Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Falls In Familiar Fashion to No. 8 Houston 67-60

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats limped to their 13th consecutive loss in the Houston rivalry on Saturday, 67-60, to fall to 8-6 on the 2025-26 season and 0-1 in Big 12 play.

The Bearcats played great defense like they usually have this season, but were ripped apart on the glass in the second half and couldn't overcome a scorching half from Milos Uzan (18 points, three rebounds). UC lost the board battle 34-30 overall.

UC had a chance to win down just three with just two minutes to play, but did not score in the final four minutes as the crunchtime woes continue. Wes Miller's team now almost assuredly has to go 14-3 the rest of conference play to have any hope of making the program's first NCAA Tournament this decade.

UC posted its second-lowest point total of the season on Saturday.

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UC had three standout players in this game in Baba Miller (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists), Day Day Thomas (15 points, four assists, two rebounds), and Moustapha Thiam (13 points, five rebounds). The problem with that is none of them took the scoring reins when needed in the final moments.

It was a similar story to how Cincinnati fell flat in the Clemson loss. No one on this roster can create a shot in the muck when it matters most. UC took a 10-point lead at one point in the second half, but went completely cold from outside, posting a 1-9 mark from deep in the second half.

Whether from that trio or others, UC had to hit at least 8-12 threes to win this game. They finished 6-20 from outside and have completed just 17 tries from that range in the last four Houston games. Thomas was the only one of that trio to hit multiple threes in what was a highly congested offense for most of the second half.

Wes Miller leaned on his stars with heavy minutes, but not having anything from Shon Abaev right now is a killer. He went 0-3 in nine minutes as a player that UC was counting on massively entering this season. Now they essentially have to win at West Virginia or there is zero reason to think they won't be one of the four worst teams in the league.

Bearcats Player of the Game: Miller, Thiam, Thomas

It's hard to pick a player out of this trio. All three were impactful on Saturday, but not impactful enough.

The two forwards were imperative in a game where Cincinnati struggled on the glass, even with a size advantage. Miller and Thiam really impacted things in the second half, as the offense started funneling their way more in the middle of the floor.

Thomas had plenty to do with that funneling in another veteran showing from Cincinnati's longest tenured player. He was the first-half spark plug to help UC build a 33-28 lead in that frame and nearly played the whole game in a backcourt combination with Jizzle James, who played 36 minutes on Saturday.

Cincinnati travels for its first true road game outside Ohio to face the Mountaineers on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

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