The Cincinnati Bearcats start their state of Utah tour against BYU Cougars. Will the Bearcats win against a quality opponent on the road?

Day Day Thomas came off the bench with a quick five points early to give the Bearcats a 10-9 lead. BYU was able to push the lead to 23-18, but Jizzle James found Aziz Bandaogo for an alley oop and the next possession Simas Lukosius knocked down a 3 to complete the 7-0 run to tie the game at 23 late in the half. Egor Demin went on a 5-0 run to give BYU a 28-23 lead at the half.

The Bearcats only shot 31% from the field, but won the glass 20-17. Dan Skillings led the way with six points, he took a hard no call that resulted in him getting poked in the eye. Thomas finished the half with five points and Bandaogo led the way on the glass four rebounds.

Note: Simas Lukosius finished the first half with two fouls

BYU was able to go on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 12 at the 18:01 mark in the second half. BYU wouldn’t look back as Demin and Richie Saunders started going to work scoring 23 of their combined 36 in the second half, pushing the lead to 27. The Bearcats had no answers for the 2-3 zone, they shot a lot of 3’s and not at a great clip. Saunders had 21 points and Demin had 15. Lukosius led the way with 14 points, nobody else hit double digits. For the Cincinnati fans Rayvon Griffith had four points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.

BYU beat Cincinnati, 80-52, out scoring them in the second half 52-29. Cincinnati also ended up losing the rebounding battle 34-29.

Now, 12-7 and 2-6 in the Big 12, they will have to get right against Utah on Tuesday.