Cincinnati's Men's basketball team fell short for the second straight game on Tuesday night as West Virginia secured the series sweep over the Cincinnati, defeating the Bearcats 62- 59.

However, the Bearcats saw four players score in double figures, Led by Day-Day Thomas and Jizzle James, who each had a team high 13 points in the loss. However, outside of those two, Cincinnati was struggling mightily to find their rhythm on offense, especially without the likes of Simas Lukosius who missed this game due to a shoulder injury.

James and Thomas shot a combined 11-35 from the field, (4-14 from behind the arc). Although, Cincinnati was unable to get their offense going at times when James was off the court after being in foul trouble for majority of the game.

Dillion Mitchell and Dan Skillings made a huge impact in the second half as Cincinnati really tried to lean on their veterans in the second half. Mitchell came out and scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, after securing an easy layup as the first half buzzer expired for his first points of the night.

Skillings came in and made a huge impact off the bench for Cincinnati, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds. The junior guard knocked down two crucial threes in the final minute of this one that eventually gave Cincinnati a chance to send this game to overtime at the final buzzer.

Worth noting, this was the best game Skillings has played since the Bearcats 67-60 win over Arizona State back on January 18th. Which, happens to be the last time Skillings has scored in double figures after a rough stretch over the last three weeks. Now could this outcome be a huge turning point for Skillings after seeing a couple shots go in, many can hope. However, that is a positive sign for Cincinnati especially with Simas Lukosius having no definite timetable for his return.

Simas Lukosius injury Update

The Bearcats senior guard did not play in the loss to West Virginia after suffering an apparent shoulder injury that knocked him out of the Iowa State game on Saturday. Now, for Lukosius he was spotted going through warmups ahead of this game but was doing as much as he could with his non-dominant hand and really restricting his range of motion with his right hand to prevent reinjuring that shoulder.

Now with Lukosius unable to go for the Bearcats, that led to Josh Reed picking up his first career start in his place. Reed got the nod over Skillings, CJ Fredrick, Rayvon Griffith, but that has been a testament to what Reed has done for this team over the recent weeks.

Wes Miller provided an update on Lukosius following the defeat with an in-depth update on the status of the Lithuanian guard.

"Simas pulled himself out of the Iowa State game in a two-possession game. That should tell you how much pain he's in." Wes Miller told reporters. Now, Miller also noted and said that Lukosius is one of the toughest players that he has coached throughout his 14-year tenure giving credit to Lukosius toughness and ability to fight through the knicks and bruises for this team.

People also need to remember we are talking about the same Simas Lukosius who only missed one game during the 2023-2024 season after being struck by a car on campus last year.

Miller said the team is worried however, given the context surrounding the injury, but did mention that a major injury was not found during the initial MRI when the team arrived back to Cincinnati following their trip to Ames.

Free Throw Shooting Haunts Cincinnati.

in a must win game for Cincinnati, they did the one thing they couldn't do in a game like this and that was miss free throws. Which has been something they have struggled with for majority of the season, especially near the start of conference play. Now for the Bearcats, they really struggled in that aspect tonight, in a game where you needed every single points especially when times were rough over the last eight minutes of play.

Cincinnati finished the game shooting just 2-7 (29%) from the line in the loss to West Virginia. Meanwhile, for Cincinnati, they knew they would have to find a way to get to the free throw line and hunt contact tonight especially being shorthanded on the offensive side of the ball. However, the Bearcats failed to get to the foul line tonight, as Cincinnati's only two made free throws came from Aziz Bandaogo.

Everyone knows if you want to win games, especially in this conference, you have to find ways to make an impact from the foul line, especially because of how good this conference is. Now, you can't really expect to win many games when you shoot 29% from the foul line which is a clear give me across college basketball. However, that was something that desperately haunted the Bearcats tonight, especially over the final eight minutes of play.

The Rundown

West Virginia jumped out to an early 7-2 lead over Cincinnati forcing an early timeout. Which sparked some momentum for the Bearcats as James and Reed came in and cut the Mountaineers lead to one. Now, it was all Mountaineers in the opening segment as they really set the tone early after outrebounding the Bearcats 6-1 over the first four minutes of play as West Virginia was looking to punch the Bearcats in the mouth early.

Cincinnati quickly found themselves trailing 25-16 as West Virginia was just unable to miss it seemed as they started the game shooting 7-11 from the field (68%) over the first eight minutes of play. West Virginia was led by Javon Small, who had 10 of the Mountaineers 26 points.

Cincinnati would make this a one-point game after seven unanswered as Thomas anchored the Bearcats offense after seven quick points. Meanwhile, that run from Thomas allowed Cincinnati to get within striking range following the Skillings layup.

Once that happened, both offenses went ice cold with just a combined four points scored over the final 3:34 of the first half. Which, two of those came after a Mountaineer defensive lapse resulting in a layup for Mitchell right at the buzzer. That was a huge momentum changer for Cincinnati as the Bearcats took some positive energy into the break despite trailing by 12 in the early minutes of this contest.

The Bearcats regained their first lead off the game since the opening minutes as they led the Mountaineers 41-37 with 13:28 to go following a five point swing in favor of Cincinnati. That run forced a Darian DeVries timeout with hopes of finding some momentum and way to stop the Bearcats offense.

Which wasn't exactly what happened as Cincinnati extended their lead to six following a huge dunk from Mitchell. But from that point on, it was all Mountaineers as West Virginia went on to score the next nine points to take a 50-47 lead with 4:19 to play.

Cincinnati's offense went ice cold as they went nearly five minutes without a field goal before James buried a huge made three pointers to tie the game at 50 with 4:01 to play. However, for Cincinnati, there offense continued to stifle as the Mountaineers went on a 7-0 run after Amani Hansberry caught fire and gave the Mountaineers new light. Hansberry gave the Mountaineers a 58-50 lead with 1:28 to play.

Now for the Bearcats, their offense came alive just a little too late after Skillings buried two threes in the final thirty seconds of play to cut the lead to three. The Bearcats then got a huge turnover that gave them an opportunity to send this game to overtime as time expired, but Betsey, who had a clean look at the basket, three-point attempt came up just short.

Up Next

The Bearcats (15-11, 5-10 Big 12) will return to Fifth Third Arena this Saturday, as they welcome in TCU (15-11, 8-7 Big 12). Tip-off is slated for 12pm.