Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Bounced From College Basketball Crown, Season Ends With UCF Loss

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats season ended with an 88-80 loss to UCF in the College Basketball Crown quarterfinals on Thursday night. Cincinnati got great outings from Day Day Thomas (19 points, four rebounds) and Dillon Mitchell (17 points, 12 rebounds), but couldn't put it all together to move on.

Darius Johnson (31 points, seven assists) rolled over the Bearcats halfcourt defense and the Knights got boosted outings from normal role players to break a five-game losing streak in this rivalry.

Cincinnati now focuses on the offseason moves, with the transfer portal flowing hot and heavy over the next few weeks.

Johnson Jump Starts

Johnson was the offensive jolt UCF needed with top scorer Keyshawn Hall in this tournament. The veteran guard sliced up Cincinnati's offense with speedy drives to the rim and accurate jump shooting to help drive success for the Knights.

Cincinnati's drop coverage defense got beaten into a bit against Johnson and Tyler Hendricks (14 points, four rebounds). Both showed strong ball-handling skills and the quick decision-making needed to get to the rim against that type of coverage.

Johnson finished with the highest game score of any player in the contest and showed he can still glide through the UC trees on defense at 6-1, 190 pounds. The senior ranked top-ten in total points scored among Big 12 players this season and topped his 21-point outing against UC in February with this one tonight.

Add in a stellar showing from freshman seven-footer Moustapha Thiam (13 points, five rebounds), and Cincinnati had weapons to deal with up top and down low.

Thursday marked Johnson's second-highest-scoring outing of the season.

Dillon Dominant, Griffith Growing

Mitchell was a force at all three levels offensively on Thursday. He willed down a hefty amount of rebounds, including a few for putback buckets, and even distributed the rock for some big buckets. When the dynamic forward is rolling, he's a monstrous force.

The veteran shot 8-14 from the floor and once again showed his immense efficiency when things are clicking.Mitchell hit from the midrange, outside, on tip-ins. The whole offensive package was on display out west.

Meanwhile, hometown Cincinnati native Rayvon Griffith (tied career-high eight points, thre rebounds) played the most meaningful minutes of his career on Thursday and posted arguably his best Cincinnati outing along with it.

The athletic, rangy wing hauled in some key offensive rebounds throughout the night and got to the line three times.

Diverse Death

UCF had a scrambled rotation entering this tournament, but it hasn't stopped them from executing well offensively. The Knights had four different players notch double-digit points, with three doing it on 50%-plus shooting.

Mr. Johnson went unconscious down the stretch and got enough help from his teammates to capture that moment.

Johnson and Thiam drove the bus high and low, but the Bearcats also got dinged by Nil Machowski (11 points, five rebounds) and Hendricks. The Knights are a 77%-plus free-throw shooting team on the season and had ice in the veins down the stretch to stuff the game away.

They outshot Cincinnati 16-8 from the stripe to show they were the more focused team on Thursday.

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