Cincinnati improved to (14-9, 4-8 Big 12) on Saturday after defeating BYU 84-66.

""I thought our guys played really well tonight." Wes Miller told reporters. "They looked confident and played aggressive. I thought Day-Day and Jizzle set the tone early for us. There were contributions all over the place tonight. The crowd really brought it for us tonight. That is how it is here every night at Fifth Third Arena. It is nothing new, but you always want to recognize it. There is a lot of appreciation from me and the team for their support."

The Bearcats were led by Jizzle James, who finished with a game high 24 points. The sophomore guard has been fantastic over the last week as he has really found his groove since returning to his home state of Florida earlier this week.

James contributed his hard work to his long days of work with the team and on his own outside of team activities. "Making sacrifices, doing the extra things outside of things as a team. I am very glad things off in that aspect." said James.

Day-Day Thomas also finished the game with 15 points on a very efficient 7-9 shooting. The senior has come in and made an immediate impact for Cincinnati since being inserted in the starting lineup this past week and since, Cincinnati is now 2-1 in the three games Thomas has started. Worth noting that since then, James and Thomas have combined for 72 points over the last two games.

Josh Reed gave the Bearcats a huge spark tonight on both ends of the court. Reed, finished with a career high 12 points on the offensive end. However, his defensive efforts on potentially NBA Lottery pick, Egor Demin was fantastic. Reed and Dillon Mitchell held the freshman phenom to just 12 points on 5-13 shooting this evening.

"It feels great to know that my coaches and team trust me to go on and take on the best player every night." Reed told reporters. "It's also a huge shoutout to the rest of my teammates for helping put me in that position as well."

"Josh Reed, that was the best game of his career to date. I told him in the locker room after the game that won't be the best game of his career soon. It is not a fluke guys. Josh was fantastic tonight." Wes Miller said. "Josh did a great job on Demin as well defensively. I thought the two guys we wanted Demin to see the most tonight was Josh and Dillon. I thought those two guys were fantastic."

The Rundown

The Cougars jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over Cincinnati in the opening minutes of this one. However, Cincinnati responded with five quick points from James and Thomas to tie the game at five. Until The Cougars rattled off four straights after Saunders blew past Bandaogo for an easy layup, forcing an early Cincinnati timeout.

The Bearcats responded out of the timeout after six quick points from James gave the Bearcats an early 12-11 lead with 15:27 to go in the first half. However, eight of the Cougars first eleven points came in the paint.

Meanwhile, for the Bearcats, their offense was anchored by Thomas for the second straight game. Cincinnati's offense was anchored as Thomas's ability to get to the midrange game early was something that gave the Cougars a lot of trouble early.

Cincinnati jumped out to 22-13 lead over the Cougars following six straight points from Reed. Fifth Third Arena quickly rose to their feet as the junior forward provided a huge spark that Cincinnati needed after the under 16 media stop. However, the energy in Fifth Third was rocking in the opening segments and Cincinnati looked to control all momentum early.

Dawson Baker provided a huge spark for the Cougars out of the timeout after aa personal six point run cut the led to three. James quickly responded with a three on the ensuing possession to extend the lead back to six. CJ Fredrick then got involved and buried a huge three out of a great designed action shortly after to give Cincinnati a 28-24 lead. Then James, followed suit after knocking down his fourth triple of the evening to extend the Bearcats lead to seven.

BYU responded with three straight dunks in the paint to cut the Bearcats lead to three with 6:37 in the first half. Meanwhile, for BYU, they continued to get downhill and attack, as 18 of their first 28 points came in the paint following three consecutive dunks, with the Bearcats leading 31-28.

However, the Bearcats offense would then go ice cold, as they went over five minutes without a field goal. BYU would take advantage and storm back to take a 32-31 lead following a 10-0 run. Meanwhile, the draught stopped after James knocked home the midrange jumper to stop the bleeding heading into the final segment of the first half.

Cincinnati extended their lead to four after consecutive dunks from Bandaogo. Betsey then got free with the shot clock expiring for a huge corner three to spark momentum. But after that, it was all BYU, as they finished the half on an 8-0 run, to take a 42-39 lead into the break.

Cincinnati saw 22 points come between James (14) and Thomas (8), but both teams continued to find ways to put the ball in the hole. Cincinnati finished the first half shooting 63%/50/60 splits, while BYU shot 59% from the field. BYU was doing a fantastic job at getting to the rim, as they finished with 22 points in the paint in the first half, while Cincinnati on the other hand, had just eight.

Simas Lukosius gave the Bearcats a 48-44 lead after a huge three from the top of the key. Which, all started from their defense, as Cincinnati forced three turnovers in under ninety seconds. Cincinnati quickly responded with a 9-0 run, to take a 52-44 following the Thomas made jumper.

Cincinnati didn't stop there, as they extended their lead to 17, as the Cougars offense went silent, as Cincinnati upped the pressure out of the half. It all started with the play of Reed, who got Fifth Third Arena to their feed after another huge defensive stand, resulting in a two-handed slam on the other end. Forcing, Kevin Young and BYU to call a timeout after Cincinnati extended their run to 18.

BYU then emptied the bench with hopes of sparking some momentum, in which, was exactly what Kevin Young was hoping for. The Cougars cut the Bearcats lead to eight after a Boskovich three made this a 66-58 game with 8:04 left to play. Cincinnati was going to need to keep their foot on the gas as BYU quickly cut away at their double-digit lead.

The Bearcats did just that, after a quick 9-1 run gave Cincinnati a 75-59 lead after a huge offensive rebound and putback from Skillings. Just like that, Cincinnati was playing arguably their best ball of the season on both ends of the court. James, then buried his sixth three of the night to extend the lead to 17.

Meanwhile, BYU was never able to recover after the Bearcats huge run to open the second half. Cincinnati cruised to a huge 84-66 victory behind huge nights from James, Reed and Thomas, as they three combined for 51 of the Bearcats 84 points.

Up Next

The Bearcats (14-9, 4-8 Big 12) will welcome in Utah (13-10, 5-7 Big 12) to Fifth Third Arena on Tuesday night, with tip-off set for 7pm.