TicketsCINCINNATI – Simas Lukosius' season-high 15 points, on 5-of-8 deep shooting, helped lift Cincinnati past an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Evansville, 76-58, Friday night in its non-conference finale.
Five Bearcats scored in double-figures, with John Newman III pacing the team with 16. Viktor Lakhin (14), Day Day Thomas and Dan Skillings Jr. (10) joined Lukosius in that column.
The battle of 10-2 teams saw Cincinnati claim its first 11-2 non-conference slate since 2018-19.
Cincinnati's 8-0 run early in the second half brought it within 42-40 and forced an Evansville timeout at 18:22. Josh Reed's 3-pointer at 11:35 extended the second-half run to 25-6 with a 57-46 lead. Evansville, which shot 58 percent in the first half, opened by missing 13 of its first 14 attempts and went 6-for-27 (22 percent) for the whole period.
The Purple Aces never got within single-digits the rest of the way.
John Newman III's seven points and three assists by the under-12 timeout were both game-highs to that point, and UC held an 18-16 lead.
There were nine lead changes in the first half, with a 10-0 Evansville run helping the Purple Aces to an eventual 40-32 halftime lead.
FROM WES MILLER
"I certainly am pleased with the second half. If we play with that type of defensive activity, energy and intention, we have a chance to be a competitive team in our league. We have to decide that we're going to be that way every night for 40 minutes. I think when this team makes that conscious decision that that's the most important thing for our team to figure out, then we are going to be good. We can't be a light switch team. We can't be a team that turns it on and turns it off, and in the first half the light switch wasn't on and that was really disappointing.
"I am glad that we responded in the second half and found a way to win the game. We have to decide that we're going to be the way we were in that second half every second of every possession. If we play like that in the league we are going into and the games we are about to start playing, it will give us a chance. That doesn't mean that we're going to win, but that's going to give us a dang chance. If we play the way we did in the first half, it doesn't matter who we play against, we're not going to have a chance. I'm pleased that we responded in the second half. There's a lot of things that were positive there, but I'm really disappointed in how we played in the first half."
NOTABLE
-Jamille Reynolds earned his first start of the season in his fourth game. He had 11 starts at Temple last year and 13 for UCF in 2020-21.
-It was Cincinnati's first home halftime deficit of the season, snapping a nine-game streak there.
-Viktor Lakhin scored in double-figures for the third-straight game and team-best ninth time.
-Simas Lukosius is 11-for-19 from deep in his last three games.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati opens Big 12 play next Saturday, Jan. 6, at BYU (10 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
Five Bearcats scored in double-figures, with John Newman III pacing the team with 16. Viktor Lakhin (14), Day Day Thomas and Dan Skillings Jr. (10) joined Lukosius in that column.
The battle of 10-2 teams saw Cincinnati claim its first 11-2 non-conference slate since 2018-19.
Cincinnati's 8-0 run early in the second half brought it within 42-40 and forced an Evansville timeout at 18:22. Josh Reed's 3-pointer at 11:35 extended the second-half run to 25-6 with a 57-46 lead. Evansville, which shot 58 percent in the first half, opened by missing 13 of its first 14 attempts and went 6-for-27 (22 percent) for the whole period.
The Purple Aces never got within single-digits the rest of the way.
John Newman III's seven points and three assists by the under-12 timeout were both game-highs to that point, and UC held an 18-16 lead.
There were nine lead changes in the first half, with a 10-0 Evansville run helping the Purple Aces to an eventual 40-32 halftime lead.
FROM WES MILLER
"I certainly am pleased with the second half. If we play with that type of defensive activity, energy and intention, we have a chance to be a competitive team in our league. We have to decide that we're going to be that way every night for 40 minutes. I think when this team makes that conscious decision that that's the most important thing for our team to figure out, then we are going to be good. We can't be a light switch team. We can't be a team that turns it on and turns it off, and in the first half the light switch wasn't on and that was really disappointing.
"I am glad that we responded in the second half and found a way to win the game. We have to decide that we're going to be the way we were in that second half every second of every possession. If we play like that in the league we are going into and the games we are about to start playing, it will give us a chance. That doesn't mean that we're going to win, but that's going to give us a dang chance. If we play the way we did in the first half, it doesn't matter who we play against, we're not going to have a chance. I'm pleased that we responded in the second half. There's a lot of things that were positive there, but I'm really disappointed in how we played in the first half."
NOTABLE
-Jamille Reynolds earned his first start of the season in his fourth game. He had 11 starts at Temple last year and 13 for UCF in 2020-21.
-It was Cincinnati's first home halftime deficit of the season, snapping a nine-game streak there.
-Viktor Lakhin scored in double-figures for the third-straight game and team-best ninth time.
-Simas Lukosius is 11-for-19 from deep in his last three games.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati opens Big 12 play next Saturday, Jan. 6, at BYU (10 p.m. ET on ESPN2).