The Bearcats three game winning streak came to an end Saturday evening after Cincinnati fell to Iowa State 81-70.

Cincinnati was led by sophomore guard Jizzle James, who finished with a game high 25 points on an efficient 9-16 shooting. James has really found his stride over the last two weeks as he has now recorded 20 or more points in the last four games for Cincinnati. On the other hand, Cincinnati finished the game with 14 turnovers with five of those coming from James, as Iowa State was all over James in the second half.

Now for James, he becomes the first player to score at least 24 points in three consecutive games since Deonta Vaughn back in 2008.

Day-Day Thomas also contributed 13 points and four assists, while Aziz Bandaogo racked up ten points and three rebounds in the loss.

The Bearcats finished the game shooting 46%/41%.82% from the field, but were heavily beat on the boards, as Iowa State outrebounded the Bearcats 37-19. That was the difference maker, as Iowa States size and physicality was too much to handle for Cincinnati, especially in the second half.

Iowa State saw four players score in double figures this afternoon, which they are now 16-2 on the season when four players score withing double digits.

The Cyclones were led by Curtis Jones, who finished with 22 points on a poor 4-13 shooting performance. Cincinnati was doing a great job at finding ways to contain Jones, however, he hurt the Bearcats in many ways, but the biggest one, was his ability to draw contact and get to the foul line. Jones went a perfect 12-12 from the foul line and that was the difference maker.

Iowa State went on to shoot 26-30 (87%) from the foul line as they did a great job at getting Cincinnati into foul trouble especially in the early minutes. James and Dillon Mitchell both fouled out in this contest and Cincinnati was never able to recovery with those two off the court, especially due to the injuries of Simas Lukosius and Arrinten Page.

Both, Page and Lukosius were dealing with some knicks and bruises in this one it appeared and that resulted in rotations and some players seeing more extended minutes compared to usual.

Page went down with what appeared to be a lower body injury in his first minute of play and did not return for the Bearcats. Meanwhile, Lukosius played 24 minutes before appearing to injury his shoulder in the second half and was unable to return for the final minutes of this one, which hurt Cincinnati especially as they looked to make a last second comeback.

The Rundown.

Iowa State jumped out to an early 27-15 lead with 9:56 left in the first half. That was until, Cincinnati sparked an 8-0 run after a James three cut the deficit to three. From there forward, that is when James started to cook and find his momentum as Cincinnati would then tie the game at 34 with two minutes left in the first half. James gave the Bearcats their first lead of the night after Keshon Gilbert was whistled for a technical foul as he complained about a no call on the ensuing Cyclones possession.

Both teams headed to the locker rooms with the game tied at 39, but without James 17 first half points, things would have been looking a little different for Cincinnati to say the least. However, the rallied back and put themselves in a great position following the first half, especially with how hot Iowa State was, finishing the first half shooting 57% from the field.

It was all Cyclones in the second half, as Iowa State outscored the Bearcats 42-31 over the final twenty minutes. Iowa State dominated the glass in the second half and came out and punched the Bearcats in the mouth, as Iowa State outrebounded Cincinnati 23-9 (10-2 OREB) in the second half.

Cincinnati simply was out played in that aspect, as the Cyclones had multiple possession ensuing in multiple offense rebounds to keep the possession alive. Milan Momcilovic was the difference maker in the second half, especially after being held to just two points in the first half. The 6'8" forward finished the game with 12 points, but ten of those came in the second half.

The Bearcats cut the Cyclones lead to four with 6:55 to go following a made three from Josh Reed. However, that is when momentum quickly changed as Wes Miller was assessed a technical foul shortly after that after a very controversial no call that left the Cincinnati bench astonished a foul wasn't called. That sparked a 7-0 run in favor of Iowa State, and just like that the Cyclones led 70-61.

Cincinnati would cut the lead to six following a James triple, but that was the closest the Bearcats would get. Iowa State finished the game from that moment on a 10-5 run, with majority of those coming from the foul line. As the Cyclones just dominated and found a way to get the job done, and tonight it was stemming from two things, free throw shooting and rebounding.

Cincinanti was simply unmatched down the stretch with the absences of Page, Lukosius the way it was already. However, once Mitchell and James both fouled out, Iowa State was cruising to victory and knew they simply didn't have to make shots to win this game, but importantly just get to the foul line to win this game.

Up Next

The Bearcats (15-10. 6-9 Big 12) will be back in action this Wednesday as they travel to Morgantown to take on West Virginia (15-10, 6-8 Big 12) as they look to avenge their 63-50 loss to the Mountaineers back on February 2nd. Tip-off is slated for 7pm.