Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Sputters at Kansas 74-69 Following Another Rough Shooting Performance

Cincinnati fell in front of a packed Big Monday crowd in Lawrence, Kansas.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Jan 22, 2024 11:47 PM EST

In this story:

CINCINNATI — The No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks took care of business at home against Cincinnati 74-69. UC fought hard but couldn't muster enough offense to take advantage of strong physicality and good free-throw shooting on the road.

Hunter Dickinson (10 points, six rebounds) and Kevin McCullar (20 points, 5-of-17 shooting, five assists) got largely held in check, but their gravity opened the door for other players to edge out Cincinnati.

The Bearcats were held to just 39% from the field as they try to find an offensive identity in conference play.

UC is now tied 4-4 against Kansas since 1949 and sits at 2-4 in conference play with UCF on deck at home this Saturday.

Skillings Meets First-Half Moment

Dan Skillings Jr. (16 points, five rebounds) was an attacking force from the tip on Monday night as he dropped 14 first-half points and led all UC scorers.

Skillings brought his normal strong defense and flashed another outing of potential when his three-point shot is falling. The forward did a great job getting into an early rhythm.

He was largely Cincinnati's only sharpshooter as he was the only Bearcat to hit multiple any three-point shots in what's becoming a major issue in conference play. They created a few good looks fro outside but just never got into a rhythm outside of Skillings' strong opening half.

It meant a team-high usage (25.4% usage rate) in the biggest road game of his young career. All in all, he led all major Cincinnati rotation players in offensive rating . Still, he shot under 30% from the field in the second half and couldn't sustain the burst as two other Bearcats scored in double figures.

The Skillings' show was fun to watch on Monday and in a premier environment he showed at times what may be the highest ceiling on the Bearcats' roster.

Somewhat Sloppy Road Result

Cincinnati played hard and didn't get super phased by the Kansas road environment, but it was far from perfect as they committed 16 turnovers. On top of that, Skillings was the lone perimeter player to take it to Kansas.

It marked another outing shooting under 43% from the field, their fourth in the past six games. That marks the point when CJ Fredrick (top offensive rating on the team) started missing time. His absence has discombobulated the spacing and overall offensive flow for UC, especially during three key conference games early on.

Cincinnati's remaining guards were not good on Monday with John Newman III (11 points, two rebounds) failing to follow up his great Oklahoma outing. Day Day Thomas (nine points) and Jizzle James (10 points, one assist) also continued up and down seasons. Simas Lukošius was bad as well. He is the most disappointing of the bunch offensively given how much more efficient he was at Butler last season.

UC did do a great job hunting contact and hitting free throws on Monday, but of course, they couldn't take advantage of that problem lately becoming a strength because the overall shooting was so bad.

Wes Miller's offense usually thrives from the three-point line but is hovering around 30% in conference play (3-of-18 on Monday'). It's nullifying what could be a major weapon in their rebounding. Getting more consistent production from what should be a deep rotation is crucial as the schedule lightens up a bit.

Jayhawk Duo Checked

Cincinnati stayed in the game throughout most of the evening Monday night thanks to strong defense, especially on top players in Dickinson and McCullar.

The duo was not efficient on Monday going 9-of-24 from the field, with Cincinnati getting Dickinson in foul trouble throughout the second half. UC's man-to-man defense has been fantastic all conference slate and it passed another big test on Monday against two Wooden Award Candidates.

McCullar had a tough time getting downhill against Cincinnati's guard platoon and was forced into a lot of mid-range shots that set up Bearcat rebounds. Unfortunately, the attention opened the door for a guy like Johnny Furphy (23 points, 11 rebounds) to post a career-high in points on hyper-efficiency.

Furphy was an Energizer Bunny all night long as he powered the Jayhawks' meager effort on the glass (UC 40-29 on the glass) and helped a short rotation find more breathing room with Dickinson facing foul trouble.

He started the game 6-of-6 from the field and was just the type of glue Kansas needed. Cincinnati now needs a home win against UCF or the NCAA Tournament chances will start wavering. The Bearcats entered tonight with a 54% chance of making the dance on TeamRankings.

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