BYU basketball dropped another Big 12 road game to the Cincinnati Bearcats Saturday.
The Cougars are now back to .500 in the league at 6-6 after they stumbled 84-66 to the hot-shooting Bearcats.
“ They came out and punched us in the face,” coach Kevin Young said.
Cincinnati is typically a defensive team, but on Saturday, the Bearcats' offense was incredible from start to finish. The Bearcats shot 15 of 24 from the field in the first half and 6 of 12 from 3, but despite their offensive success, the Cougars held a 42-39 halftime lead.
“ I actually really thought we did a good job of responding to the onslaught to start the game,” Young said. “To be able to help somehow have the lead at halftime with them making every shot was a credit to our guys.”
The Cougars were led by Richie Saunders and Egor Demin, who scored a combined 23 points on 8 of 14 from the field. BYU was moving the ball and getting high-quality offense, and it looked to be in a position to win its third road game of the season.
But, unlike the Bearcats, the Cougars’ offense stagnated and struggled in the second half. After opening up the half with a Demin left-handed jam, Cincinnati responded with an 18-0 run to go up 61-44.
The run started on a poor advance pass from Mawot Mag which resulted in a fastbreak dunk for the Bearcats’ Dillon Mitchell. Demin airmailed a pull-up 3 on the next possession down, resulting in a shot clock violation. Then Demin turned the ball over again after a made Simas Lukosius 3-point field goal. Now spiraling, Saunders tried to get BYU back on track and forced up a quick 3-point shot, which missed. Cincinnati’s Day Day Thomas converted the Saunders miss into a made midrange pull-up jumper from an offensive rebound to go up 52-44.
From there, the avalanche continued. Cincinnati’s guards made everything. Jizzle James scored 24 points on 9 of 14 from the field and was 6 of 7 from 3. Thomas was an efficient 7 of 9 from the field and scored 15 points on difficult pull-up jump shots.
" They were amazing,” Saunders said. “Just started with their point guards and their guards, like they just hit shots.”
Meanwhile, BYU had one of its worst offensive halves of the season, they shot 33% in the second half and turned the ball over six times. As has been the story all season for the Cougars, second-chance points and points off turnovers killed them. They were outscored 16-0 in second-chance points and 24-12 in points off turnovers. The Bearcats dominated every facet of the game in the second half.
“They were amazing. They played an amazing offensive game,” Young said. “The thing for me that was concerning was just our offense in the second half; it got too stagnant and something we got to look at.”
BYU’s ball movement and pace were stuck in the mud for most of the second half. The Cougars forced tough shot after tough shot with no avail. Demin finished the game with 12 points on 5 of 13 from the field, while Saunders led BYU with 15 points.
The only bright spot for the Cougars in the second half was the play of the reserves. Junior forward Mihailo Boskovic scored 8 points on 2 of 4 shooting from 3 in the second half to cut the Bearcat’s deficit to eight, at 66-58 with 8:06 left to play in the second half. His ability to space the floor opened up driving lanes for BYU’s guards, and Cincinnati was forced to leave him open to hit two wide-open 3s.
”Credit to our second group who came in with grit and who fought and got it back down to, I believe, eight,” Saunders said.
After a disappointing effort against Cincinnati, BYU is now the last team in the NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi. It desperately needs a win on Tuesday evening against West Virginia to snap its two-game losing streak and get back on track.
BYU has eight games left in the regular season and the Big 12 tournament. The Cougars are squarely on the bubble, and each game for the rest of the season will feel like life and death until Selection Sunday.
“ It feels like every game you're playing for all the marbles, and that's what you want as a competitor,” Young said. “It really, really stings when you're not able to get it done.”
