TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team fell to No. 2-ranked Houston, 72-59, on Sunday at Fifth Third Arena.
Senior guard Mika Adams-Woods turned in a season-best 19 points on 8-of-11 from the field, while redshirt sophomore post Viktor Lakhin tallied 16 points, propelled by 8-10 from the line, against the nation's top-ranked scoring and field-goal percentage defense.
Houston possessed a commanding 26-4 advantage in points off turnovers, forcing UC into 16 miscues during the contest.
The Cougars, who improved 16-1 overall and 4-0 in the American, held a seven-point advantage at halftime and opened the second half on an 11-2 run. Senior guard Landers Nolley II also reached double figures, scoring 12 points, all in the first half, as Cincinnati dropped to 11-6 overall and 2-2 in the AAC. SUMMARY Nolley and Adams-Woods combined to score 24 of UC's 28 first-half points. The duo shot 9-of-13 from the field and made all six of 3-point attempts.
Their hot shooting kept Cincinnati close despite the Bearcats shooting 32 percent overall as a team before the break.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind a 3-pointer by Nolley II and a layup from Adams-Woods.
Houston missed its first five shot attempts before going a on a 10-0 run, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers, to take a 10-5 lead on consecutive layups by J'Wan Roberts.
Nolley's third triple came after a fake pass sent a Houston defender flying past him and his fourth behind-the-arc swish tied the game 18-18 at the 8:40 mark in the first half.
After a 3-pointer by Adams-Woods made the score 22-21, Houston used an 11-2 run to take a 33-23 lead after a trey from Tramon Mark.
Adams-Woods had a contested layup and hit one from behind the arc in the closing minutes of the first half and Lakhin had a tip-in to cut the Bearcats' deficit to 7, 35-28 at the break.
Houston scored the first seven points out of half-time, punctuated by a Jamal Shead 3 and a dunk from Walker to make the score 42-28.
The Cougars extended its lead to 48-30 on another jumper by Shead and a dunk by Ja'Vier Francis as Cincinnati missed its first five field goal attempts of the second half.
Walker had a reverse dunk after a turnover by the Bearcats to put Houston ahead by 20, 54-34, with just under 10 minutes remaining the game.
Cincinnati cut the deficit to 10 later in the game after it made five straight field goals.
Adams-Woods' layup in traffic cut the deficit to 13, 56-43, with seven minutes left, and his 3 seconds later made it 58-46. After forcing Houston into a shot-clock violation, DeJulius found Lakhin for a layup to make the score 58-48 with 5:37 left.
A corner three by Mark and a steal-and-dunk combination from Marcus Sasser put Houston back in front by 13 with just under four minutes left. NOTABLES
UP NEXT Cincinnati will be back in action when the Bearcats host East Carolina on Jan. 11 inside Fifth Third Arena at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Senior guard Mika Adams-Woods turned in a season-best 19 points on 8-of-11 from the field, while redshirt sophomore post Viktor Lakhin tallied 16 points, propelled by 8-10 from the line, against the nation's top-ranked scoring and field-goal percentage defense.
Houston possessed a commanding 26-4 advantage in points off turnovers, forcing UC into 16 miscues during the contest.
The Cougars, who improved 16-1 overall and 4-0 in the American, held a seven-point advantage at halftime and opened the second half on an 11-2 run. Senior guard Landers Nolley II also reached double figures, scoring 12 points, all in the first half, as Cincinnati dropped to 11-6 overall and 2-2 in the AAC. SUMMARY Nolley and Adams-Woods combined to score 24 of UC's 28 first-half points. The duo shot 9-of-13 from the field and made all six of 3-point attempts.
Their hot shooting kept Cincinnati close despite the Bearcats shooting 32 percent overall as a team before the break.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind a 3-pointer by Nolley II and a layup from Adams-Woods.
Houston missed its first five shot attempts before going a on a 10-0 run, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers, to take a 10-5 lead on consecutive layups by J'Wan Roberts.
Nolley's third triple came after a fake pass sent a Houston defender flying past him and his fourth behind-the-arc swish tied the game 18-18 at the 8:40 mark in the first half.
After a 3-pointer by Adams-Woods made the score 22-21, Houston used an 11-2 run to take a 33-23 lead after a trey from Tramon Mark.
Adams-Woods had a contested layup and hit one from behind the arc in the closing minutes of the first half and Lakhin had a tip-in to cut the Bearcats' deficit to 7, 35-28 at the break.
Houston scored the first seven points out of half-time, punctuated by a Jamal Shead 3 and a dunk from Walker to make the score 42-28.
The Cougars extended its lead to 48-30 on another jumper by Shead and a dunk by Ja'Vier Francis as Cincinnati missed its first five field goal attempts of the second half.
Walker had a reverse dunk after a turnover by the Bearcats to put Houston ahead by 20, 54-34, with just under 10 minutes remaining the game.
Cincinnati cut the deficit to 10 later in the game after it made five straight field goals.
Adams-Woods' layup in traffic cut the deficit to 13, 56-43, with seven minutes left, and his 3 seconds later made it 58-46. After forcing Houston into a shot-clock violation, DeJulius found Lakhin for a layup to make the score 58-48 with 5:37 left.
A corner three by Mark and a steal-and-dunk combination from Marcus Sasser put Houston back in front by 13 with just under four minutes left. NOTABLES
- Nolley recorded his 13th double-figure scoring game of the season and 72nd of his career.
- Adams-Woods tallied his 11th double-figure scoring game of the season and 41st of his career.
- Lakhin recorded his 13th consecutive double-figure scoring game and made a career-high eight throws.
UP NEXT Cincinnati will be back in action when the Bearcats host East Carolina on Jan. 11 inside Fifth Third Arena at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2.