For the second year in a row, the Cincinnati Bearcats played in an arena in their own city where fans of the opposition outnumbered them. That is the simple truth.
The other truth is the 15,107 that took in the game at Heritage Bank Center sporting red and black left happy after the 19th-ranked Bearcats defeated No. 22 Dayton 66-59. That 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 came out,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “I know they prefer to watch us at Fifth Third (Arena). You knew Dayton was going to travel for this one.”
The Bearcats had to withstand intense late full-court pressure by the Flyers, who whittled the game down to single digits after UC had led by as many as 18. Malachi Smith’s 3-pointer after a long rebound pulled Dayton within four at 61-57, but the Bearcats were able to pull away on late free throws to improve their record to 9-1. Dayton drops to 10-2.
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 errors in judgment late in the game,” Miller said. “I was really proud of the way we stepped up and made free throws. It was not perfect but we had not 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 did hold Lukošius to 4-of-17 shooting, 3-of-12 from three-point range. UC outrebounded Dayton 38-32.
“I would say Cincinnati was as physical a team that we’ve played up to this point,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said.
Leading the Flyers was Nate Santos and Malachi Smith with 13 points each. It was Dayton’s lowest-scoring output of the season, the previous being Tuesday night when the Flyers got by 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 most difficult schedules. You know you’re not holding them down forever.”
The last time UC was ranked and playing 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 where 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
Cincinnati Bearcats get quick start
Thanks to Skillings Jr. scoring six of UC’s first eight points and the Flyers unable to buy a bucket for over five minutes, the Bearcats had advantages of 8-2 and 16-4 at 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 into single digits thanks to a nearly four-minute scoring drought by the Bearcats. UC led 25-17 at the break and was up for over 18 minutes of the opening half.
Though 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-pointers off target for UC, UD
Dayton was off the mark for much of the first half, while UC was 0 for its first 10. Jizzle James broke the string, then shortly after it was Tyler Betsey giving the Bearcats a 16-4 lead on a long 3-pointer a little over nine minutes into the game. Lukošius didn’t hit his first until the 6:06 mark of 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 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 are not always going to go in,” Skillings Jr. said. “It 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 shots are going down and keep our composure.”
Jizzle James returns (to scoresheet) for 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 the guy we see every day,” Miller said. “His shooting was really important for us.”
Said James of the win, “We know it’s a game of runs in college basketball. It was expected for them to come out and have that type of urgency in the second half, but we just stay two feet in and stay together. We got the ‘dub'(W).”
Comparing Heritage Bank Center crowd to Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout crowd
The Hoops Classic intends to divide the house. However, when both teams became ranked ticket sales went from a slant toward Dayton to more UC sales. From the media section, the Dayton powder blue appeared to be mixed with more red and a smattering 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 make UC’s lead 18 under the 10-minute mark, it was the first time all night that the “Let’s go ‘Cats” cheer drowned out the “Let’s go Flyers!” cry.
Flu bug bites a trio of Cincinnati Bearcats
Connor Hickman, Arrinten Page and walk-on J.J. Rembert were all battling the flu this past week. Hickman played a little 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 have tried to even practice. I thought their toughness was unbelievable.”
Both Hickman and Page had 103-degree temperatures at one point this week and received IV fluids.
Will Cincinnati Bearcats/Dayton Flyers games continue?
Friday was UC’s 93rd meeting against the Flyers, one more game than they’ve played with Xavier. Two other rivalries have been longer but haven’t been on the schedule of late. UC and Louisville have tangled 100 times while the Bearcats and Miami RedHawks have played 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. After that, they’re off to Kansas State Dec. 30 to start the Big 12 slate.
Dayton is off until New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m. when the Flyers start their Atlantic 10 schedule by hosting La Salle at UD Arena.
