Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Falls To West Virginia After More Shooting Woes

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats lost another brutal game in the Big 12 on Tuesday, 62-60, against rival West Virginia. The game turned into a defensive brick fight early, and UC just couldn't manufacture enough easy looks in.

The Mountaineers held Cincinnati to a 35.5% shooting mark, its third-lowest of the season in another brutal offensive showing from this team. UC entered the game 256th in defensive efficiency on Bart Torvik and couldn't slow down Honor Huff (24 points, 6-10 from deep) on the other end.

Cincinnati didn't get to the free-throw line and lost the rebounding battle 37-33. Jalen Celestine (15 points, 5-9 from deep) was the only Bearcat in double figures as just about everyone looked bad shooting the ball.

"We get to come out and play basketball. I don't care about the noise Dan, I don't care what people think," Wes Miller said on the 700 WLW broadcast. "I only care about my team and I care about my program. And you know what? It's almost comical. We'll get a break. We just got to stay together. It's us against the whole world. We know that we're gonna get a break.

"We're gonna keep going period, period. I'll answer any questions you guys want. Everybody can quit on us. Everybody I hear it. Everybody go ahead. Us against the world."

Miller is now 18-13 in Q2 outings and 3-51 at UC when trailing in the final five minutes of a game. WVU also added to its 13-12 lead in the all-time series and is on a three-game winning streak against UC.

Droughts In Final Minutes

Two of the top defenses in the country battled all night long in this game, as Cincinnati took the advantage when they entered the last two minutes, then Huff hit an and-one, and WVU cashed a prayer turnaround three to take the lead in the final minute.

UC let Huff go nutty on them too many times and once again had no player that could close the game down in the final minutes. They went over four of the final five minutes without a point. It wasn't hard to project a bad offense getting worse without its best assist man in Kerr Kriisa, and that's exactly what happened.

Even without him, UC assisted on 19 of its 21 field goals, showing a complete reliance on great play execution and fast break running (16-4 advantage). It wasn't close to enough against a great shot-defending team like WVU. The Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run in the final minutes of the game.

It's the same story, big game, after big game for a team that's now in complete freefall at 8-7. The season is basically over at this point, barring a miracle run starting this weekend against UCF. There is zero reason to think this team will go the needed 14-2 overall down the stretch to make an NCAA Tournament case.

Cincinnati was 94th in the NET rankings entering today's game. Baylor is the final projected at-large team at 42nd overall.

"A couple possessions don't get to dictate the belief that we have in our team, in each other," Miller said about the result. "Everybody can do all the crap they do on social media, all that. I don't care. I care about how it affects my team, but I don't personally care. But that doesn't get to dictate so we're just gonna be resilient and fight.

"That's my job, job as a coach. It's easy when it's going good, when they don't make that crappy shot in front of their bench, right? And you do make the tough shots on your end, that's easy. This is what coaching is all about. So let's dig in and coach."

Bearcats Player Of The Game: Jalen Celestine

The veteran sharpshooter has returned to his strong shooting form in recent weeks and may be earning a lot more playing time in the process.

Celestine banged home NUMBER triples to take advantage of a susceptible Mountaineers outside defense. He ran off screens, fired on time, and was a flickering light of shooting during a rough night from just about every other Bearcat (Day Day Thomas hit three triples). Defensively, he didn't stand out in any bad ways, helping Cincinnati overcome all ofthe rebounds it had to fight for from the poor shooting.

Celestine finished second on the Bearcats in defense. stops

The Baylor Bear turned Cincinnati Bearcat was the only UC player to eclipse 12 points in one of their worst shooting games of the season, but he made things interesting the whole time.

UC went scoreless for four minutes to close the game and needed every Celestine triple.

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