Bearcats suffer fourth straight loss, fall 63-50 to WVU
The Bearcats suffered their fourth straight loss on Sunday after falling to West Virginia 63-50.
The Mountaineers were led by Javon Small (19 points), and Joseph Yesufu (14 points) on a perfect 6-6 shooting. The veteran backcourt came in and was simply too much for the Bearcats to handle this afternoon.
Small has now scored 19 points or more in each of the three games that he has played against Cincinnati in his career.
“I love Fifth Third Arena.” Small told reporters. “This is probably my favorite gym to play in out of all the schools I have played at throughout my career. My very first collegiate basketball game was here at Fifth Third Arena.”
Cincinnati was led by Day-Day Thomas who had a team high 10 points in the loss. Followed by Dillon Mitchell, who had six points and ten rebounds, in what was the most efficient player on the court this afternoon.
Cincinnati native Rayvon Griffith saw a career high 12 minutes of play, where he finished with a career high seven points, two rebounds, and two assists. The Cincinnati kid was able to really make an impact on this game when he was out on the court, and it was very clear t see he brought a spark that Cincinnati was desperately searching for.
“I think Rayvon is playing with spirit.” Wes Miller noted. “He practices with spirit every day. We are looking for some guys who are going to fight. It was really good to see that from Ray. He gave us a huge lift tonight. I think it’s no question that he is fighting for those minutes and playing time.”
However, at the end of the day, this Bearcats team looks lost as they continue to walk through the motions amidst the recent struggles. The Bearcats finished off Sunday with their second lowest scoring performance of the season and have lost majority of their confidence following the teams 0-4 start to Big 12 play.
Now, heading into the season the Bearcats were predicted to finish 6th in the Big 12 and was a potential dark horse candidate to win the Big 12. Flash forward to today, the team now sits at the bottom of the Big 12 with a 2-8 conference record with the final ten games ahead. That is literally something not many expected due to how much talent and retention this team has on paper.
But in the end, the team is just simply not producing, and frustrations are starting to boil over and it is clear to see. For Cincinnati, they have to find the answer and find them quickly, or else they could be looking at an early exit come March.
“In my 14 years as a head coach, I don’t think ever had a team at this point in the season, where the lack of effort collectively than I feels right now.” said Miller. “College basketball has its challenges, but you have to keep fighting to figure it out. This group has fight, heart, character, but we have to get it out of them. That starts right here with me.”
Cincinnati makes a switch to the starting lineup.
Wes Miller made a change to the Bearcats starting lineup as Day-Day Thomas made his first start of the season in place of Dan Skillings.
“We have to find the right combination of guys that want to fight.” Wes Miller told reporters. “That is not a talent or ability thing. I didn’t take Dan out of the lineup, I put Day-Day in. That is the truth. I could have taken anyone out of the starting lineup, but I thought Day-Day has shown a lot of heart in recent games and I wanted to reward that. Someone had to come out though and it was Dan, I know it was unfortunate for him. I was looking for some guys that came in and could show us some fight.”
The Rundown
Cincinnati came out looking to push the tempo early on West Virginia, but offense struggled to find any rhythm in the opening minutes. Cincinnati started the game, just 1-7 from the field, with the only made basket coming off a Thomas made three. However, the Bearcats found a way to tie the game at six, with 15:16 left in the first half after Lukosius was fouled on a three-point attempt and converted all three from the charity stripe.
Javon Small, gave the Mountaineers a three-point advantage after knocking down his second three of the day. Thomas responded with the mid-range jumper to quickly cut the lead to one with 13:14 left in the first half. Cincinnati was quickly starting to find their grove on the offensive end after Tyler Betsey knocked down his first three-point attempt of the day.
West Virginia responded with a five-point swing after a Johnathan Powell corner three, and layup from Amani Hansberry. That run forced an early Cincinnati timeout, as Wes Miller looked to stop the bleeding, with Cincinnati trailing 16-11.
The Mountaineers extended their lead to nine, after Small buried another three. Meanwhile, Cincinnati turned to the bench as Rayvon Griffith made his first appearance at home in conference play. The Cincinnati kid made an immediate impact grabbing two boards and a quick layup to cut the lead to five. Meanwhile, Joseph Yesufu responded with a dagger three that silenced Fifth Third Arena as the shot clock expired.
That quickly flipped all the momentum in favor of West Virginia as they jumped out to a 29-16 lead with 6:51 left in the first half. Three consecutive turnovers for Cincinnati, as their offense was completely stifled after the Lukosius three. It was desperation mode for Cincinnati as the boo birds erupted at Fifth Third Arena after a 20-5 run from West Virginia.
Cincinnati just couldn’t get anything going on both ends of the court, especially when it came down to Javon Small. The crafty point guard was just too much to handle for Cincinnati, like he has been in years past, as he had 14 points at the break.
A disastrous first half for Cincinnati, as the Bearcats shot just 26% from the field in the first half, while West Virginia on the other hand, shot 55%. West Virginia was just dominating the Bearcats on every facet of this game. Cincinnati was just out played, out physical, just lackadaisical on all aspects of this one, and it clearly showed over the span of the first twenty minutes.
Cincinnati, saw 16 of their 25 points come from Thomas (8), and Lukosius (8), but on the other hand, a combined zero points between the likes of Bandaogo, James, Skillings, which is something that can’t happen in order for this team to be successful and win games. It looked as if all three were lost on offense at times, with costly turnovers and sloppy decision making, that silenced any momentum Cincinnati had in the first half.
The Bearcats trailed 43-29 at the under 16 media stops, after a Reed bucket. Cincinnati rattled back after the offensive foul on West Virgina, resulting in a Mitchell lob, to cut the lead to 11. Okani, responded right back with the Mountaineers on the other end as Cincinnati continued to approach desperation mode.
The Mountaineers kept their foot on the gas as Powell swiped the pass from Mitchell and took it back in transition for a thunderous one-handed slam. Cincinnati found themselves trailing 53-35 after the slam as Wes Miller called timeout.
Meanwhile, West Virginia had no plans of letting up after six quick points from Yesufu, and just like that the Bearcats found themselves trailing 59-37 with 7:45 to go. Cincinnati looked absolutely lost on offense before a six point run forced a West Virginia timeout following the Skillings layup, cutting the Mountaineers lead to 16.
The Bearcats sparked a 13-2 run after Rayvon Griffith buried a corner three, to cut the lead to 11. Meanwhile, West Virginia was getting very sloppy, and it led to offense for Cincinnati. As this game was not over quite yet, the Bearcats were starting to find rhythm over the final six minutes. Until the Mountaineers ran out the clock the final three minutes as both teams combined for just two points over the final four minutes.
From Wes Miller
“I’m very disgusted with our play. The turnovers were extremely frustrating, especially in the open court. I’m very disappointed and disgusted with the way we are currently playing. At the end of the day, I am the one in charge here. I am the leader of the program, and it falls on me. If I am someone that supports this program, I’d be frustrated and pissed at what you are watching. I know I am. I take full responsibility for that. It is on me. We have a lot of basketball left to play. We need to find a style of basketball that makes people proud. We aren’t doing that right now, and at the end of the day, it falls on me. ”
“The way we are playing, I am the guy that is responsible, I have to look in the mirror and see what I am doing. I was at a harsher tone this week. I was more combative and challenged them a lot. I am trying to get an edge and competitive spirit that we have shown the ability to have this season. If it isn’t happening at the end of the day, it falls on me. I love coaching at the University of Cincinnati, but I know there is standards with this program, and we aren’t meeting them right now. That falls on me, I feel bad for the people that support our program, they deserve better.”
Up Next
The Bearcats (12-9, 2-8 Big 12) travel to Orlando on Wednesday to take on Central Florida (13-8, 4-6 Big 12) with tip-off set for 7pm.
