On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Bearcats (18-13, 7-11) traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship.
Cincinnati is coming off a 92-56 victory over the Mountaineers on Saturday. However, for Cincinnati, it was not the same West Virginia team they saw at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday. Despite Cincinnati trailing by as much as 16 in this contest, they found a way to get the job done on a neutral site. This was Cincinnati’s longest comeback under tenured head coach Wes Miller, the previous one came back in 2021 vs Illinois in this very same building.
The Bearcat’s second-half comeback effort was led by guards Simas Lukosius and Day-Day Thomas. The duo combined for 60 points on 18-31 shooting on Tuesday Afternoon. Both Thomas (29) and Lukosius (31) recorded career highs in the victory as the veteran guards willed the Bearcats to victory.
“There was no better time to have a game like today, ” Lukosius told reporters after the game. “It was win or go home. It was the most important game of our season. I guess it’s easy to say that I love these big-time games,”
How it Happened
Cincinnati jumped out to a 4-3 lead over the Mountaineers after Simas Lukosius found Aziz Bandaogo for the slam in the high pick-and-roll action. That slam would spark eight unanswered for Cincinnati following triples from Lukosius and Thomas, to give Cincinnati an early 10-3 lead.
Cincinnati would hold the Mountaineers to just 2-8 shooting to start the game as they took a 10-5 lead through the opening four minutes of play. Cincinnati was looking to allow Bandaogo to really play to his ability and protect the rim, as the seven-footer grabbed four rebounds in the opening four minutes.
The Mountaineers would claw away at Cincinnati’s early lead, trimming the deficit to five before Jamille Reynolds came flying for an immaculate two-handed putback slam. Cincinnati started the game shooting nearly 50% from the field, while the Mountaineer’s offense continued to struggle, shooting just over 30% through the first eight minutes of play.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers were getting stops on the defensive end as Cincinnati would go on to miss 6 of their last seven shots following the Reynolds dunk. RaeQuan Battle would start to heat up for the Mountaineers after five quick points. Cincinnati had other answers after another Bandaogo slam through contact to give the Bearcats a 19-14 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.
West Virginia’s offense would heat up after an 8-2 run forced a Cincinnati timeout following a made three from Quinn Slazinski with the game tied at 19. The Mountaineer’s offense started to heat up, led by Battle’s high-volume scoring abilities as the senior scored five of the Mountaineer’s last seven points.
Cincinnati’s offense would struggle after a dominant start, shooting just 2-13 from three to start the game. West Virginia knew they would have to slow the Bearcats offense down and not allow them to play to their strength, which was getting out in transition. Cincinnati dominated in that category on Saturday, but Josh Eilert’s squad was doing a great job containing early.
Day-Day Thomas started to find his groove as the junior guard scored eight straight for Cincinnati, as the Bearcats controlled a 29-27 lead with 3:53 remaining in the first half. Thomas was starting to score in volumes for Cincinnati from all three levels leading, all scorers with 13 points.
However, Cincinnati needed to find a way to get the ball back inside and dominate the paint like they did vs West Virginia on Saturday. West Virginia was doing a great job at containing the Cincinnati frontcourt, which was something they didn’t do on Saturday. The Mountaineers turned Cincinnati’s missed opportunities and created their own, as Slazinski and Battle guided West Virginia to a 38-36 halftime lead.
Cincinnati had plenty of opportunities in the first half despite leading by as many as seven points early in the first half. West Virginia silenced the momentum and did a great job keeping the Bearcats out of the paint, which was an area Cincinnati dominated on Saturday.
West Virginia took advantage of that as they went on an 11-4 run over the last 3:23 of the first half. It was safe to say that Cincinnati was missing the All-Big 12 defensive team selection down the stretch due to foul trouble, where the Mountaineers finished the first half shooting 60% from behind the arch.
West Virginia would pick up where they left off to end the first half after Kriisa found Edwards for the two-handed slam to extend West Virginia’s lead. Aziz Bandaogo picked up his third foul with 18:20 to play in the second half. West Virginia would take advantage of the foul trouble, pounding the ball inside to Edwards and letting him go to work.
Cincinnati had no answer as the Mountaineers took a 52-42 lead following an Edwards dunk forcing a timeout. The seven-footer quickly became a problem after starting going a perfect 5-5 to start the game. Meanwhile, Cincinnati had nothing going on the offensive end as they started, the second half just 2-8 from the field.
West Virginia would extend their lead to 62-46 after Josiah Harris made three. It appeared a giant lid was hovering over the Cincinnati basket, as the Bearcats would go 1 for their last 11 from the field before a Reynolds layup.
Cincinnati was searching for an answer which happened to come after Kobe Johnson picked up a technical foul with 12 minutes left in the first half. Cincinnati went on to score seven unanswered before Edwards silenced the Bearcats momentum. However, Cincinnati responded with another big run on the other end after Bandaogo found Lukosius for his fourth three of the afternoon. Bandaogo appeared to get tangled up with Edwards following the play which resulted in a technical foul on Edwards.
West Virginia continued to give Cincinnati free opportunities after Battle picked up a technical foul, his fourth foul of the game. That would allow Cincinnati to tie the game at 68 following a pair of free throws from Thomas. However, Cincinnati had all the momentum in their favor as Lukosius willingly changed the outcome of this game in the second half.
Despite shooting 23% from behind the arch in the first half, Cincinnati relied heavily on the three ball in the second half. Thomas and Lukosius combined for nine of Cincinnati’s 10 made threes in the second half. That was Cincinnati’s Achilles heal, despite trailing by as much as 16 with roughly 14 minutes to go in the second half.
The Lithuanian guard finished with 26 second-half points en route to a career-high on Tuesday afternoon. Cincinnati started to light it up from behind the arch as it all started with Lukosius. At one point in this game, Eilert and the West Virginia staff had to be wondering if Lukosius would ever miss a shot. Lukosius shot 6-9 from the field in the second half from beyond the arch, where he also knocked down all eight of his free throw attempts.
However, when it came down to it, it wasn’t Lukosius who hit the dagger on this one. This time, it was Thomas after Skillings made a great play with the shot clock winding down. Thomas then rose to the occasion and buried home the corner three to seal the game for Cincinnati.
From Wes Miller
“We got off to a decent start, but I thought when things didn’t go our way, it wasn’t like they didn’t want to do things right. They just looked a little shell-shocked. I haven’t seen that from this team in a long time. We got down 16 and they decided they were going to play their tails off. I love how they responded in the last 12 minutes. That’s why I love coaching this group because of how they responded. You don’t stick around long in these conference tournaments if you can’t take care of the first one.”
Up Next
Cincinnati now has less than 24 hours ahead of them as they quickly turn their focus to Kansas on Wednesday night. However, the Jayhawks will be without their top two scorers Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar, who are not expected to play this week due to injuries.
“Listen, Kansas is Kansas. They have been at the top of college basketball for as long as I have been alive. What they have done in this league for as long as I have been alive is incredible. Coach Self has another great team that’s going to compete for a national championship. We understand who we are playing against and have a ton of respect for that. I think it is an opportunity for our group. We have a lot of respect for Kansas regardless of who can or can’t play. I think we can play with anyone and have proved that to ourselves this year.”
