TicketsCINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati men's basketball team opens its fourth season under head coach Wes Miller when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7 p.m. on Monday night.
THE RUNDOWN
THE RUNDOWN
- Cincinnati is 20th in the preseason AP poll, its first time entering the season ranked since 2017-18. Its last time ranked overall came in 2018-19, which was also the last year it made the NCAA Tournament.
- Cincinnati enters the upcoming season with its deepest roster to date under Wes Miller, as the Bearcats returned six of its top eight scorers (69.9 percent of its points from last year, second in the Big 12).
- The Bearcats posted four ranked wins (@ BYU, TCU, @ Texas Tech, vs. Kansas) and led the Big 12 in rebounding margin at 7.2, which ranked 16th nationally.
- Cincinnati has won each of its three season openers under Wes Miller, all at home. It was 69-58 over UIC last year, 98-55 over Chaminade in 2022 and 65-43 over Evansville to begin the Miller era in 2021.
- Dan Skillings Jr. was UC's leading scorer last year at 12.9 ppg, which included eight-straight double-figure games to close it out. His 25 in the blowout of Kansas at the Big 12 Tournament was his most in a league game, besting his 24 at Baylor and 21 against UCF, the latter on his 21st birthday.
- Aziz Bandaogo, who like Skillings was Big 12 Honorable Mention, missed the first four games last year due to the NCAA transfer waiver process and averaged 6.6 ppg and 7.4 rpg. He even had four blocks against No. 14 Baylor in the Big 12 Quarterfinals as part of a three-game sequence that included 10 swats.
- Day Day Thomas was the third-leading scorer at 10.4 ppg while posting team-highs of 3.3 apg and 1.7 spg. His 61 steals overall were the most by a Bearcat since Cashmere Wright in 2011-12. He exploded for 29 points on 7-of-10 three-point shooting against WVU to open Big 12 Tourney play, but suffered a season-ending broken foot in overtime of the NIT opener. He recovered by the start of summer workouts.
- Jizzle James took over in his absence at the starting point guard spot and scored 25 and 21 points in consecutive games to finish the season. His defense grew exponentially as the year progressed, and Wes Miller remarked in the preseason that in his 14 years as a head coach, he never saw a freshman with his daily work ethic than Jizzle showed.
- Simas Lukosius battled numerous minor injuries in non-conference play but showcased his true form down the stretch, notching game-winners at No. 15 Texas Tech and against Kansas State and San Francisco. He was second to Skillings at 11.8 ppg, which included averaging 16.9 on 41.6 percent 3-point shooting in March, en route to scoring his 1,000th point in the finale.
- The returners are complemented by a standout transfer class that includes Connor Hickman (senior, Bradley), Dillon Mitchell (junior, Texas) and Arrinten Page (sophomore, USC).
- Hickman played for third-year Cincinnati assistant coach Drew Adams at Bradley as a freshman, and he averaged 14.5 ppg with 91 assists and a 40.2 percent clip from deep as a junior.
- Mitchell, a former McDonald's All-American, started 71 games over his two years at Texas, a proven Big 12 standout who had a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds against national champion UConn last year. He started the lone meeting between the Bearcats and Longhorns last year, going 4-for-6 from the field (10 points) with four rebounds over 37 minutes.
- Page was recruited as hard as anyone by the Cincinnati coaching staff as a high schooler in Atlanta, but he ultimately went to USC before choosing the Bearcats out of the portal. His freshman season saw him start four games (three in Pac-12 play), and he will complement Aziz Bandaogo well in the post.
- Cincinnati has won all five meetings, which began in 2008 and most recently came in 2018, the inaugural year of the renovated Fifth Third Arena.
- The Bearcats shot a school record 59 free-throw attempts in a 99-50 win over the Golden Lions in 2015, making 41 of them (one off the record).
- UAPB forward Dennis Asoro is a Columbus native who started his career at Hocking Community College.