This Saturday, Wes Miller and the Bearcats (11-2) travel to Provo, Utah where they take on No. 12 ranked BYU for both school’s first ever Big 12 basketball matchup. Both, BYU and Cincinnati officially joined the Big 12 conference back on July 1st, 2023, along with Houston and Central Florida.
For Wes Miller and the Bearcats, it appears they will be without CJ Fredrick for Saturday’s contest vs BYU as Miller stated yesterday that the guard is still currently shutdown due the hamstring injury, he suffered vs Stetson. This was an injury that originally occurred in the loss to Dayton and forced him to miss the Merrimack game. However, now it appears the sharpshooting specialist status for Saturday is still up in the air.
Some positive injury news for the Bearcats though, is Aziz Bandaogo has returned to practice since suffering the back injury in the Dayton game as well. Miller stated that Bandaogo has been working himself in, but he is still not quite a 100% ahead of the match up vs BYU. Wes Miller noted that Bandaogo has ramped back up over the last few days but has yet to finish a practice since returning to action. Although, Miller stated things are trending in the right direction for the Bearcats seven-footer, which is a great sign especially as the Bearcats prepare for this gauntlet of a Big 12 conference schedule.
Bandaogo, was a name that was mentioned quite a few times in the Cougars media availability earlier this week and the challenges he presents on both ends of the court. “Aziz is so long, and vertical. He is one of the elite shot blockers in the country,” BYU head coach Mark Pope said. “He is an elite level rebounder, who is super mobile for someone his size. He is an elite level roller, when he rolls to the basket, he rolls so hard, it’s a race to the rim. The point of impact is 1 foot above the rim, that is where the point of contention is, and it is really hard to get there. Aziz is capable of running the floor really well, he is capable of guarding 1-5. He is a really special player. When he is full go, he will be a massive impact player for Cincinnati.”
Now for the Cougars, they are slated to have forward Foussenyi Traore back after missing the last seven games due to a hamstring injury. BYU head coach Mark Pope noted he was not quite 100% yet, but was very close after practicing all week for the Cougars. Traore, is averaging nearly 11 points and six rebounds per game for the Cougars this season.
The Bearcats kick off the conference slate this Saturday as they travel to Provo, Utah to take on Mark Pope and the 12th ranked BYU Cougars at the Merriott Center. The Bearcats have struggled on the road outside of Fifth Third Arena this season after poor shooting performances at Cintas Center and Heritage Bank Arena in the teams two losses vs Xavier and Dayton earlier this year.
This time, Wes Miller and the Bearcats are preparing for the environment at the Marriott Center this Saturday, be like no other. “I have heard that the Marriott Center is one of the most underrated venues in college basketball.” Wes Miller said.
The Bearcats know they have a tough challenge ahead of them as Big 12 conference play is officially underway. “This is going to be a theme all year,” Miller said. “We will be facing really good basketball teams all year night in and out in this league. BYU is one of the best teams in the country.”
Now for BYU, they were projected to finish near the bottom of the Big 12 preseason polls and has shocked quite a bit of people so far this season as Mark Pope and the Cougars climbed to No. 12 in the latest AP Polls earlier this week. This is arguably the best Cougars team since 2011, a team that was led by Jimmer Fredette who would go one to win the national player of the year after leading all scorers across Division one basketball.
The Cougars enter this matchup ranked 12th in the latest AP Polls and are currently 5th in the country in scoring offense as they average nearly 90 points per game. The Cougars are 5th in the country in effective field goal shooting at nearly 58.5% from the field, while shooting nearly 40% from behind the arch. This is a team that can light it up in many ways as six different players average 10 or more points. “You look at the way they are shooting the ball, better than anyone in the country. Sometimes as coaches we say things not necessarily totally literally to emphasize, but BYU is the best shooting team in the country. They are literally and statistically the best three-point shooting team in the country,” said Miller.
