Three Man Weave: West Virginia Embarrasses Cincinnati at Home 63-50

Cincinnati plays West Virginia Again on the road this season.
Cincinnati Bearcats guard Day Day Thomas (1) handles the ball as West Virginia Mountaineers guard Noah Farrakhan (1) defends in the first half of the Big 12 Conference tournament between Cincinnati Bearcats and West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
Cincinnati Bearcats guard Day Day Thomas (1) handles the ball as West Virginia Mountaineers guard Noah Farrakhan (1) defends in the first half of the Big 12 Conference tournament between Cincinnati Bearcats and West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
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CINCINNATI — The nightmare conference slate grew darker on Sunday as West Virginia blitzed Cincinnati 63-50 to end any finite at large NCAA Tournament hopes UC once had.

It stamps the most disappointing season this century for a Cincinnati athletics program. Big 12 leading scorer Javon Small (19 points, nine assists) got whatever he wanted most of the afternoon and powered a great showing from the hungry Mountaineers.

Cincinnati's now lost four consecutive games for the second time in Big 12 play. It brings the all-time series to 12-12 between the two schools. The Wes Miller era is going nowhere fast. 

Non-Competitive Again In The Big 12

Cincinnati's offense and defense have continued to melt over the last few weeks, with Sunday marking the fifth time this conference slate they've lost by double digits. It's a far cry from the scrappy gritty team that grinded through its first conference slate in 2024.

I noted the lack of offensive killers in the WVU Storylines and was proven right again with no Bearcats posting 11-plus points in the game. From the amount of missed bunny layups and wonky air balls, it's clear the whole roster is pressing with the pressure building to a burst.

UC went on a 13-2 run at a point in the final 10 minutes to make this look more respectable than it was, but WVU was bleeding clock that whole time and got out of their normal offensive structure to do so. It's impossible to win games in this league consistently shooting under 40% from the floor (39.7% in conference play, last in the Big 12). Cincinnati continues to do that.

Small Smacks

The game plan obviously called for slowing down the leading scorer in the Big 12 this season, but Cincinnati was largely a turnstile on that front.

Small was an assassin for most of the game. He hit multiple long triples to space out UC's defense and went to work with his passing skills to power an efficient day overall for that unit.

WVU shot a scorching 9-18 from deep to continue a complete cliff dive on that end by UC's defense. What was once the best three-point defense in the country a month ago has fallen apart. WVU is top-50 nationally in three-point attempts and they used Small to find those (mostly) open looks all afternoon.

Small has now scored 19-plus points in all three career outings against UC as the coaching staff continues to have limited answers for strong scoring options.

Griffith Brings Some Juice

The only UC player who looked extremely hungry to play on Sunday was redshirt freshman Rayvon Griffith (seven points, two assists). He played extended minutes in a close game for the first time in his career and made an impact.

The young wing showed some nice back-to-the-basket skills. Griffith totaled 11 minutes, and he probably should've played more, considering how little Cincinnati was getting from the forward spot.

Dan Skillings Jr. (six points, three rebounds) doesn't look like a Division 1 basketball player right now. He got his first rebound of the game in the second half, didn't score until less than 10 minutes to go, and continues to make the same sloppy, mindless rebounding and turnover mistakes that have plagued him over the past two weeks.

It's time for Griffith to completely take his minutes the rest of the season, along with a full youth movement with Halvine Dzellat as well. Why not? Might as well develop for the future while you play out the string.

Next up is UCF on the road this Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.

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Russ Heltman
RUSS HELTMAN

Russ Heltman is a contributor for AllBearcats and AllBengals. He is the morning host and producer for 89.3 WMKV in Cincinnati, OH. Russ can be found on Twitter: @RussHeltman11 or you can reach him by email at Heltmandm@yahoo.com.