Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball's NCAA Tournament Hopes Take Hit Against TCU

CINCINNATI — A great run from the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team ended on Saturday, 73-63 at TCU. The Horned Frogs played great defense to bolster their NCAA Tournament case, while turning Cincinnati upside down (and over) along the way.

Cincinnati had been ripping the twine from deep over the past month. That continued on Saturday with 12 threes, but they turned it over 19 times for the third-highest total of the season. TCU was one of the worst two-point defenses in the country, but Baba Miller (four points, 13 rebounds, five turnovers) could only impact the glass and UC mustered a 14-30 paint point ratio.

The Horned Frogs got outrebounded, but still outshot UC by nearly 10 attempts and committed just 16 combined fouls and turnovers. They have now won their last five contests and eight of their last nine after a 73-65 win at No. 10 Texas Tech Tuesday night. The Bearcats had won all but one of the eight previous meetings between the two schools, including two of the three games played in Fort Worth.

Cincinnati's 14th loss of the season is a huge blow and forces them into a first-round Big 12 Tournament game on Tuesday against Utah.

"Sometimes it's complicated. Sometimes it's not. 19 turnovers make it not complicated," Wes Miller said to the media about the result.

Turnover Town

The Bearcats posted an uncharacteristic, sloppy game on Saturday in Fort Worth. Cincinnati's high turnover mark was a big anomaly and cost them some needed road scoring chances all game long.

The offense had been thriving through Miller and Moustapha Thiam of late, but TCU denied them the ball well and kept the Two Towers completely contained with one of the smallest lineups UC has faced this season.

Cincinnati couldn't find a way to respond in the final minutes just like every other time this season. UC is now 0-12 on the campaign when trailing in the final 10 minutes of games. A closer didn't arise as Miller and Thiam nearly matched their point total with their turnover total in a tough road showing.

The loss means Cincinnati has to win at least three games in the Big 12 Tournament to have any strong case for the NCAA Tournament. It's three for a brutal reason. The loss pushed Cincinnati to the nine seed in next week's action, meaning they miss out on a first-round bye and play on Tuesday after flying back from Texas today.

It's not over, but Cincinnati's huge momentum swing came to a big halt on Saturday. Bart Torvik's projection pregame had them making the tournament 46.3% of the time. They likely have to at least beat Utah, then West Virginia and juggernaut Arizona to go dancing.

Bearcats Player Of The Game: Day Day Thomas

Thomas brought a veteran savvy that Cincinnati needed on Saturday against TCU. He went 7-14 from the field and hit five triples to keep Cincinnati above water for some of the game.

No other Bearcat hit more than four field goals, as he had to work on an island a lot. Thomas contributed four of the turnovers that ultimately killed a nice rebounding advantage (37-30), but created more than enough to do his part.

The rest of the backcourt was really rough on the road. Jizzle James, Keyshuan Tillery, and Sencire Harris combined to score 15 points on 5-15 shooting.

Cincinnati had more turnovers than assists in this game, as one of the better assist teams and best turnover teams in the country. They have to regain that identity with a bunch of travel in the way over the next few days.

"We just got to get out of here," Miller said about the travel urgency. "We got to get home and get rest, and we got to get ready to play on Tuesday. That's it. Like it's March time. It's win-or-go-home time. So we talked very quickly about what I just said to you, 19 turnovers, loose balls, a couple shots that were like turnovers that led to baskets. And then we talked about, we got to get the heck out of here quickly. We got to go get them rest, and we got to just focus all our time and attention on getting ready to play on Tuesday."

The No. 9 seed Bearcats will play No. 16 Utah on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET in Kansas City.

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