TicketsCINCINNATI – Led by 18 points from Jizzle James and several defensive stops in the final minutes, the Cincinnati men's basketball held on for a 69-67 victory over Baylor on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena.
James led four Bearcats in double figures with Dillon Mitchell contributing 13 points and nine rebounds, junior forward Josh Reed scoring 11 and senior guard Day Day Thomas finishing with 10 points and three steals.
The Bearcats improved to 17-11 and 7-10 in the Big 12, avenging a 68-48 loss at Baylor last month.
The Bears dropped to 16-12 and 8-9 in the conference.
Cincinnati used a 22-4 run to end the first half to take a 39-26 lead at halftime.
Baylor fought back behind a flurry of 3-pointers from star freshman guard V.J. Edgecombe and led by 1, 57-56, with eight minutes left in the game.
The Bearcats weathered the storm and fought right back, answering with a 7-0 run.
After a Lukosius triple put UC up by seven, Baylor scored five straight with Jayden's Nunn's 3 making the score 66-64 at the 3:13 mark.
Thomas buried a triple to put Cincinnati up 69-64 with 1:30 left.
Edgecombe drilled a second-chance trey less than a minute later to bring Baylor within 69-67 and 50 seconds remaining.
Baylor had the ball with a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but senior center Aziz Bandaogo stood tall and forced a miss with Thomas diving on the floor to secure the rebound with 1.8 seconds left.
FROM WES MILLER
It was a big time win for us, and I'm proud of our kids. I was really pleased with our playing there in the last seven minutes of the first half. That's the level that we can play consistently. Our defense was active. We were getting deflections and steals. Our offense kind of found some rhythm moving the ball and getting more quality shots versus switching and I was really pleased with that. We didn't play our best basketball there in the second half. Give Baylor some credit, and I didn't like us defensively. We stagnated a little bit offensively. The part I'm the most proud of is we've had moments like that this year, and we've let it affect us and our teams growing a lot like it didn't affect us like that. Our team's getting more vocal amongst each other, which I think is a sign of a team growing like they're talking about it. You enter a time-out, and we talk for a second as assistance and enter the timeout. They talk about how we got to pick up our energy, how we got to pick up our activity, and how we got to defend. I thought that was a really good sign.
"The thing I'm most proud of is that it wasn't going our way there in the second half...Day Day [Thomas] the play he dribbles it off his foot, he was down, and you can see it on his face. He wants it as bad as anybody I've coached. He knows that was a big play. Then he comes back the next time and makes the biggest three of the game. Then he gets the deflection and the loose ball."
Jizzle James on the team's status
"I think the confidence is high. We're just stacking games, stacking days in practice, and it leads into wins on the court. We're glad to see it all paying off and we're having fun. We're having fun playing basketball as a team and seeing everybody get the love they deserve. We're showing everybody like we belong here."
Day Day Thomas on locking in after making a mistake
"It is all about having a next play mentality. You can't worry about that play, and you have to move on to the next play. I try to just shoot with confidence. I work on my shot every day, so it is just about trusting my work."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati travels to Houston on Saturday to face the No. 4-ranked and Big 12-leading Cougars at 4:30 p.m. on CBS. The Bearcats return home to host Kansas State next Wednesday, March 5, for Senior Day at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
James led four Bearcats in double figures with Dillon Mitchell contributing 13 points and nine rebounds, junior forward Josh Reed scoring 11 and senior guard Day Day Thomas finishing with 10 points and three steals.
The Bearcats improved to 17-11 and 7-10 in the Big 12, avenging a 68-48 loss at Baylor last month.
The Bears dropped to 16-12 and 8-9 in the conference.
Cincinnati used a 22-4 run to end the first half to take a 39-26 lead at halftime.
Baylor fought back behind a flurry of 3-pointers from star freshman guard V.J. Edgecombe and led by 1, 57-56, with eight minutes left in the game.
The Bearcats weathered the storm and fought right back, answering with a 7-0 run.
After a Lukosius triple put UC up by seven, Baylor scored five straight with Jayden's Nunn's 3 making the score 66-64 at the 3:13 mark.
Thomas buried a triple to put Cincinnati up 69-64 with 1:30 left.
Edgecombe drilled a second-chance trey less than a minute later to bring Baylor within 69-67 and 50 seconds remaining.
Baylor had the ball with a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but senior center Aziz Bandaogo stood tall and forced a miss with Thomas diving on the floor to secure the rebound with 1.8 seconds left.
FROM WES MILLER
It was a big time win for us, and I'm proud of our kids. I was really pleased with our playing there in the last seven minutes of the first half. That's the level that we can play consistently. Our defense was active. We were getting deflections and steals. Our offense kind of found some rhythm moving the ball and getting more quality shots versus switching and I was really pleased with that. We didn't play our best basketball there in the second half. Give Baylor some credit, and I didn't like us defensively. We stagnated a little bit offensively. The part I'm the most proud of is we've had moments like that this year, and we've let it affect us and our teams growing a lot like it didn't affect us like that. Our team's getting more vocal amongst each other, which I think is a sign of a team growing like they're talking about it. You enter a time-out, and we talk for a second as assistance and enter the timeout. They talk about how we got to pick up our energy, how we got to pick up our activity, and how we got to defend. I thought that was a really good sign.
"The thing I'm most proud of is that it wasn't going our way there in the second half...Day Day [Thomas] the play he dribbles it off his foot, he was down, and you can see it on his face. He wants it as bad as anybody I've coached. He knows that was a big play. Then he comes back the next time and makes the biggest three of the game. Then he gets the deflection and the loose ball."
Jizzle James on the team's status
"I think the confidence is high. We're just stacking games, stacking days in practice, and it leads into wins on the court. We're glad to see it all paying off and we're having fun. We're having fun playing basketball as a team and seeing everybody get the love they deserve. We're showing everybody like we belong here."
Day Day Thomas on locking in after making a mistake
"It is all about having a next play mentality. You can't worry about that play, and you have to move on to the next play. I try to just shoot with confidence. I work on my shot every day, so it is just about trusting my work."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati travels to Houston on Saturday to face the No. 4-ranked and Big 12-leading Cougars at 4:30 p.m. on CBS. The Bearcats return home to host Kansas State next Wednesday, March 5, for Senior Day at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.