TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team travels to Xavier for the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cintas Center. The game will be televised on TNT and broadcast on 700 WLW and the TuneIn app.
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Bearcat Bits
- The 2025-26 campaign marks the 125th season of competition for Cincinnati men’s basketball, and the Bearcats will commemorate the milestone with a year-long celebration honoring the program’s rich history, iconic players and cultural legacy. Cincinnati men’s basketball, which was named a top-10 program in college basketball history by the Associated Press, boasts 44 All-Americans, 41 conference titles, six Final Four appearances and back-to-back national championships across its history, which dates back to the 1901-02 season.
- Cincinnati, allowing just 63.4 points per game defensively, ranks fourth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. Cincinnati also leads the country in non-steal turnover percentage (12.8%), ranks eighth in block percentage (18.3%) and turnover percentage (23.8%), 10th in 2-point percentage defense (42.1%) and 24th in opponent offensive rebound percentage (24.3%).
- Cincinnati has found itself playing with pace offensively and forcing its opponents to play more deliberately on the opposite end. The Bearcats sit 26th nationally in average offensive possession length at 15.0 seconds and their opponents are taking 17.6 seconds per possession on the other end, good for 262nd-fastest nationally.
- The Bearcats lead the Big 12 in opponent field goal percentage (37.2%), rank third in blocks (5.75) and scoring defense (63.4 ppg) and fourth in 3-pointers made per game (9.3).
- With just one starter and a pair of letterwinners returning from the Bearcats’ 2024-25 squad, Cincinnati retains only 13.3% of its scoring, 7l.6% of its rebounding and 17.5% of its assists from a season ago.
- Despite missing the NJIT and Eastern Michigan games with an injury, senior forward Baba Miller sees himself among the best nationally and in the Big 12. Miller is tied for 14th nationally and tops in the Big 12 in double-doubles with four, tied for sixth nationally and first in the Big 12 with 8.00 defense rebounds per contest, 19th in the country and fourth in the conference with 10.2 total rebounds per game and 20th nationally and second in the Big 12 with a 64.6% field goal percentage.
- Graduate Day Day Thomas leads the Big 12 and ranks 14th nationally with a 50.0% 3-point percentage while leading the Big 12 and ranking 27th in the country with a 92.9% free-throw percentage.
- The game will be the 93rd all-time meeting between the Bearcats and the Musketeers. Cincinnati holds a 52-40 lead in the all-time series but Xavier leads 10-1 in games played at Cintas Center, winning the last 10 contests after the Bearcats earned a 75-55 victory Dec. 14, 2001. Cincinnati won last year’s contest, 68-65, Dec. 14 at Fifth Third Arena
- Led by first-year head coach Richard Pitino, Xavier is 6-3 on the year and riding a three-game win streak with victories over West Virginia, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Saint Francis. Graduate forward Tre Carroll leads four Musketeers averaging double figures, going for 15.9 points and 5.4 boards per game, while senior guard Roddie Anderson III adds 13.9 points per contest.