TicketsCINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati men's basketball team will look to build off Saturday's thrilling victory when it travels to former Big East rival West Virginia on Wednesday night (7 p.m.).
THE RUNDOWN
THE RUNDOWN
- Cincinnati led 13-4 to start, then fell behind 12 at the half before winning 68-57 over UCF on Saturday night. Each of its last four wins have been double-digit comebacks. UC has seven in Wes Miller's three years, with three coming against ranked teams.
- Cincinnati held UCF to just 18 points in the second half on 21 percent shooting, its best defensive showing in any Big 12 half, while going from 33.3 to 63.6 percent on its offensive end.
- The Bearcats lead the Big 12 and rank seventh nationally with a 10.0 rebound margin. They have lost the glass only twice all season (TCU, Oklahoma) before responding with 40-29 at Kansas and 39-29 against UCF. By comparison, UC was 101 last year (2.6) and 211 in 2021-22 (-0.3).
- Viktor Lakhin with 24-straight starts, was a tip-off scratch due to illness against UCF. His 12.7 ppg and 7.5 rpg both lead the team. Ody Oguama, who did not play the previous two games and had not played more than 5 minutes since Dec. 22, gave the Bearcats four points and six rebounds in 11 minutes.
- The late switch led to Cincinnati winning with its seventh-different lineup this year, one of eight teams nationally to do so.
- Dan Skillings Jr. rose to the occasion with 21 points on his 21st birthday. It was his fourth 20-point game of the season and second in Big 12 play. Cincinnati is 14-2 in the sophomore's career when he scores in double-figures, including 10-2 this year. Since a season-low one point against Oklahoma, he has responded with team-highs of 16 at No. 7 Kansas and the aforementioned 21 against UCF.
- John Newman III is averaging 16.0 ppg on 59 percent shooting over the last four games, the second time in his career he has scored in double-figures four-straight games. He also went a season-high 35 minutes, continuing his persona as the heart and soul of the Bearcats. It prompted Wes Miller to say postgame "I thought he was an absolute warrior. This will be a game in which I tell stories about John Newman years from now." Newman's 51.0 FG% is a 10.6 percent increase from his last season, 2021-22.
- After 3-straight games under 60 percent at the foul line, the Bearcats went 18-for-23 at Kansas (78 percent) and made their final 5 to close out UCF. Over the last four games, UC is averaging 22.8 foul shots per game, compared to 16.8 by opponents.
- The schools are most known in the hoops circles as the shared home of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Huggins, who coached the Bearcats during a memorable 1989-2005 run and leading his alma mater Mountaineers from 2007-23.
- The Bearcats went to 14 NCAA Tournaments during his 16 years, reaching the 1992 Final Four and No. 1 in the country during the 1999-00 season.
- WVU assistant coach DerMarr Johnson was the sixth-overall pick out of UC as a freshman in 2000 and served on Wes Miller's staff his first two years. He joined the WVU staff in January 2023 when one of the main assistant jobs opened.
- These two teams were Big East rivals from 2005-12 as well before the Mountaineers joined the Big 12.
- Cincinnati saw WVU guard Kerr Kriisa while he was with Arizona last year at the Maui Invitational.
- The all-time series is 10-10, with WVU winning the last four.
- UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins had a lot to say about the sophomore Skillings following his 21-point performance against the Knights on Jan. 27.
- "I have watched the young man get better and better over the last year. You see improvement, that is what you want to see, that is what we kind of grew up with as coaches and players, is watching a natural progression of a player like him. It is fun seeing him develop and blossom, I think his best basketball is still ahead of him. I see a lot of things this young man will be able to do as he continues to improve his game. The Cincinnati coaching staff is doing a great job with his development, and you see that."