Men's Basketball Hosts NKU on Sunday

CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati men's basketball team will look to continue its winning ways Sunday afternoon when it hosts Northern Kentucky at 2 p.m.

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THE RUNDOWN

• UC has boasted 14 double-figure scoring performances in its first three games, a democratic effort that includes freshman Jizzle James posting 13 in each of the last two games. After six turnovers his first two outings, he had none in 16 minutes against EWU.
• Viktor Lakhin's career-high 26 points on Sunday also included his ninth-career double-double with 11 boards. His two threes late helped showcase the preseason hype of his expanded shooting game. Lakhin had only three triples in his whole career prior (3-for-11 from 2021-23).
• Lakhin's 26 marked the most by a UC post player since Kyle Washington's 27 against UConn on Feb. 4, 2017. It was also his third 20-point game, with the other two coming last year over a four-game span against Memphis and UCF. He got injured against Tulane after UCF and played hurt the rest of the year.
• Day Day Thomas is the only Bearcat with double-figure scoring outputs in each of the first three games. He also had seven steals the first two contests, then had a season-high five assists against EWU.
• Cincinnati, playing against a defending conference champ for the second-straight game, is seeking its second 4-0 start of the last three years under Wes Miller.
• Each contest this year has featured at least one reserve with a notable performance. CJ Fredrick connected on three of his first four deep attempts against UIC, complementing Dan Skillings' 13-point, 8-rebound performance. Josh Reed had a career-high 12 rebounds against Detroit Mercy, with three other reserves scoring 10 or more. James and Simas Lukošius combined for 24 against EWU.
• Lukošius, who started the opener, has bounced back well from that 2-for-11 shooting night. He has averaged 10.5 ppg on 50 percent shooting with nine assists and two turnovers since.
• All three of UC's wins have followed a familar script: winning the stat sheet for shooting, rebounding, turnovers and bench points, while also leading at the half.
• Cincinnati's 31 free-throw attempts against EWU were its most in the Miller era.
• The 16 treys against Detroit Mercy mean five of the top-nine games for made threes have come under Miller.

SERIES HISTORY

• This is the 10th all-time meeting between the teams and the second installment of a 2-for-1 series that NKU hosts twice, per an agreement on UC's arena rental of the 2017-18 season.
• NKU was UC's home base for the 2017-18 season, where its eventual No. 5 ranking became its highest since 2000.
• UC went 15-1 in what was then BB&T Arena, drawing 8,911 for its Senior Day against Tulsa.
• The 2018 meeting in the newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena marked the first campus matchup in the series.
• Cincinnati's second-half shooting struggles were the final blow after holding a 40-36 halftime lead. Viktor Lakhin had eight points in seven minutes (foul trouble) to lead the first-half play.
• NKU gained its first double-digit lead with seven minutes to go, making for an insurmountable deficit.