Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Pulls Off Biggest Win This Decade 71-60 Over BYU

Cincinnati is off and running in the Big 12.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Jan 7, 2024 12:36 AM EST

In this story:

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati buckled down against a top-five offense in the country to upset BYU 71-60 on the road Saturday night. It marks their first top-12 AP victory since 2019 as Big 12 play opens. Aziz Bandaogo (12 points, 10 rebounds) returned to help lift the defensive ceiling against one of the country's best offenses.

The Cougars went on multiple long scoring droughts in the second half and couldn't finish off a career performance from Trevin Knell (27 points, nine threes). Viktor Lakhin (17 points, seven rebounds) put on a vintage showing as Cincinnati's leading scorer and helped the Bearcats own a 30-12 points in the paint advantage.

The defense was fantastic from Cincinnati as they continued establishing that identity. Wes Miller was 6-20 in Quad 1/2 games entering tonight and he checked a big Q1 W in the left column.

"I thought we defended tonight," Miller said on the 700 WLW postgame show. "I thought we found ourselves a little defensively against a great offensive team. And I thought that was the key. We stat how many times we get three stops in a row, we get eight stops in a row, we had eight of those tonight, but that's by far the most we've had in any game this year. Against the best offensive team we faced this year. So I thought defensively our defense kept us in it early."

Jizzle Jumps Ahead

Cincinnati's electric freshman point guard is showing a knack for big-game performances as James (12 points, three rebounds) helped drive a massive second-half run on the road for UC in the biggest win of the season in college basketball.

"I thought Jizzle was unbelievable," Miller said about James and him playing down the stretch. "H wasn't very good in the first half guys. He made a couple big defensive errors. That cost us baskets. And then I thought he was really good in that stretch making that big run is take the lead but down the stretch, Day Day (Thomas) can really defend."

James showed off his driving skills, deep ball, and mid-range shot package to slice up one of the best defenses in the country so far this season. It was even more imperative with Thomas (four points, five rebounds) struggling dropping shots again in this game. James filled the revolving perimeter scoring role Cincinnati had this season.

He was the outside hammer in the second half and Lakhin complemented with his best ball.

It took a full package of skills from the big fella as he picked apart Noah Waterman and the rest of the BYU bigs with nice footwork and a made triple.

Knell Nice

Cincinnati had no answer for the Cougars sharpshooter on Saturday as he posted a career-high in points and made threes as an assassin from outside.

Knell destroyed UC with consistent movement and amazing off-the-catch shooting.

His lightning-quick release was crucial for BYU to lead by seven in the first half.

No other Cougars scored more than 10 points as BYU relied on Knell's career cook fest to hammer home a hard-fought win over UC. Both defenses were strong overall, except when Knell wanted to slice into an open look. Cincinnati allowed just three other triples from non-Knell shooters and that was crucial in keeping pace before jumping in for the kill on the road.

Bandaogo Impact

Cincinnati's most impactful player by the numbers this season came back at the perfect time for UC to pull off the biggest win of the Wes Miller era.

The double-double he showed is why UC wanted his services so badly in the transfer portal this offseason. He was astounding considering a multi-week absence due to back discomfort. The Senegalese star intimidated a top-five rebounding team nationally with a 45-36 team advantage and was fantastic in helping Cincinnati's offense stay on schedule in the second half with high-quality looks.

"We cleaned the glass quite a bit," Miller said. "You look and you went 45 to 36. And then I thought Aziz like was just an impact on cleaning the glass."

Bandaogo is a little things maven with a nice plus/minus (plus-12) on the night in an impressive 23 minutes coming off the injury. Bandaogo held an astounding 162.3 offensive rating and a 62.9 defensive rating. When he plays, this team can hang with any team in the conference on defense, and the offense is also way better for it.

Now, Cincinnati welcomes in a Texas squad to Fifth Third Arena that just lost to Texas Tech. UC can pick up some national momentum over the next week.

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