Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Storylines, Betting Odds: NJIT Highlanders

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats basketball squad has another cupcake matchup on Monday night against the NJIT Highlanders at home. It's an easy chance to bounce back from their first loss of the season on Friday night. UC is a 33.5-point betting favorite with a point total set at 139.5.

The Bearcats enter the game 45th nationally on KenPom, while the Highlanders are arguably the worst team UC will play all season at 349th.

They are 257th in defensive efficiency, as Cincinnati brings a lowly 167th-best offensive efficiency into this game compared to their second-ranked defensive efficiency.

Cincinnati is 2-3 against the spread this season and 4-1 straight up, while NJIT is 4-2 ATS and 3-3 SU. The Bearcats' games have gone over the point total just once this season. Baba Miller is a name to watch tonight as he tries to heal up a hip injury he sustained against Louisville in Friday night's loss.

"Stuff happens, and I don't play the excuse game, I don't do that crap," Wes Miller said about the absence of Baba Miller. "Baba, I don't know he got hit in the hip and tried to give it a go, but wasn't able to, so we will re-evaluate when we know more."

UPDATE: Miller is out for tonight's game and remains day-to-day with a hip injury.

Cincinnati senior forward Baba Miller (lower body) is out for tonight's game vs. NJIT (7 p.m., ESPN+). Miller will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) November 24, 2025

Top Storylines: Three-Point Woes, Missing Identity

Monday night would be a great time for the Bearcats to start hitting some shots this season. It's been basically Groundhog Day all over again to start this season, with Wes Miller's team playing great defense and pairing it with frustrating, stagnant offense on the other end.

It has to start with Kerr Kriisa and Shon Abaev, who have shot the ball terribly so far this season. The team hasn't posted an offensive efficiency mark above 100 since Game 1, as they shoot a paltry 42.8% overall and 29.4% from deep (309th nationally).

A lot of them are open threes, so you'd expect those to fall eventually, but we've been waiting for that since Miller took over. Add in a 63.3% free-throw mark (309th nationally), and nothing is coming easy to UC. Kriisa is really only shooting threes (91.9% of his shots) and is shooting 26.5% on those. Something just zaps players of their shooting powers when they put on the red and black. He was a 35%-plus three-point shooter across his career entering this season.

Abaev has had similar struggles (38% field goal mark, 88.1 offensive rating). Louisville gladly let him chuck up a 4-16 mark from the field on Friday night. He took some good shots, but plenty of bad ones as the team went away from its big-heavy offense that was effective early on. The whole team is taking 27.2 threes overall, but it's not justified by that sub-30% mark.

Day Day Thomas (54.2% from deep, 116.9 offensive rating) is one of the biggest reasons they don't have one more loss on the ledger. They have to start hitting outside shots eventually, and tonight is a great place to start.

No one will think things are fixed by a good shooting night against NJIT, but they have been a really strong outside shooting defense (28.8% allowed, 88th nationally), so it's a good place to start. They will also get plenty of free throw chances in this game against a team giving up 25.3 attempts per game (311th).

Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, breakdowns, and so much more. Check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.

Also, don't miss the podcast, Bearcat Blitz, wherever you get your shows!

Apple: http://apple.co/4fI26zj

Spotify: http://bit.ly/3OqvD4l

YouTube: http://bit.ly/414XiQ6

-----

Be sure to keep it locked in on Bearcats Talk all the time as we cover the trials and tribulations of the Big 12!

Follow Bearcats Talk on Twitter: @BearcatsTalk

Like Bearcats Talk on Facebook: Bearcats Talk