Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Suffers Brutal Loss to West Virginia 69-65

West Virginia now leads the all-time series 11-10.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Jan 31, 2024 9:31 PM EST

In this story:

CINCINNATI — The struggles continue for Cincinnati outside of Fifth Third Arena as West Virginia upset Wes Miller's team 69-65 at home.

Jesse Edwards (25 points, 10 rebounds) rumbled and willed his way to a great game with a parade of free throws (3-of-9 FTs) and clutch shooting following him from WVU's rotation.

Cincinnati continues to struggle shooting the three ball (9-of-32) and had no one take the scoring mantle down the final five minutes to overcome a great finish from the Mountaineers.

WVU is now 11-10 all-time against Cincinnati, with the Bearcats returning to a trepidatious spot on the NCAA Tournament bubble following this Quad 3 loss (3-0 in Q3/4 games this season entering WVU matchup).

Double-Digit Run Burns Bearcats Down Stretch

Cincinnati crumbled over the final six minutes of the game, giving up a 16-3 scoring run that ultimately sealed their fate in what could end up a fulcrum blow for their NCAA Tournament hopes when all is said and done.

They led this game 60-51 with 6:16 left...No dice.

The closer problem popped up again for this team as things slowed down in the final minutes and no one could wrestle control of the consistent scoring torch. Cincinnati continues to shoot poorly from deep and that bit them down the stretch, despite making eight threes in the second half.

It was arguably Viktor Lakhin's (zero points, three rebounds in 18 minutes) worst game as a Bearcat, hoisting a brutal missed three in the last minute with the score tight. That moved his deep shooting average below 30% on the season (0-of-4 on Wednesday). It wasn't just Lakhin, UC didn't hit the rim on its final two threes after that with the game still in question.

It's so hard to win in modern college basketball shooting 28.3% in conference play from deep. That's essentially what Cincinnati hit on Wednesday and has done since opening against BYU. Rock fights where you have no closer is not how this team can survive in the Big 12.

They suffered a brutal blow in that war on Wednesday.

Defense Keeps Traveling...Outside The Paint

The Bearcats' tenacious man-to-man defense was great again as they've still only allowed 70 points in conference play twice. The point of attack forced a ton of offense to go through the recovering big man in Edwards (STATS).

It started right from the jump and resulted in their first halftime lead in Big 12 play, but Edwards was resilient.

He put up a valiant effort with Cincinnati limiting other options like leading-scorer RaeQuan Battle (10 points) by getting him into foul trouble. Aziz Bandaogo (four points, nine rebounds) did his best on Edwards. He was the Mountaineers' most efficient player coming into and throughout this contest.

Edwards was a mountainous force at home, posting a game-high 27-efficiency score.

John Newman III Have A Day

Cincinnati's veteran leader was the best offensive player UC rolled out on Wednesday as John Newman III (nine points, six rebounds, two assists) showed great toughness on the road to be a Swiss Army Knife.

Newman did it all on offense, hitting jumpers, getting to the rim, and the foul line while using that success to find teammates on another tough offensive night overall for Cincinnati. He didn't have a crazy impressive stat line overall, but possession to possession no Bearcat was more important, especially in a first half where Cincinnati went 1-of-10 from three. Newman honestly should've gotten more than five shots in this one.

He's been the lifeblood of this season and arguably the most consistent on his final run as a college player. Newman led all Bearcats in efficiency (15) and they needed every one of those minutes. Unfortunately, he got hit in the left abdomen area down the stretch and missed the closing plays of the loss.

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