Three Man Weave: Texas Steals Tight Game Against Cincinnati 74-73

The Bearcats fell on a last second shot by Max Abmas.

CINCINNATI — An exciting game ended in heartbreak for Cincinnati as the team fell to Texas 74-73.

It was a battle of the bigs as Viktor Lakhin (17 points, four rebounds) and Dylan Disu (career-high 33 points, six rebounds) battled back and forth in another game where UC couldn't contain one of the top players on the opposing team. Texas shot 50.9% from the field as three players drove almost all of the scoring.

The tight contest was Cincinnati's first clutch-time game since the loss to Xavier, and are now 1-2 in those games this season with a trip to No. 14 Baylor up next weekend.

Disu Dices

The Texas big man was a dynamic, bruising force on Tuesday night as he carried the Longhorns throughout much of the game. It all started with his nasty left-to-right driving angles and soft touch around the rim.

Pair that with a nice outside shot from the wing that he used more in this game, and you get a dangerous volume scorer that UC couldn't guard 1-on-1. Disu has missed multiple games this season due to injury, and he appears to be finding peak form again after shooting 61% from the field last season.

He added a nasty presence on the glass that helped Texas keep pace with Cincinnati on that front and gave an efficient offense more chances for road buckets. The senior was a huge reason the underdogs kept things very interesting on Tuesday and ultimately won, finishing with a game-high 31 efficiency score.

Simas Strikes Timely, Free Throws Bite

Cincinnati needed someone to strike consistently from outside with Lakhin and Disu batling. Simas Lukošius (19 points, four assists) answered that call with some fantastic shotmaking off nice screens. He cemented it with an isolation fadeaway bucket in the final minute. A work of art.

A few of those came from Lakhin as UC did a solid job creating good deep looks in a game where they shot 41.2% from deep overall. The Lithuanian was a sniper though, shooting an efficient 7-of-10 from the field while posting a nasty 142.8 offensive rating.

He did mix in three turnovers, but Lukosius was a strong offense setter despite that, as he continues to look better and better following a non-conference slate full of injuries.

Free throws were arguably the difference in this game and will likely be huge throughout conference play as Cincinnati shot just 8-of-15 from the line, including a front-end miss on a 1-and-1 from John Newman III in the final seconds.

UC entered Tuesday ranked 247th nationally in free throw percentage (69.3%).

That part of the game really helped Cincinnati against BYU, but it cannot disappear for full games like it did on Tuesday.

Lakhin Sets Tone

Lakhin was fantastic from the tip as he scored seven of the team's first nine points and really owned the top-scoring option label in the Big 12 opener.

It was an offensive showcase of all his tools, from the back-to-basket hook shots, to the added three-point jumper. The Russian was ready to start and stay aggressive in front of a packed UC-striped crowd.

It wasn't all shot-making from the big fella as he put up a multi-steal/block outing and was an aggressive rebounder throughout the day. Not many Bearcats shot well on Tuesday. Day Day Thomas and other non-Lakhin players could not consistently score in the paint. It made Lakhin's impact even more necessary as he's now scored 34 points over the past two games.

Jamille Reynolds (11 points) needs a shout-out as well, with his own deft post-game showing through in the second half to spark a raucous crowd into action. He was 5-of-6 from the field and brought a nice physicality on a night when Texas brought it to Aziz Bandaogo a bit.

Cincinnati's defined by its depth, but Lakhin is proving he can be the spearhead for offensive success.

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