TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team earned its second win of the 2025-26 campaign, defeating Georgia State 74-64 to move its record to 2-0 on Friday night inside Fifth Third Arena.
“I have three good things. First one, we won. Sometimes you play like that and lose. Give Georgia State credit,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. “There are going to be nights we don't play as well as we want, and you find a way to win. That's something. That's good news. The second thing is, Baba [Miller] has been so good for us here to start the season. We've seen that in practice. It's nice to see him carrying that over. The third thing is, we know it's going to be a process early this year. There's been nights, whether it's in exhibitions, we're doing some really good things, and you can see that we're going to be a really good team. Then there's been some stretches that we have, and we're working through those things to become the good team we're going to be. You're going to have some nights like tonight, but it's an opportunity for us to work and improve, and we'll do that.”
Cincinnati forward Baba Miller delivered a dominant performance, pouring in 24 points on an efficient 8-of-9 shooting while hauling in 11 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. The senior also swatted away three shots.
Miller became the first Bearcat with back-to-back double-doubles to open a season since Bobby Brannen during the 1997-98 campaign. The Mallorca, Spain native also posted just the ninth game of at least 24 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks by a Bearcat since 1996-97.
Graduate student Day Day Thomas and sophomore Moustapha Thiam also reached double figures. Thomas knocked down four 3-pointers en route to 12 points, while Thiam tallied 10 points and swiped a career-high three steals. Junior Sencire Harris contributed nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field.
Jelani Hamilton paced the Panthers with 26.
Both teams struggled offensively, shooting below 40% from the field (UC: 40%, GSU: 37%). The Bearcats, however, made their mark in the paint with 36 points and controlled the glass with 14 offensive rebounds that generated 13 second-chance points. Cincinnati also capitalized in transition, forcing 17 turnovers that led to 23 points.
After Georgia State came out aggressively on its way to a 12-6 lead at the under-16 timeout, Cincinnati tightened up the defensive pressure with its second unit to score the next 13 to take a 19-12 lead on a Harris fastbreak layup at the 12:24 mark. However, after forcing four turnovers and four consecutive contested missed jumpers, the Panthers’ Anthony Enoh banked in a three and Ayouba Berthe followed with a three of his own to make it a 19-18 contest midway through the opening half.
Cincinnati and then Georgia State each followed with their own 8-2 run as the Hamilton trimmed the Bearcats lead to 29-28 on a fastbreak layup with 3:51 remaining. But, as was the case for much of the first half, a spurt ensued as Cincinnati closed the opening 20 minutes on a 10-2 run, capped by a Thiam dunk in the waning seconds, to take a 39-30 lead into the break.
Harris led the Bearcats with nine in the first half, while Miller added seven points, eight boards and two blocks. Hamilton paced the Panthers with 13.
Highlighted by a Miller thunderous and-one slam, the Bearcats rattled off an early 7-0 run in the second half, extending their lead to 46-32 and forcing the Panthers to call a quick timeout. With 8:33 remaining in the game, redshirt freshman Tyler McKinley hauled in an offensive board before kicking it back out to Thomas, who drilled a 3-pointer to push UC ahead 60-48.
UC found itself back up 14 points after a 7-2 run with 2:19 remaining in the game to extend its lead to 72-58, before closing out the victory 74-64.
Cincinnati welcomes Dayton to Fifth Third Arena at 7 p.m. Tuesday in its third of four-straight at home to start the season.