Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Fends Off Howard in Final Game Before Crosstown Shootout

The Bearcats had an uneven showing on Sunday afternoon.

Dec 8, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Dan Skillings Jr. (0) drives to the basket against Howard Bison forward Cameron Shockley-Okeke (15) in the first half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images / Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats overcame a sleepy first-half start against Howard on Sunday to get the 84-67 win at home. Dan Skillings Jr. (two points, three rebounds, three assists) made his return, but it didn't bring Cincinnati much energy to open the game (36-32 halftime lead).

Simas Lukošius (18 points, four assists) was the driving force behind most of the top offensive moments, with strong shooting getting Cincinnati back on track to end the first half and beyond (53.1% from the floor).

Skillings did play well for his first game action in over a month, and Cincinnati plowed enough to get a comfortable, yet uneven win. They have never lost to Howard, sitting at 4-0 all-time against the Bison. Now all sights turn to next week's home rendition of the Crosstown Shootout.

Sleepy Start

Cincinnati didn't execute very well on offense in the first half, and it kept things tight with multiple lead changes against a hungry Howard team. The squad turned it over eight times and shot 4-7 from the free-throw line to let Howard hang around in those first 20 minutes.

Connor Hickman (two points, seven rebounds) struggled in particular during that frame as Cincinnati's started slowly in both games this week. That is detrimental against top-100 KenPom teams and a lesser issue when battling against teams like Howard outside of the top 250 teams.

The Bearcats turned it on for a 14-0 run spanning the end of that half and the second, but they've strung together two complete halves a little less often than you'd like to see against a schedule ranked outside the top 300 in difficulty so far. Skillings' full integration back into the starting lineup should help more of that consistency pop up.

Cincinnati was plus-11 points with him on the floor Sunday.

Simas Slices

The Bearcats' leading scorer lifted the whole offense on Sunday with another efficient shooting outing and strong direction on that end of the floor.

Lukošius and Day Day Thomas (nine points, three assists) were the only Bearcats to hit multiple threes in the game. Lukošius set up Thomas on a few of his made shots Sunday, taking advantage of his savvy spot-finding off the ball to set up easier looks. 

The Lithuanian is a complete floor general and the other guards followed his lead in the second half. UC dropped in at least four alley-oops in that frame and powered home a whopping nine dunks on Sunday afternoon. UC's top playmaker didn't flush any of those home, but he was a big reason Cincinnati topped 80 points for the fifth time this season.

Skillings Returns 

The biggest development of the whole day was Skillings coming back from his leg injury. He played a total of 14 minutes in the blowout win to get a taste of game action for the first time since Nov. 4.

He looked in shape and ready for the moment, other than a few mistakes and a 1-4 shooting outing. Skillings brought a strong energy that helped feed those dunk numbers and slash at the rim with more action than normal in recent weeks (only points on a cut to the hoop).

The Cincinnati lineup can work him back in pretty seamlessly, and it could be the difference in a win and loss next Saturday with him having already been back in game action ahead of it. Skillings played poorly in his first two Crosstown Shootouts (two points, six rebounds in 23 minutes last year against Xavier, no points, two rebounds in six minutes two years ago).

It all goes down on Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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