe leaving following the 2020-21 season and Mason leaving the Cincinnati program a year later.
Gabe finished with a game-high 28 points, taking 22 three-pointers and converting eight of them for Utah (13-11, 5-8).
The first half ended on an appropriate note as Dan Skillings Jr. connected for Cincinnati’s eighth three pointer of the half to match their biggest lead at 42-34. But in the closing seconds, Lawson Lovering drove the lane and finished with a dunk to cut the lead to 42-36 at the half.
Lovering converted all six shots from the field in the first half and finished with a team-leading 12 points, helping Utah outscore Cincinnati, 22-6, in the paint. Lovering finished with 14 points for Utah.
Both Madsen brothers played Tuesday night, with Gabe Madsen also a 8-0 spurt with a pair of threes early in the second half as part of a 13-2 run that put Utah ahead, 47-44.
But James took over. The Jizzle James that the Bearcats pinned their hopes on at the beginning of the season to make plays and lead the team showed up big Tuesday night. His layup with 17:20 left started a 10-2 run that put Cincinnati up by five. It was the first time this season a Bearcats player had posted 20-plus point games back-to-back. And it appears James is turning it on at just the right time.
“Just knowing when to be aggressive and not to be, knowing when I got my shot or to create for others,” James said. “I’ve been making sacrifices, and it’s paying off. I’m glad just that we got this win streak going, but we’re not gonna get too content on it. I’m just keep hitting the work, keep my head down and keep showing up every game.”
In an 8-0 surge that put Cincinnati up 66-57, James had a pair of layups and accounted for five of the eight points, including an ankle-breaking crossover move at the free throw line that led to a wide open layup and thrilled the crowd that battled the elements outside to get to the arena.
“I want to thank the fans. I was just told, as I was walking in here, that the weather had gotten bad and the roads are slick, so I want to thank people for coming out in tough weather, giving us an edge,” Miller said. “I thought we had a really good home court advantage with our fans, sticking with us, even through some tough stretches.”
Miller is hoping the same can be said of the entire season if the Bearcats can weather the storm of the remaining schedule that includes games at Iowa State this Saturday, at West Virginia next Wednesday, home against Baylor on Feb. 25 and at Houston on March 1.
The Bearcats moved up two spots in the Net Rankings to No. 48, but there are still ninth in Net inside the Big 12, with BYU (40) and West Virginia (43) still within reach. In KenPom, it’s a little dicier, with the Bearcats coming in at 54, again with eight Big 12 teams ahead of them.
The point is that these Bearcats now have a path in front of them, which is a lot more than could be said on Feb. 2 after the dismal showing against West Virginia. It ain’t going to be easy but maybe that will be part of the enjoyment of watching this team try to claw their way to a dance ticket in March.
