Three Man Weave: UC Falls 74-68 To Utah Valley In NIT Quarterfinals

Cincinnati shot under 35% from the field in a bumping environment.

CINCINNATI — UC men's basketball saw its season end in a 74-68 loss to Utah Valley Wednesday in the NIT Quarterfinals.

Breaking news: you have to make some open shots to win college basketball games. 

Cincinnati didn't do much of that on Wednesday, hitting 34.2% of 79 field goal tries. Landers Nolley II (23 points, 7 rebounds) and David DeJulius (19 points, 4 assists) posted nice raw numbers but went a combined 16-of-49 from the field.

UVU took 29 free throws in front of a raucous home crowd, it brought physicality from start to finish. Four Wolverines scored at least 12 points, led by Trey Woodbury (17 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds).

Here's the Three Man Weave on Cincinnati's second all-time meeting against Utah Valley.

Major Misses

Cincinnati stayed within striking distance against UVU because of an 18-10 offensive rebounding advantage, but outside of that, the Wolverines showed why they were favored slightly at tipoff.

No one outside of Nolley (5-of-11 threes, 96 this season marks fourth most in one season by UC player) could get anything going from outside as the team went 6-of-25 total. It put a ton of pressure on Viktor Lakhin (10 points, 10 rebounds, fouled out), who went under 50% from the field for just the eighth time this season.

DeJulius goes down as one of the more beloved Bearcats this century, but he couldn't hit anything beyond the arc this postseason. 

Since going 2-of-4 against SMU, the guard hit 1 of his final 22 three-point attempts.

No one shot well in the face of a long, connected Wolverines' defense. Kalu Ezikpe went 2-of-2, but other role players like Mika Adams-Woods (1-of-5 FGs) and Jeremiah Davenport (0-of-6) didn't make much of an offensive impact.

Blocking Bandaogo

Utah Valley plucked forward Aziz Bandaogo (15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks) in the transfer portal from Akron last offseason, and he's had a major impact. That culminated in front of a raucous home crowd in Orem, Utah.

The thin 7-footer probed and clamped UC's offense all night long. He was a rebounding menace on both ends. Plus, his defense stayed under control as he picked up just 2 fouls.

From punishing slams to swatted shots, Bandaogo affected the game start to finish. He added two assists to round out a nasty 24-efficiency mark, easily the highest in the game.

His plus-8 +/- also led the game, as did an 88 defensive rating. 

Bandaogo drove the Wolverines' win on Wednesday night.

DeJulius Hangs It Up

DDJ struggled from deep in recent games, but it doesn't stain his overall impact as a UC player and ambassador over the past few years.

"When it ends, you don't dwell at that point," UC head coach Wes Miller said after the loss. "Immediately, my mentality goes to appreciating these guys and this team. It wasn't an easy year. Did we want more? Sure. Did we want it to end tonight? No. But I'm really proud of how this team kept responding and kept coming, winning 23 games and being one of the last 20 teams playing in the country. You think about guys who don't have any eligibility left, including the man to my left, David DeJulius, and what he has meant to me, this program, and our coaching staff, I don't really have the words, and if I try to now, I'll get choked up and emotional. Watching him grow as a young man and leader, we wouldn't be sitting here without him."

DeJulius has offered his time and hard work to the UC community for three years and stuck through a tumultuous coaching change to come out as a strong team leader on the other side.

He cements his career as the second-most prolific assist artist during any Bearcats season (192), trailing Oscar Robertson's two seasons in the 200s. On top of that, he's 35th all-time with 1,187 career points at UC.

The postseason success never happened for the DeJulius-led Bearcats, but he left the program in a much better place than he could've in 2021.

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