UC falls deeper in Big 12 hole after 0-2 trip to Utah

The state of Utah was not kind to the Cincinnati Bearcats this past week, handing UC two losses at the hands of both BYU and Utah.

Tuesday’s loss to the Utes magnified an ever-growing sentiment throughout the Bearcats’ fanbase: What the hell happened?

“What is there to say?” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller told Dan Hoard and Terry Nelson following Tuesday’s game. “That locker room is full of a bunch of frustrated people because we just lost three more in a row.”

Utah’s head coach, Craig Smith, opened his press conference by sharing with the media congregation at the Huntsman Center that he had found a new cheesecake spot on his way home from shoot around Tuesday afternoon.

“I love cheesecake. It’s more fun when you win,” Smith said.

Cincinnati is far from being able to joke during press conferences. In fact, each one has been tense since the start of Big 12 play. Even after the two wins against Colorado and Arizona State, Miller didn’t take the time to digress—he still looked bothered.

Now at 2-7 and in the midst of the biggest downward spiral in college basketball, the Bearcats might be able to breathe, but for the wrong reasons. The pressure to make the NCAA Tournament is gone. 

Tuesday’s loss was littered with poor execution on both sides of the ball, namely from one of its stars, Dan Skillings Jr. The third-year wing was beaten on defense often, giving up baskets or forcing his teammates to help late and pick up fouls.

But the most glaring stat? The rebounding differential. For the seventh straight game, the Bearcats lost the rebounding battle—this time by 18, as the Utes pulled down 41 boards to UC’s 23.

Last season, Cincinnati did not lose the rebounding battle in consecutive games.

Such a departure from the rigid standard Miller has set—with a roster that should be able to rebound better than last year’s team, which was one of the better rebounding teams in the country—is truly mind-boggling.

“I think that kind of goes back to the first question of why we were able to sustain the lead, even though we had 19 turnovers,” Utah forward Keanu Dawes said. “When we play like this, we have a bunch of guys who can rebound really well.”

“It’s crazy to win a game and have 19 turnovers,” Utah forward Gabe Madsen said.

With under a minute left, UC was still in a position to win, down just two points with 42 seconds remaining. Madsen came open for a three and couldn’t convert. Aziz Bandaogo went after the ball, which had bounced right off the rim, but wasn’t able to corral it and call a timeout before sliding out of bounds, giving possession back to Utah.

Utah inbounded to 58% free throw shooter Jake Wahlin, but Jizzle James wasn’t able to foul quickly enough, and Wahlin passed to Madsen who was fouled by Josh Reed. He made 1 of 2 free throws and took a 67-64 lead. The Utes sealed the game after trading trips to the charity line and an ill-advised three from Simas Lukošius, with under 10 seconds left walking away with a 69-66 win.

Madsen finished with 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He made 7 of 8 free throw attempts. Dawes added 12 points in 30 minutes.

“They fouled at nine seconds the first time, which surprised me a bit. That’s a bit early for the way we would do it. So, they’re gonna try to foul the next go-around in the three-point situation. We were trying to get it up the floor quickly to get a good look.

“I had a timeout I was gonna call, and I thought Simas had a good push. That’s a really difficult position to foul, but where he shot the ball from, I didn’t quite like that. He said when I asked him that he thought they were fouling and that he could draw the foul. But you gotta trust your guys.”

Lukošius hit double digits, reaching 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting and 2-for-6 from beyond the arc. James had his best offensive game in a while, scoring 18 points and making 4 of 5 threes, including one that did everything but reach the bottom of the hoop late in the game.

Now, with the season—barring a miraculous run through the back half of conference play—effectively over, questions about next season will start to creep up. The best the Bearcats can do is end with momentum. West Virginia visits Clifton on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip.