Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball 2025-26 Storylines: Utah Utes

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats basketball team is looking for its first three-game conference winning streak of the season on Sunday afternoon against the Big 12's worst team, Utah.

The game tips off at noon ET and features a Utes team that's last in the Big 12 at 9-15 overall and 1-10 in the league. Cincinnati is an 84.5% ESPN Matchup Predictor favorite to win as the 51st-ranked team in the country on KenPom. Utah is 125th on KenPom.

Cincinnati is all the way up to 172nd in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency after being outside the top-200 for much of this season.

The jumpshots are starting to fall for Wes Miller's team.

"It's the first time we've just had everybody start to shoot the ball and play offensively in sync," Miller said about the last two games being 20-plus point wins. "You know, we're a bunch of guys who are all playing within a rhythm. It hadn't happened all year, and it's happened in the last two games, and it's been nice to see. I mean, we've felt like we put together this special roster. And I think Kansas State would say the same thing, too, but we've never really had it together with any real continuity.

"And still tonight, I mean, we look over Jalen Haynes and Moustafa (Thiam) aren't playing, and Kerr Kriisa is still dealing with the shoulder stuff, so we still haven't had that, but it's nice to see the ball go in with the guys that are out there playing the last couple games."

Cincinnati is 3-2 against the Utes since the start of the 1949-50 season.

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Cincinnati should win this game by double-digits, given how well the offense is playing right now, paired with the same top 10 defense nationally that's been in place all season.

As Jalen Celestine and Jizzle James have settled in, so has the jumpshooting in recent games. UC is posting a filthy 65.7% effective field goal rate over the past two games, while their opponents are at 45.3%.

It's obviously a small sample size, but those two players' performances have felt less like flukes and more like a positive regression to the mean compared to how many open shots they missed throughout January. James is fully locked back into his role with the program, while Celestine looks 100% healthy after recovering from an offseason back injury.

Sunday sets up to be another shot showcase for them, Day Day Thomas, and Baba Miller. Utah has one of the worst defenses in the Big 12, giving up 81.7 points per game in conference (142nd nationally in defensive efficiency over the past 10 games).

They don't have anyone taller than 6-9 in the rotation, and that's shown on the glass (28.8 rebounds per game, 15th in Big 12, -5.4 rebounding differential). UC holds a plus-0.7 conference rebounding margin.

The only thing Utah does decently well is shoot threes (34.2%, seventh), and UC is a very solid outside defense (34% allowed, fifth). There are no clear advantages for Utah to lean on, and it will take a bad defensive game from UC's backcourt to take an upset loss.

Utah lead scorer Terrance Brown (19.9 PPG in Big 12 play, 3.9 assists) and his guard running mate Don McHenry (16.2 points, 3.1 rebounds) would have to tap into some rare Big 12 efficiency to give their team any chance here. Both have eye-popping scoring lines, but they are both posting an eFG under 49% in conference play as shot volume gets them to those big numbers.

Clamping them down and posting a double-digit win over the conference's worst team sends UC into a game-less six-day stretch where they can gain more confidence and get healthy before their toughest stretch of the season.

If they are going to make any final push for a miracle NCAA Tournament at-large spot, they have to win every game the rest of the way and likely at least three Big 12 Tournament games.

They'll have fully proven themselves if all that happens. Cincinnati plays four of its final five games against Quad 1 opponents, including three teams ranked in the top 20 in the NET Rankings (at Kansas, at Texas Tech, home against BYU). UC can put Utah away quickly Sunday, get healthier over the next week, and try to make one final miracle run to salvage the Wes Miller era.

Sunday's game tips off at noon ET on ESPN.

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