TicketsCINCINNATI – Simas Lukosius scored 18 points, while Aziz Bandaogo and Dillon Mitchell led a second-half surge to power the No. 14 Cincinnati men's basketball team to an 84-67 victory over Howard on Sunday at Fifth Third Arena.
Lukosius, a senior wing, made 7 of 10 field goals, including 3 of 6 from deep. He added three steals as the Bearcats moved to 7-1 on the season and the Bison dropped to 3-6. Cincinnati senior Connor Hickman reached 1,000 points for his career in the final minutes. He had 953 at Bradley the last three years.
Bandaogo, a fifth-year center, and Mitchell, a junior forward, combined to score 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting in the second half, as the Bearcats shot 57% in the second half.
Bandaogo's 17 points were his most in two years as a Bearcat, and he went 8-of-10 from the field.
Mitchell, a junior forward, scored 14 points, making 5-of-6 from the field, including several highlight-reel dunks in the second half.
Junior wing Daniel Skillings Jr. returned after missing the last seven games since injuring his knee in the season opener. He entered the game at the 16:44 mark in the first half and finished with two points, three rebounds and three assists over 14 minutes.
Lukosius capped a back-and-forth first half with consecutive 3-pointers, including a corner swish at the buzzer, to give Cincinnati a 36-32 lead at the break.
The Bearcats kept the momentum going in the opening minutes of the second half with an 8-0 run, highlighted by alley-oop dunks from Bandaogo and Mitchell to give UC a 44-32 lead at the 18:11 mark.
A perfect lob by Skillings led to another Mitchell dunk – this time a ferocious one-hander that kept the Bearcats in front by 11, 49-38, at 16:25.
Cincinnati never looked back, running away from the visitors over the final 20 minutes.
Mitchell drilled a 3 from the top of the key to make it 58-43 with 12 minutes left.
Senior guard Day Day Thomas buried two more triples, including one that turned into a four-point play when he was fouled, to give the Bearcats a 68-45 lead midway through the second half.
Howard made four of its first five shot attempts and opened up a 12-8 lead five minutes into the game.
Cincinnati trailed 25-24 with under four minutes left before halftime, but a putback by junior forward Josh Reed followed by a steal and layup by Mitchell lifted the Bearcats to a 28-25 advantage at the 3:30 mark in the first half.
FROM WES MILLER
"First off, I want to say this. It was the second time we played against Howard, Kenny Blakeney's a really good coach. He's a really, really, really good coach. He's a good guy, I've always known that. He's a Duke grad, so that isn't always easy for me to say, and I'm being halfway funny, but he is a really, really, really good basketball coach. He does a terrific job with his team and after playing against their team twice and preparing twice, I have a ton of respect. It's not a secret as to why he's been to the NCAA tournament the last two years. So, first off, hats off to them. I thought they were well prepared. Their movement without the ball can be difficult to deal with, there's no doubt about that, and that gave us some problems there in the first half. Give them credit for giving us a run there for a while.
"I thought in the second half, we made a choice that we were going to try to defend to a standard close to what we expect. I thought good things happened at that point. It was good to see us play well through a stretch and for most of the second half. That's hopefully something we can build off of. I thought through that stretch it was really nice to see Aziz play the right way. I thought he kind of found himself offensively, doing his job, versus, some different ball screen coverages that he's seen. He got switched to Villanova, he was switched again tonight, and I thought that's something he's not used to. I thought he kind of found his rhythm on how to play against them tonight. You look down to eight for 10 and 17 points. So it's pleased there. Jizzle [James] gets the four fouls, that's the least amount of minutes he's played and he got into foul trouble in the four fouls, so I probably should have just played him a little bit through it. But I was making sure, in case they jumped back into the game, that he could finish the game and then, we didn't get him those extended minutes, but that's okay. We know he's going to be playing big minutes all year long, and the rest of the way. It's good to see Dan [Skillings] back out there. I think it was a lift for our team. It's certainly a lift for me. We're a different team with him. We just can do so many different things in terms of putting pressure on the rim, off the bounce, getting to the board, his length and athleticism. It wasn't about how good or bad he played tonight. It was more about just him getting some minutes. I could have played him a little bit more, but he practiced the last two days. He just went three days in a row of live play, and when we kind of felt like the game was at hand, we kind of took that last rotation away that we had planned, and I think big picture that was the right thing to do, even though I know he wanted to go back in the game."
On Dan [Skillings Jr.] returning to the lineup and making an immediate impact
"I said to our staff after practice the last couple of days that you just feel a little different about our team with him out there. There was a play tonight where he goes for a steal and he can't get in the back court, and it turns into a five on four, and he's chasing the guy down from behind. How did that situation ultimately turn into an advantage for the offense? Somehow, he goes all the way down and blocks the shot from behind and it doesn't go out of bounds, and we end up with the loose ball. Dan has the ability to make plays even in bad situations, and he made the mistake and the play in that one but got us an extra possession and kept them from getting a shot. We are a much better team with Dan and we have missed him dearly, and now it's just about getting him back in rhythm and getting his game back. Tonight was a great step in the right direction for him."
Dillon Mitchell on if any player gets the team motivated
"We all kind of have each other's back on everything. I will say one player that really sticks out to me, as far as when we're playing, is CJ Anthony. On the bench and stuff like that he's talking, he's telling us what he sees, he's giving us motivation. I look at CJ Anthony every time there's a timeout or something and I'm making eye contact with him asking him what he sees because I trust his insight, and I think he's really smart IQ wise, even if he's not on the court, he sees it all. So CJ Anthony, I would say, is one player who kind of keeps us on our toes, keeps us motivated, and keeps us ready to go. That's one player, I definitely would say, that sticks out to me."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati welcomes Xavier for the 92nd edition of the Crosstown Shootout. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 2 p.m.
Lukosius, a senior wing, made 7 of 10 field goals, including 3 of 6 from deep. He added three steals as the Bearcats moved to 7-1 on the season and the Bison dropped to 3-6. Cincinnati senior Connor Hickman reached 1,000 points for his career in the final minutes. He had 953 at Bradley the last three years.
Bandaogo, a fifth-year center, and Mitchell, a junior forward, combined to score 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting in the second half, as the Bearcats shot 57% in the second half.
Bandaogo's 17 points were his most in two years as a Bearcat, and he went 8-of-10 from the field.
Mitchell, a junior forward, scored 14 points, making 5-of-6 from the field, including several highlight-reel dunks in the second half.
Junior wing Daniel Skillings Jr. returned after missing the last seven games since injuring his knee in the season opener. He entered the game at the 16:44 mark in the first half and finished with two points, three rebounds and three assists over 14 minutes.
Lukosius capped a back-and-forth first half with consecutive 3-pointers, including a corner swish at the buzzer, to give Cincinnati a 36-32 lead at the break.
The Bearcats kept the momentum going in the opening minutes of the second half with an 8-0 run, highlighted by alley-oop dunks from Bandaogo and Mitchell to give UC a 44-32 lead at the 18:11 mark.
A perfect lob by Skillings led to another Mitchell dunk – this time a ferocious one-hander that kept the Bearcats in front by 11, 49-38, at 16:25.
Cincinnati never looked back, running away from the visitors over the final 20 minutes.
Mitchell drilled a 3 from the top of the key to make it 58-43 with 12 minutes left.
Senior guard Day Day Thomas buried two more triples, including one that turned into a four-point play when he was fouled, to give the Bearcats a 68-45 lead midway through the second half.
Howard made four of its first five shot attempts and opened up a 12-8 lead five minutes into the game.
Cincinnati trailed 25-24 with under four minutes left before halftime, but a putback by junior forward Josh Reed followed by a steal and layup by Mitchell lifted the Bearcats to a 28-25 advantage at the 3:30 mark in the first half.
FROM WES MILLER
"First off, I want to say this. It was the second time we played against Howard, Kenny Blakeney's a really good coach. He's a really, really, really good coach. He's a good guy, I've always known that. He's a Duke grad, so that isn't always easy for me to say, and I'm being halfway funny, but he is a really, really, really good basketball coach. He does a terrific job with his team and after playing against their team twice and preparing twice, I have a ton of respect. It's not a secret as to why he's been to the NCAA tournament the last two years. So, first off, hats off to them. I thought they were well prepared. Their movement without the ball can be difficult to deal with, there's no doubt about that, and that gave us some problems there in the first half. Give them credit for giving us a run there for a while.
"I thought in the second half, we made a choice that we were going to try to defend to a standard close to what we expect. I thought good things happened at that point. It was good to see us play well through a stretch and for most of the second half. That's hopefully something we can build off of. I thought through that stretch it was really nice to see Aziz play the right way. I thought he kind of found himself offensively, doing his job, versus, some different ball screen coverages that he's seen. He got switched to Villanova, he was switched again tonight, and I thought that's something he's not used to. I thought he kind of found his rhythm on how to play against them tonight. You look down to eight for 10 and 17 points. So it's pleased there. Jizzle [James] gets the four fouls, that's the least amount of minutes he's played and he got into foul trouble in the four fouls, so I probably should have just played him a little bit through it. But I was making sure, in case they jumped back into the game, that he could finish the game and then, we didn't get him those extended minutes, but that's okay. We know he's going to be playing big minutes all year long, and the rest of the way. It's good to see Dan [Skillings] back out there. I think it was a lift for our team. It's certainly a lift for me. We're a different team with him. We just can do so many different things in terms of putting pressure on the rim, off the bounce, getting to the board, his length and athleticism. It wasn't about how good or bad he played tonight. It was more about just him getting some minutes. I could have played him a little bit more, but he practiced the last two days. He just went three days in a row of live play, and when we kind of felt like the game was at hand, we kind of took that last rotation away that we had planned, and I think big picture that was the right thing to do, even though I know he wanted to go back in the game."
On Dan [Skillings Jr.] returning to the lineup and making an immediate impact
"I said to our staff after practice the last couple of days that you just feel a little different about our team with him out there. There was a play tonight where he goes for a steal and he can't get in the back court, and it turns into a five on four, and he's chasing the guy down from behind. How did that situation ultimately turn into an advantage for the offense? Somehow, he goes all the way down and blocks the shot from behind and it doesn't go out of bounds, and we end up with the loose ball. Dan has the ability to make plays even in bad situations, and he made the mistake and the play in that one but got us an extra possession and kept them from getting a shot. We are a much better team with Dan and we have missed him dearly, and now it's just about getting him back in rhythm and getting his game back. Tonight was a great step in the right direction for him."
Dillon Mitchell on if any player gets the team motivated
"We all kind of have each other's back on everything. I will say one player that really sticks out to me, as far as when we're playing, is CJ Anthony. On the bench and stuff like that he's talking, he's telling us what he sees, he's giving us motivation. I look at CJ Anthony every time there's a timeout or something and I'm making eye contact with him asking him what he sees because I trust his insight, and I think he's really smart IQ wise, even if he's not on the court, he sees it all. So CJ Anthony, I would say, is one player who kind of keeps us on our toes, keeps us motivated, and keeps us ready to go. That's one player, I definitely would say, that sticks out to me."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati welcomes Xavier for the 92nd edition of the Crosstown Shootout. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 2 p.m.