Cincinnati’s incredible Big 12 Championship run fell short Thursday night after the Bearcats fell to Baylor 68-56.
It was clear that Cincinnati was quickly fatigued after playing their third straight game in a three-day crunch. However, Cincinnati fought to the very end, but unfortunately, they fell just short in their first-ever Big 12 Championship.
Sophomore guard Dan Skillings finished with a team-high 15 points and four rebounds. John Newman finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds. However, his defensive efforts on Ja’Kobe tonight were phenomenal. “John Newman defensively, that’s about as good as a guy can play defensively in a game,” Wes Miller told reporters following the game. “I will think of the way he played tonight for the rest of my coaching career, and I wish we would have won the game because he was an absolute warrior.
How it Happened
Cincinnati jumped out to an early 10-1 lead over Baylor behind a great opening segment from Dan Skillings. It appeared Skillings was looking to pick up where he left off following the last meetings between these respected programs. Skillings led the Bearcats with a team-high 24 points in Bearcat’s loss to Baylor back on January 13th in Waco. The talented sophomore had five of Cincinnati’s first eight points in the opening segment.
Cincinnati would find themselves in early foul trouble after Aziz Bandaogo picked up his second foul with 15:56 to go in the first half. However, their defensive efforts would stand tall, as the Bears would start the game 0-9 from the field throughout the first eight minutes of this contest. It was clear that Cincinnati’s length was giving the Bears some trouble early as they were unable to play to their strength as that was getting downhill to attack.
Now Baylor’s offense would come alive after Jayden Nunn buried home the Bear’s first field goal with 11:25 remaining in the first half. The Bears would score eight straight to tie the game at 12. However, Jizzle James would pick up a flagrant one foul with 9:20 to go in the first half on a Baylor dunk attempt which sparked the Bear’s momentum.
Baylor’s zone defense started to cause some trouble for the Bearcats in the first half leading to Wes Miller going to his bench early. Viktor Lakhin would check in and make his first appearance since March 9th, when he exited the Kansas State game with an ankle injury. Lakhin would come in and silence the Bears’ run with a quick midrange jumper as the Bearcats regained their lead with 9 minutes to go.
Cincinnati’s offense would go stagnant down the stretch after a John Newman turnover resulted in a Jayden Nunn slam out in transition. Now for Scott Drew and the Bears, they quickly became a force on the glass after outrebounding the Bearcats 15-12 (5-2 OREB) over the first 16 minutes of play.
Baylor would look for Walter to get going on the offensive end but Newman would make it tough for the project NBA lottery pick to get going in the first half. Newman had a relentless defensive showing vs Walter back in January in Waco, where he held Walter to just 4-11 from the field.
Newman would repeat that performance throughout the first 20 minutes holding Walter to just two points in the first half. The Bears were searching for something on the offensive end after shooting just 25% from the field in the first half. Baylor struggled from behind the arch in the first half as they shot 1-10 (10%) over the first twenty minutes.
Cincinnati would take a 26-24 lead into halftime behind nine first-half points from Skillings. While Cincinnati shot 40% from the field in the first twenty minutes of action like Baylor, they also struggled to shoot the three ball (2-11) in the first half. That was something they had done so well over the last three days in their victories over West Virginia and Kansas.
However, it is worth noting that Bandaogo only played four minutes in the first half after getting into early foul trouble. That was the difference maker as Cincinnati missed Bandaogo’s presence around the rim, and Baylor would hang on after shooting 11-13 from the free throw line in the first half.
Cincinnati had two great defensive possessions featuring two blocks by Bandaogo, but they couldn’t convert on the other end after the play. The Bears’ offense started to click after Walters’ first field goal of the night came from deep to force a Cincinnati timeout trailing 33-29.
It was clear that the fatigue was starting to settle in for the Bearcats after a long three days. They struggled to find anything offensively as they shot just one for their next six after Skillings cut the deficit to four with 15:20 remaining.
Baylor was able to capitalize on those stops as they jumped out to a 12-2 run to take a 47-33 lead with 11:30 remaining. A run in which Baylor knocked down their next eight shots to force a Cincinnati timeout. Cincinnati would then flip the script after a Skillings layup sparked a ten-point after Newman buried a corner three to force a Baylor timeout with 9:08 remaining.
Yves Missi would silence the Bearcat’s run after a great and-one finish through contact to extend the Bear’s lead to seven. The Bearcats weren’t shying away as they knew they had a dog fight on their hands. Cincinnati knocked down their next five shots, but Baylor would maintain a 52-47 lead with 7:19 remaining.
The Bearcats battled down the stretch after James knocked down two crucial free throws to cut Baylor’s lead to four with 4:30 remaining. Baylor would quickly extend their lead to nine before Lukosius scored his first points of the night with 2:58 to go.
Now for Baylor, they kept their foot on the gas after Missi slashed through the lane for the easy finish following the assist from RayJ Dennis. The Bears continued to pour it on down the stretch after Cincinnati finished the game one for their last seven, with no field goals coming in the final three minutes.
From Wes Miller
“I’m very proud of my team this week. They have been a resilient group all year, especially this week. I’m proud of this group. I love this group of guys. We just went through the best basketball league in the country for the first time. We had some great moments, including some this week here in Kansas City. I am disappointed we couldn’t come out with the victory. I told them in the locker room about how much of a joy it is to coach this group. They just want to win. They all have individual aspirations, but they have made sacrifices to try to win. Those are the foundational things moving forward in our program that this group has done.”
What’s next for Cincinnati?
The Bearcats played their way back into bubble conversations following their gutsy performances over the last three days. Now, for Cincinnati, they will have to wait until Sunday to figure out their fate but if there was one thing Wes Miller wanted to make clear on Thursday night, it was that the Big 12 deserved multiple at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
“After coaching in this league, I don’t know how this league doesn’t get a massive amount of bids,” Miller told reporters following their loss to Baylor. “There is nothing else like the Big 12 right now in all of college basketball,”
“I think I have an NCAA Tournament team. Good thing Joe Lunardi isn’t on the NCAA Tournament selection committee because he hasn’t been on our side. I believe this league deserves 10-11 teams in the NCAA Tournament, no doubt about it. This group will be ready to compete wherever we are playing.”
