Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Win Over Dayton Flyers Analysis

On By Littum

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For the second year in a row, the Cincinnati Bearcats played in an arena in their own city where fans of the opposition were outnumbered. That is the simple truth.

The other truth is the 15,107 who took in the game at the Heritage Bank Center in red and black were happy after the 19th-ranked Bearcats defeated the No. 22 Dayton 66-59. It avenged last year’s 14-point loss to the Flyers and improved UC’s record in the series to 61-32. The victorious UC fans roared.

“I thought the difference was our people coming out,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “I know they prefer to see us at Fifth Third (Arena). You knew Dayton would travel for this one.”

The Bearcats had to withstand intense late full-court pressure from the Flyers, who cut the game down to single digits after UC had led by as many as 18. Malachi Smith’s 3-pointer off a long rebound pulled Dayton within four at 61-57, but the Bearcats were able to to pull away on late free throws to improve their record to 9-1. Dayton falls to 10-3.

UC went the final 6:45 of the game without a field goal. They finished 16-for-21 on free throws.

“We had a couple of lapses in judgment late in the game,” Miller said. “I was really proud of the way we went up and made the free kick. It wasn’t perfect, but we hadn’t been in that situation against a team like that.”

Dan Skillings Jr. led UC with 17 points, while Jizzle James had 14 and Simas Lukošius 13. Dayton held Lukošius to 4-of-17 shooting, 3-of-12 from three-point range. UC outshot Dayton 38-32.

“I’d say Cincinnati was as physical a team as we’ve played up to this point,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said.

Leading the Flyers were Nate Santos and Malachi Smith with 13 points each. It was Dayton’s lowest scoring output of the season, the previous one being Tuesday night when the Flyers edged UNLV 66-65 at UD Arena.

“Look at the schedule they play,” Miller said. “They’ve been to Maui and played UConn, North Carolina and Iowa State. They had UNLV at home, they beat Marquette at home, so they’re 10th in the country with one of the toughest schedules. You know you’re not. hold them down forever.”

The last time UC was ranked and played a ranked opponent was when they defeated no. 11 Houston in the 2019 American Athletic Conference championship game in Memphis. Friday was the fifth matchup in which the Bearcats and Flyers were both ranked, with the other games coming in 1955, 1958, 2000 and 2003.

Takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball vs. Dayton Flyers

The Cincinnati Bearcats are off to a fast start

Thanks to Skillings Jr. scoring six of UC’s first eight points and the Flyers not being able to buy a bucket for more than five minutes, the Bearcats held advantages of 8-2 and 16-4 in the first two media timeouts . UC would lead by as many as 13 points in the first half 21-8, but the Flyers got it to single digits thanks to a nearly four-minute scoring drought by the Bearcats. UC led 25-17 at halftime and was up for over 18 minutes of the opening half.

Although the Flyers made a frantic comeback, they never led in the game while UC was in command for nearly 38 of the 40 minutes.

“When you look at 17 offensive rebounds, that’s extra shots for them and 17 turnovers for us,” Dayton’s Grant said. “That’s a lot! It was a four-point game with two minutes to play. We’re pretty good too. So I’m good.”

3-pointer off target for UC, UD

Dayton was off the mark for most of the first half, while UC was 0 for its first 10. Jizzle James broke the streak and soon after, it was Tyler Betsey who gave the Bearcats a 16-4 lead on a long 3-pointer slightly . over nine minutes into the game. Lukošius didn’t hit his first until the 6:06 mark in the opening half.

At halftime, UC was just 3-for-17 on 3-pointers, but Dayton had missed all seven of its perimeter shots. UC shot just 33% to start, compared to Dayton’s 28%.

Dayton finally hit from deep in the second half, but neither team was consistent. UC finished 8-for-29 while Dayton was 5-for-18.

“Shots aren’t always going to go in,” Skillings Jr. said. “That shows a lot about our coaching staff and how hard we play as a team, how much we believe in our coaches and how much our coaches believe in us. It shows how hard we can fight when the shots are coming down and keep calm.”

Jizzle James returns (to the score sheet) for the Cincinnati Bearcats

After an 0-for-11 Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout with just two free throws, James was back on track in his 28 minutes of playing time against Dayton.

“There’s that guy we see every day,” Miller said. “His shooting was really important for us.”

Said James of the win: “We know it’s a run game in college basketball. They were expected to come out and have that kind of urgency in the second half, but we just stay two yards in and stay together. We got ‘the dub’ (W).”

Comparing the Heritage Bank Center crowd to the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout crowd

Hoops Classic intends to split the house. But when both teams were ranked, ticket sales went from a slant toward Dayton to more UC sales. From the media section, it looked like the Dayton powder blue was mixed with more red and a bit of black. While the Flyer faithful were noisy before the game, UC’s early run brought the C-Paws back to life.

When James buried a 3-pointer to cut UC’s lead to 18 under the 10-minute mark, it was the first time all night that the “Let’s go ‘Cats” cheers drowned out the “Let’s go Flyers!” cry.

The flu bug bites a trio of Cincinnati Bearcats

Connor Hickman, Arrinten Page and walk-on JJ Rembert all battled the flu this past week. Hickman played just over 12 minutes with a pair of rebounds and an assist, and Page spelled Bandago for nearly 14 minutes and had two points, four rebounds and two assists.

“They had the flu in the worst way you can have the flu,” Miller said. “Most kids wouldn’t even have tried to practice. I thought their toughness was incredible.”

Both Hickman and Page had temperatures of 103 degrees at one point this week and were receiving IV fluids.

Will the Cincinnati Bearcats/Dayton Flyers games continue?

Friday was UC’s 93rd meeting against the Flyers, one more game than they have played with Xavier. Two other rivalries have been longer but haven’t been on the schedule as of late. UC and Louisville have fumbled 100 times, while the Bearcats and Miami RedHawks have fumbled 149 times.

Next on the menu?

UC has a quick turnaround as they return to Fifth Third Arena Sunday afternoon at 4 to face Grambling State in their final non-conference game. They then head to Kansas State on Dec. 30 to start the Big 12 slate.

Dayton is off until New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m., when the Flyers kick off their Atlantic 10 schedule by hosting La Salle at UD Arena.