It was not pretty for the Mountaineers when they fell to Cincinnati 96-52 on Saturday.
West Virginia only trailed by seven points at the half but a lackluster display on both sides of the ball in the second half put the game out of reach. Cincinnati scored 56 points in the second half as they were on fire shooting the ball making 21 shots on 30 attempts, whereas WVU shot just under 38%.
However, they have a chance to bounce back against the Bearcats as they face them again on Tuesday in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
WVU narrowly defeated Cincinnati on Jan. 31 69-65 where they shot 47.1% from the field and 45.5% from three. They committed two fewer turnovers than the Bearcats and fared much better in the paint with 34 of their points coming in the paint, compared to scoring just 12 points in the paint on Saturday.
West Virginia center Jesse Edwards had 25 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks against Cincinnati the first go around. On Saturday, Edwards only managed eight points, four rebounds, a block and a steal.
Sophomore guard Dan Skillings Jr led Cincinnati in scoring in both meetings, with 15 points in January and 17 points on Saturday. On the season, he is averaging 12.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 41.3% from the field.
Noah Farrakhan was the lone Mountaineer to score double-digit points on Saturday. He ended with 12 points, shooting five of nine, with two rebounds and an assist.
West Virginia was out-rebounded in both matchups, with Cincinnati being a much bigger and more physical team. Although, they were more effective from the arc in both matchups, with the Bearcats having trouble consistently knocking down triples against the Mountaineers.
All-time, the programs are 11-11 against each, with WVU being 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. This season West Virginia hasn’t won away from the WVU Coliseum as they are 0-13 on the road or at neutral sites.
The winner of the matchup will face the No. 6-seeded Kansas Jayhawks. Currently, ESPN Analytics‘ Matchup Predictor gives Cincinnati an 89.1% probability of coming out victorious on Tuesday.
Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. EST from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The game will be streamed to ESPN+.
