Not much went right for the West Virginia men’s basketball team on Saturday, as they fell to Cincinnati 92-56.
The Bearcats dominated the paint scoring 48 points in the paint, compared to just 14 WVU points in the paint. They also out-rebounded the Mountaineers 37-23.
Cincinnati contained WVU big-man Jesse Edwards, who was coming off a 36-point performance in his last game and scored 25 points in the two team’s first meeting. Edwards scored just eight points shooting four of seven and came away with just four rebounds.
West Virginia got on the board first but then struggled going in a scoring drought lasting over four minutes. Cincinnati would go on a 9-0 run, shooting four of four from the field in that time to jump out to an early 9-2 lead.
The Mountaineer’s offense would then pick it up, going on a 10-2 run to tame the lead 12-11, nearing the U12 timeout. The Bearcats would take the lead back as Simas Lukosius made back-to-back threes to put the Bearcats back on top.
The game was back and forth towards the middle of the first half with the game tied at 19 at the U8 timeout. Noah Farrakhan got off to a hot start for WVU, shooting three of three from the field and two of two from three.
West Virginia was streaky in the first half, having multiple scoring droughts, having difficulty finding offensive consistency and rhythm. With under six minutes to play in the first half Cincinnati would build a lead, as they were on a 9-0 run.
The Mountaineers would end their drought and UC’s unanswered run with a Quinn Slazinski three to make the game 28-22. The Bearcats would continue to move the ball and score effectively as they jumped out in front 34-22 with three minutes left to go, on a 15-3 run.
To end the half, WVU would go on a 7-0 run to close the gap as Cincinnati led 36-29. The Mountaineers shot 10 of 25 from the field in the first half, but found more success from three compared to the Bearcats, shooting five of 12 from the arc compared to three of 14, with Lukosius making all three for UC.
West Virginia was also getting out-rebounded 16-13 in the first half and committed three more turnovers (8-5). Cincinnati was working the paint in the first, scoring 20 of their 36 points in the paint, including four dunks.
To begin the second half, Cincinnati would go on a 6-0 run after a WVU basket. The Mountaineers had trouble keeping up with the Bearcats high tempo.
Cincinnati’s offense would continue to click as they shot very well from the field as the game started to wind down, while WVU had trouble getting back into the game. UC shot an impressive 70% from the field in the second half and led by more than 20 points down the stretch
Cincinnati ended the game on a 7-0 run defeating WVU by 36 points, with West Virginia completely out of sorts as they did not score in the last two minutes.
Five Bearcats ended in double-figures with Dan Skillings Jr leading all scorers with 17, followed by John Newman III with 14, Jamille Reynolds with 13 and Lukosius with 12.
Farrakhan was the only Mountaineer to end in double-figures as he had 12 points to go along with two rebounds and an assist.
West Virginia will play in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, with a Cincinnati rematch being a possible matchup on Tuesday.
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