HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.– Though it was a little bit over 10 miles from Fifth Third Arena to Truist Arena, the first road trip for the 2024-25 Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team returned them to the scene of one of the more unpleasant upsets in program history. Two years ago, NKU beat them 64-51, holding them to 11 second-half points.
Tuesday night in front of NKU’s biggest crowd of the season (7,485) UC defeated the Norse 76-60. The demons of that November nightmare have been exorcised.
But, NKU didn’t go down without some major swings. They trailed by just four at halftime and crept within one early in the second half.
“This is a contract that goes back a long time that we inherited,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “I thought this game was unbelievable for our team. That is a very well-coached team. They’re going to compete to win their league.”
Said NKU coach Darrin Horn, “It was great fun tonight. It’s great to see what his building is capable of. It was a really good college basketball game with a great college atmosphere for sure.”
Simas Lukošius ignited a second-half run with five triples and finished with a game-high 18 points. The Bearcats had four overall in double figures as Dillon Mitchell had 12, Jizzle James 11 and Connor Hickman 10.
Sam Vinson led NKU with 16 points and Trey Robinson added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Bearcats are 4-0 while NKU falls to 0-4.
The game was coined the “River Rivalry” by the NKU brass. While it may not rate high on UC’s list of rivals, coach Darrin Horn’s team played like it was the game of the year. At halftime, NKU was only down four points. Just last week they lost at home to Nicholls, 61-59 a team UC trounced by 37, 86-49 last Friday.
NKU’s other losses have come to Purdue and Florida State, so the Norse have had a solid non-conference menu.
“That was really good for us tonight,” Miller said. “I’m really proud of the way we handled adversity. I think there’s a lot of things that happened out there tonight that we can learn from.”
Miller initially had bad memories walking in the arena of the disaster two years ago, but was pleased with this experience as well as the crowd.
“I was so happy about this: how much damn red and black there was in that area tonight,” Miller said. “I loved it. I didn’t like it, I loved it! It meant a lot to me and to our team. Keep coming. If we play on the North Pole, I want to see some red and damn black!”
Takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball vs. NKU Norse
Simas Lukošius lights up
After scoring just three points in the first half, Lukošius caught fire in the second half from the arc adding five triples. With 11:50 to go, a Lukošius 3-ball extended UC’s lead to nine, the largest of the game at that point. They would eventually pull away comfortably by double-digits from there.
With his 18 points on 6-of-9 from the perimeter, Lukošius is hitting 73% from the field on the year and nearly 70% on triples.
“I want to shoot every single time I can get it off,” Lukošius said of his recent marksmanship. “I’ve experienced it before. It feels great and the goal is for it not to stop. The emphasis for me is to stay consistent and there’s no reason I can’t shoot like this every night.”
Cincinnati Bearcats beaten on boards
Part of the reason NKU was able to hang with UC in the first half was a lopsided advantage on the glass. NKU’s 6-foot-7 Trey Robinson from Hamilton High was successful clearing the boards off of UC misses and had eight caroms at halftime, with the Norse having the advantage 20-11.
NKU still won the advantage for the game, but UC was able to cool Robinson off, holding him to zero second-half rebounds. The final tally on the glass favored the Norse 36-27.
“It stinks! I mean, it’s atrocious!” Miller said of UC’s rebounding effort. “I’ll give Northern Kentucky credit because those dudes crash different than the first three teams we played. We got beat to the damn thing tonight. They were the more physical team on the board tonight.”
Miller told his team they could enjoy this win until midnight but the rebounding would be addressed Wednesday.
“This game had a lot of value for our team,” Miller reiterated. “That was very, very good for our team. We got better tonight and we did some terrible things that we’re going to be able to learn from.”
Sam Vinson was a factor for a while
When UC lost at NKU in 2022, Vinson, a Highlands High product, had 15 points. Tuesday night, he had 11, including a 3-pointer to pull the Norse within four points at halftime. Like Robinson, Vinson cooled off in the second half but still finished with 16 points.
Day Day Thomas plays vs Northern Kentucky
Thomas was a full participant in UC’s walk-through at Fifth Third Arena before they boarded the bus to fight the bridge traffic to NKU. He dressed and warmed up before the game. Upon entering, he quickly hit Dillon Mitchell for an assist on a dunk. He would finish with just two points but had four assists in a little over 13-and-a-half minutes.
“It felt good to be back out there with my teammates,” Thomas said. “I was practicing the last couple of days, so it was just getting back in rhythm.”
C.J. Fredrick was also coming off an injury and played a bit over two minutes. Wes Miller used 10 Bearcats on the night.
Off night for Jizzle James. Or was it?
James had nine points and three assists in the first half and only had a late bucket in the second to finish with 11 points. But, Miller sees more and again is not worried about his stat line, which is often better than many think.
“This is the greatest compliment I can give a player,” Miller told Dan Hoard and Terry Nelson on 700WLW. “I didn’t think Jizzle was that good tonight. I expect him to be the best point guard in college basketball. Then you look at his line and it’s pretty damn good and he had some pretty good moments.”
James had 11 points, was 5-for-12 shooting, 1-of-2 on triples with six assists and three steals. Plus, the availability of Thomas changed his minutes.
It’s true, UC done at Truist
Tuesday was the last game of the agreement brokered by former UC AD Mike Bohn where the Bearcats played at NKU while Fifth Third Arena was renovated. UC beat the Norse 90-66 at home last season. This was the second of the return games in their agreement.
“That’s a top 20 team,” NKU’s Horn said. “It’s by far the best team since he (Miller) has been there. They’re not even playing with their best player now probably. That’s a team that can really go deep in the NCAA tournament if they’re playing well and get the right match-ups.”
Next on non-conference menu
Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats play their first power conference “name” opponent when they go to Atlanta for Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. UC beat the Yellowjackets at Fifth Third Arena a year ago in the UC debut of Aziz Bandaogo, 89-54. NKU returns home Saturday to play Kentucky State.
