TicketsHOUSTON – Cincinnati's shots did not fall early, and No. 1 Houston was able to fight through its own 30.3 percent shooting first half to hold off the Bearcats, 67-59, on Tuesday night.
Cincinnati won the glass 42-30 after the Cougars won it by seven in the last meeting, a rare stat given UC's season-long stay in the top-10 nationally for rebounding. Aziz Bandaogo established a presence with three blocks, while Viktor Lakhin had 11 points and a team-high nine boards in 21 minutes as he made his emergence back into the rotation.
Five-straight points by Jizzle James made it a 47-35 difference with nine minutes left, and John Newman III connected from deep to bring it to 47-38 with a Houston timeout at 8:27. Lakhin's quick post-up on a Simas Lukosius assist brought UC within 60-52 at 1:43, the smallest deficit of the half, and a half-court steal and layup by Dan Skillings Jr. shortened it to 60-54.
Lukosius' triple from the wing made it a 30-21 deficit with 18:15 left, but Bandaoago was called for a box-out flagrant foul that flipped the game back to the Cougars with eight-straight points.
Cincinnati fought through a 14-2 deficit to score seven-straight points into the 7:32 media timeout, trailing 16-11. Houston had missed 10 of its last 11 shots by that time.
Day Day Thomas' short jumper with seven seconds left in the half was negated by Houston's buzzer-beating trey that gave it a 26-17 lead.
Cincinnati was 25.9 percent in the first half compared to the Cougars' 30.3, and both teams were north of 50 percent in their respective second halves.
FROM WES MILLER
"Obviously, (committing) 19 turnovers isn't gonna cut it when you're going against a team of that caliber. We definitely have to take better care of the basketball. They force turnovers a lot. Those are not always unforced, so give credit to them there. I thought early on, we came out with a lot of pop. There was just a lid on the basket. I've coached against Houston now three years, and it's hard to get quality shots, but we did that today and just couldn't make them. If you don't make those, you'll get in a hole."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati plays its penultimate home game Saturday night against Kansas State (7 p.m. ET).
Cincinnati won the glass 42-30 after the Cougars won it by seven in the last meeting, a rare stat given UC's season-long stay in the top-10 nationally for rebounding. Aziz Bandaogo established a presence with three blocks, while Viktor Lakhin had 11 points and a team-high nine boards in 21 minutes as he made his emergence back into the rotation.
Five-straight points by Jizzle James made it a 47-35 difference with nine minutes left, and John Newman III connected from deep to bring it to 47-38 with a Houston timeout at 8:27. Lakhin's quick post-up on a Simas Lukosius assist brought UC within 60-52 at 1:43, the smallest deficit of the half, and a half-court steal and layup by Dan Skillings Jr. shortened it to 60-54.
Lukosius' triple from the wing made it a 30-21 deficit with 18:15 left, but Bandaoago was called for a box-out flagrant foul that flipped the game back to the Cougars with eight-straight points.
Cincinnati fought through a 14-2 deficit to score seven-straight points into the 7:32 media timeout, trailing 16-11. Houston had missed 10 of its last 11 shots by that time.
Day Day Thomas' short jumper with seven seconds left in the half was negated by Houston's buzzer-beating trey that gave it a 26-17 lead.
Cincinnati was 25.9 percent in the first half compared to the Cougars' 30.3, and both teams were north of 50 percent in their respective second halves.
FROM WES MILLER
"Obviously, (committing) 19 turnovers isn't gonna cut it when you're going against a team of that caliber. We definitely have to take better care of the basketball. They force turnovers a lot. Those are not always unforced, so give credit to them there. I thought early on, we came out with a lot of pop. There was just a lid on the basket. I've coached against Houston now three years, and it's hard to get quality shots, but we did that today and just couldn't make them. If you don't make those, you'll get in a hole."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati plays its penultimate home game Saturday night against Kansas State (7 p.m. ET).