Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Falls at Utah to Wrap Road Trip 0-2
![Jan 21, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats forward Aziz Bandaogo (55) reacts after a foul called in the second half in the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images Jan 21, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats forward Aziz Bandaogo (55) reacts after a foul called in the second half in the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3271,h_1839,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_bearcats/01jjppfcxw09k9t5r58n.jpg)
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati's (12-8, 2-7) basktball season took a massive blow on Tuesday night in a 69-66 loss to Utah (12-8, 4-5).
The offensive issues feel permanent at this point as Cincinnati shot under 43% from the field for the seventh time in the past eight games, plus went just 14-22 at the free throw line to completely waste a road-winning chance.
Jizzle James (18 points, three rebounds) was one of two Bearcats in double figures. Utah had three of those performances on the other side, including a matching 18 from former Bearcat Gabe Madsen (18 points, four assists). Utah lost the turnover battle 19-6 but handed Cincinnati their seventh consecutive loss on the glass to even that out (41-23).
"We have a group that's frustrated and cares a great deal. It's been a tough nine games," UC head coach Wes Miller said about the loss. "We have a chance to get over the hump tonight, and we didn't do it. There's a lot of basketball left, so notime for self-pity or hanging heads. We will have to keep grinding and working."
Glass Gulp
Cincinnati has lost seven consecutive rebounding battles after not losing on that front in back-to-back games at all last season. The Bearcats have zero identity right now and Utah made them pay for it all night.
The Utes were 25th nationally in total rebounding entering this game and their 53.1% shooting mark helped cement UC' worst rebounding margin of the season. It's really hard to close that gap with a 14% difference in shooting percentage. Dillon Mitchell (seven points, six rebounds, four assists) was once again the only Bearcat to nab five-plus rebounds.
Utah is one of the tallest teams in the country and they walloped a banged-up Aziz Bandaogo (seven points, three rebounds) and a lost Arrinten Page (two points, one rebound, and three turnovers in 10 minutes). Add in a 1-9 shooting performance with one rebound from Dan Skillings Jr., and you get a no-show from the frontcourt not named Mitchell.
That's been a theme far too often this season.
Defense Diced
Cincinnati only gave up 69 points in this game, but the Utes were extremely efficient when they didn't turn the ball over. UC gave up over a point per possession for the second straight game as Utah shot 58.3% from two-point range and hit 12-17 free throws. This UC team followed up the disastrous defensive second half against BYU by allowing Utah to shoot 66.7% in the first half.
What a response.
Madsen hit seven free throws and found enough offense to pull off the win, highlighted by a midrange cash to give Utah a lead with under two minutes remaining. Madsen went 5-13 shooting but UC allowed six players to shoot at least 50% from the field.
"I didn't think we defended well to start the game," Miller said. "I thought we were real good offensively then, but I did not like our defensive effort. It felt like they made 100 straight field goals to start. We were playing scrappy and tough and made a lot of plays on the basketball, but we had a lot of silly fouls reaching in and putting them on the foul line. We left quite a bit of (foul shots) on our own end."
Cincinnati's horrific offense has finally started affecting its defense in recent weeks and it came to a full head on Tuesday night. Utah was ranked roughly 40 spots higher than Utah on KenPom entering this game, but it's clear UC isn't that much better. They are bottom-feeder Big 12 school in football and basketball at this point (15th place in Big 12 ahead of only Colorado).
At-Large Tournament Hopes Squashed
Somehow, some way this Cincinnati team is worse than the one Miller put together last season. They are down to 48th in the NET rankings and dropping after finishing 37th in 2024.
UC has suffered too many losses to have a realistic at-large chance at the NCAA Tournament and is still 0-6 in Quad 1 games after winning four of those contests last season. Tuesday marked their second Quad 2 loss of the season. UC went 3-1 in Quad 2 last season with a 4-11 Quad 1 record and still missed the tournament.
Flash forward to now and a 0-4 Q1 and a 4-2 Q2 record have them lifeless. Cincinnati only has five Q1 games remaining (one at home) and would have to win all five to make up the ground they need after tanked conference runs by Dayton (Q2 win and dropping) and Northern Kentucky (that win dropped from Q3 to Q4).
Given those factors, Bart Torvik has Cincinnati making the tournament 10% of the time with a projected 17-14 record, while Team Rankings has them at 2% with an 18-13 projected record. UC has never gone on a three-game winning streak in the Big 12.
There's zero reason to expect a turnaround at this point, with West Virginia up next at home on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
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