TicketsCINCINNATI — Sophomore guard Jizzle James' season-high 24 points and Josh Reed's career-high 12 off the bench, coupled with a smothering 45-24 second half, helped Cincinnati to an 84-66 win over BYU on Saturday night at Fifth Third Arena.
Cincinnati started 8-of-9 from the field, leading 22-13 at 12:17 to force a BYU timeout. That burst was capped with six-straight points from Reed at the foul line and on a corner trey. The Bearcats began 6-of-8 from deep, including James knocking down his first four attempts.
BYU led 42-39 at the half after ending with an 8-0 run.
Cincinnati, however, responded in a big way with its own 22-2 sprint out of the gate, highlighted by senior forward Simas Lukosius nailing a triple for his first points of the night, junior forward Dillon Mitchell swiping a pass at midcourt for yet another breakaway slam and Reed getting his own pick-six to force a Cougar timeout, with the visitors trailing 61-44 at 12:47. The Cincinnati defense in that stretch also forced a shot clock violation and multiple 3-point airballs.
The Cougars' bench came alive with three consecutive 3-pointers from reserves to pull within 66-58 at 8:04, their first time down single-digits since 16:05. Senior guard Day Day Thomas responded with a trey from the top of the key to go back up 11, and it was all Bearcats from there, holding BYU to only eight points the rest of the night as well.
Thomas, on the heels of his 20 points in Wednesday's road win at UCF, had 15 on 7-of-9 shooting. It marks his third-straight game in double figures, all marking his first starts of the season as well.
FROM WES MILLER
"First off, I thought our guys played really well tonight. They looked confident, and they were aggressive. I thought Day Day [Thomas] and Jizzle [James] really set a tone early in the game for that, making plays for themselves, making plays for others. I thought our movement off the ball early in the game created some of those opportunities for Day Day and Jizzle. I thought that kind of permeated throughout the team, those contributions all over the place tonight. I thought Dillon [Mitchell], defensively really gave us something, he was all over the place, and he did a great job in his ball screen defense. Aziz [Bandaogo] for the most part was like a presence in the ball screen.
"We did a better job, especially in the second half of guarding it with all five, not just with two or three. Josh Reed, I'm not just saying it because he's sitting right here with me, that's the best game of his career today. As I told him in the locker room, it won't be the best game of his career soon because he's it's not a fluke, he's been improving, and we've always known he was capable of this. It was great to see it happen out there in a big-time college basketball game."
Jizzle James on returning home to Orlando for UCF game and his recent play
"It was great just stepping off the plane, getting that Florida air and it was 82 degrees back home. It was a good feeling. The last two games have been good, but I'm not trying to dwell on it, because I know we have more games to play. I'm just trying to keep the same focus and attention to detail at every game."
Josh Reed on his defense
"It feels good to know that my coaches trust me, my teammates trust me, taking on the best player every night (when I'm on the floor). It's also my other teammates helping me, talking to me and helping me on defense."
NOTABLE
-Cincinnati had its most 3-pointers (10-of-20) since Thanksgiving and its fifth game with 10 or more overall.
-The 12 points also marked Reed's second game in double-figures, with the other coming against Bryant in December 2022 as a freshman (10).
-Each of BYU's two lowest-scoring halves of the season have come against Cincinnati.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati continues its homestand with Utah on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
Cincinnati started 8-of-9 from the field, leading 22-13 at 12:17 to force a BYU timeout. That burst was capped with six-straight points from Reed at the foul line and on a corner trey. The Bearcats began 6-of-8 from deep, including James knocking down his first four attempts.
BYU led 42-39 at the half after ending with an 8-0 run.
Cincinnati, however, responded in a big way with its own 22-2 sprint out of the gate, highlighted by senior forward Simas Lukosius nailing a triple for his first points of the night, junior forward Dillon Mitchell swiping a pass at midcourt for yet another breakaway slam and Reed getting his own pick-six to force a Cougar timeout, with the visitors trailing 61-44 at 12:47. The Cincinnati defense in that stretch also forced a shot clock violation and multiple 3-point airballs.
The Cougars' bench came alive with three consecutive 3-pointers from reserves to pull within 66-58 at 8:04, their first time down single-digits since 16:05. Senior guard Day Day Thomas responded with a trey from the top of the key to go back up 11, and it was all Bearcats from there, holding BYU to only eight points the rest of the night as well.
Thomas, on the heels of his 20 points in Wednesday's road win at UCF, had 15 on 7-of-9 shooting. It marks his third-straight game in double figures, all marking his first starts of the season as well.
FROM WES MILLER
"First off, I thought our guys played really well tonight. They looked confident, and they were aggressive. I thought Day Day [Thomas] and Jizzle [James] really set a tone early in the game for that, making plays for themselves, making plays for others. I thought our movement off the ball early in the game created some of those opportunities for Day Day and Jizzle. I thought that kind of permeated throughout the team, those contributions all over the place tonight. I thought Dillon [Mitchell], defensively really gave us something, he was all over the place, and he did a great job in his ball screen defense. Aziz [Bandaogo] for the most part was like a presence in the ball screen.
"We did a better job, especially in the second half of guarding it with all five, not just with two or three. Josh Reed, I'm not just saying it because he's sitting right here with me, that's the best game of his career today. As I told him in the locker room, it won't be the best game of his career soon because he's it's not a fluke, he's been improving, and we've always known he was capable of this. It was great to see it happen out there in a big-time college basketball game."
Jizzle James on returning home to Orlando for UCF game and his recent play
"It was great just stepping off the plane, getting that Florida air and it was 82 degrees back home. It was a good feeling. The last two games have been good, but I'm not trying to dwell on it, because I know we have more games to play. I'm just trying to keep the same focus and attention to detail at every game."
Josh Reed on his defense
"It feels good to know that my coaches trust me, my teammates trust me, taking on the best player every night (when I'm on the floor). It's also my other teammates helping me, talking to me and helping me on defense."
NOTABLE
-Cincinnati had its most 3-pointers (10-of-20) since Thanksgiving and its fifth game with 10 or more overall.
-The 12 points also marked Reed's second game in double-figures, with the other coming against Bryant in December 2022 as a freshman (10).
-Each of BYU's two lowest-scoring halves of the season have come against Cincinnati.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati continues its homestand with Utah on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.