The Cincinnati Bearcats continued their Utah road trip in Salt Lake City at the Jon M. Huntsman Center to face the Utah Utes. The Bearcats come into the game 12-7 and 2-6 in the Big 12 desperately looking for a win. They would have to battle without senior guard CJ Fredrick, who was reported out by Scott Springer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In the first half Jizzle James came out on fire scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 from the field. Dillon Mitchell had seven points, three rebounds and four assists, but Utah shot 67% from the field and 57% from 3. Cincinnati is shooting 44% from the field, but 20% from the line. Utah is dominating the glass 20-9. Ezra Ausar led the way with 11 points, Gabe Madsen (former Bearcat) had nine points and followed by Jake Wahlin with eight.

The hot shooting by Utah claimed a 40-34 lead at the half.

Lawson Lovering picked up his fourth foul with 14:51 left in the second half. It was huge for the Bearcats as they went on a 14-0 run to take a 50-44 lead, but missed free throws and a flagrant two foul by Day Day Thomas late in the second half ultimately was their undoing in a 69-66 loss.

James led the way with 18 points. A key takeaway from the game is Utah absolutely killed the Bearcats on the glass, 41-23. Cincinnati won the turnover battle 6 to 19, but the gap on the glass offset that on Tuesday night. Utah shot 53.1% from the field for the game and 38.5% from 3. Cincinnati shot 39.3% from the field, 36.4% from 3 and 63.6% from the line (14-22).

Now 12-8 and 2-7 in the Big 12, the Bearcats head home to face West Virginia on Saturday at 2 pm.