Three Man Weave: Cincinnati Suffers First Losing Blow of Season Against Villanova

The offense did not show up on the road.

Dec 3, 2024; Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA; Villanova Wildcats guard Jhamir Brickus (2) drives against Cincinnati Bearcats guard Day Day Thomas (1) in the first half at William B. Finneran Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images / Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats took an upset loss at the hands of Villanova 68-60 on Tuesday to halt the 6-0 momentum early in this season.

The Wildcats were the best team Cincinnati's played so far this season and it looked like it with high-powered scorer Eric Dixon (31 points, six rebounds) blowing the game open along with some efficient performances around him.

"I haven't really felt like we've had the same edge over the last week," Miller said during his 700 WLW radio interview about the performance and recent practices. "Certainly you guys all heard my press conference, our radio show after our game against Alabama State. I'm not saying they were turds or anything the last couple days, but I don't feel the same urgency to be great. And again, I'm not blaming any individuals. I'm looking at the mirror myself first, what do I got to do to get that out of them better? That'll be the first question I ask. I think everything you go through if you can find a way to learn from it and grow from it. it can be helpful."

The Bearcats shot abysmally from the floor (38.3%, season low) and never led again after scoring first to open the game. The 14th-ranked UC squad licks its wounds before a Sunday home bout against Howard.

Absent Offense

Jizzle James (19 points, four rebounds, five assists) was the only Bearcat able to hunt buckets consistently against Villanova's tricky defense. Even when Cincinnati got some open shots, they didn't fall often.

UC entered the game No. 1 nationally with a 53.6% field goal rate, and that took a massive ding inside the first truly hostile road environment they've faced this season. The offense seemed to paralyze in the face of consistent athletic pressure from all five positions.

Cincinnati had a season-low 10 assists on the night and couldn't get leading scorer Simas Lukošius (13 points, 3-9 from deep) going enough to fight for a tight finish. It was shocking to see how poorly this team moved the ball after dicing teams up for 19 assists per game entering the outing (16th nationally).

"They forced us into some really stagnant possessions," Miller said about the offense. "They also played a very deliberate style of basketball tonight. They walked it up the floor. They stood around for ten seconds, and I thought that made us very casual on the first half, especially the first you know 10-12 minutes of the game, just trying to get us in the timeout to be more alert. I felt like we didn't call out the ball screen coverage at the correct time and the correct way. I mean they were just, guys the errors in the first half were mind-numbing."

Maybe it was just a cold night—given those missed open looks—but it was a chance to prove this offense can continue motoring along without Dan Skillings Jr., and they missed the opportunity. Only Dillon Mitchell (131.8) had an offensive rating higher than 109.8.

Missing Free Throws

Cincinnati hasn't been able to get many easy points at the free throw line this season, entering 351st nationally in attempts per game (13.7). That continued against a disciplined Villanova defense to detrimental effect (6-11 from the line).

Skillings' return will help the Bearcats get downhill more, but the heightened athleticism Villanova brought to the tablemade things difficult on the road. UC did not attempt a free throw in a stagnant offensive first half.

Aziz Bandaogo (three points, five rebounds) and UC's frontcourt were not very physical in this game, and it left them uber-reliant on their jump shot execution. The evening marked Cincinnati's sixth consecutive game taking less than 16 free throws.

On the other side, Villanova went 14-17 from the stripe and had a nasty defensive night from Enoch Boakye (four blocks) to deny a lot of entries down low. The Wildcats tallied six blocks to Cincinnati's zero on the night.

Dixon Dices

The Bearcats played tight defense when Dixon had the ball on Tuesday night, but he had it far too often. It resulted in a slow, overwhelming barrage and another 25-plus point performance, something he's done in every game this season.

He ate Cincinnati alive on the low block during a struggling night for him from outside (3-7). UC did a nice job getting in his face and disrupting shots, but he's a dominant player, and when they get the ball, things eventually go south.

"We did double him some frankly, four possessions that I can think of, clearly," Miller said. "One of them was successful. One of them while we were going to double, he dribbled it off his foot, and AP (Arrinten Page) got the steal. And two of them were bad. And everybody that plays him's got to make those decisions. And if there was a really easy solution at this point in his career, then you'd see it every night, you don't. So I appreciate the question. I'm not mad. We spent a lot of dang time trying to figure that out and we tried to mix it a little bit tonight."

The 6-8 bruiser entered the game second in the nation in scoring average and showed why all evening. The efficiency was tough against Cincinnati's stout unit coming in, but the talent oozed through. Mix in a strong showing-up top from lead guard Jahmir Brickus (13 points, nine assists) and you get the first loss of the season for UC.

They still haven't proved much after playing the 338th-ranked schedule entering this game and won't get another road opportunity until conference play at the end of the month.

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