Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Drops Another Game To Houston 76-54

CINCINNATI — UC basketball lost its 11th consecutive game to Houston in the Wes Miller era on Saturday, 76-54. It was the second-lowest point total of the season from Wes Miller's team and the second-worst loss by margin.

The Bearcats have 11 losses entering February for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

The injury bug bit UC again early in the first half when Moustapha Thiam went down with a lower-body ailment. Add in issues with Shon Abaev and Sencire Harris making the rotation even thinner, and you get a sloppy, bad showing.

It marked the team's 11th consecutive loss to Houston and kept the Bearcats closer and closer to the Big 12's basement at 3-6 in league play.

Houston forced 19 UC turnovers in the game.

"I don't know," Wes Miller said about Thiam. "I haven't had a chance (to get injury information) yet. I know I just all I knew is what he couldn't go back. Shon (Abaev) would have been nice for us tonight, because he can pass over top, and when they bring two to the ball, like in the first game, his minutes were impactful, because he got it over the top of the defense.

"But, you know, we're down some bodies tonight. That's life, come on, man, as we talked about in locker room, that's life, figure it out, and other guys step up. And we did that against Baylor, and we weren't able to do it to the level we needed to tonight."

Running Out Of Soldiers

The Big 12 gauntlet is two games lighter this season, but it's still taking a major toll on the Bearcats. Injuries are hurting a team that already struggles to shoot the ball when healthy. Add the ailments, and they can't compete on the margins like they have to, leading to massive blowouts and low point totals against top teams like Houston today and No. 1 Arizona last week.

Injuries aren't the reason Cincinnati didn't win outright today against a clearly better opponent, but it is why they got destroyed. Fatigue set in with Cincinnati's guards leading to a massive turnover total for Day Day Thomas (season-high six, played just 22 minutes), and more minutes for Keyshuan Tillery (career-high 15 points). The freshman played admirably, but was still a big part of those giveaway issues.

Cincinnati also shot terribly from two-point range and the foul line (8-13) to wash away a 10-23 three-point mark. As mentioned in the storylines, UC had to maximize its shots against a defense that allowed teams to shoot fewer than 55 field goal attempts per game entering the contest. That didn't happen thanks to more hapless offense from the 217th-ranked unit by efficiency entering the game.

Houston's offense flooded them with buckets after the first 10 minutes and even more once Thiam went down. The Cougars stayed balanced with four players in double figures, led by Milos Uzan (16 points, five assists).

They continue to show why they are one of the premier teams in the country under Kelvin Sampson.

Bearcats Player of the Game: Jalen Celestine

Celestine posted a nice outing after a rough shooting performance against Baylor. The veteran guard laced home three triples and 15 total points to go with two rebounds.

Cincinnati got him open consistently against one of the top 10 defenses in the country, but he obviously couldn't do it all himself against one of the best teams in the country. He was sound with the ball (zero turnovers) and kept the offense moving when things got gummed up fast just about everywhere else.

The outing marked his fourth game this season, scoring in the double digits. Unfortunately, Cincinnati is 1-5 this season when he scores seven-plus points.

The Bearcats are back home on Thursday for a matchup against West Virginia at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

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