Baba Miller double-double secures Cincinnati's First Big 12 Victory of Season

Cincinnati secured its first Big 12 victory of the season on Wednesday after defeating Colorado 77-68 at Fifth Third Arena. They now improve to 9-8 on the season, (1-3 Big 12)

“Really proud of our guys,” said Wes Miller. “This group has been crazy resilient with the results not in their favor lately. They have been right there each and every night and continue to improve. I feel great that the players got to experience a positive result tonight. This is about the players and making sure they know it's about them and how they can get better each and every day. We all came to Cincinnati to play at an elite program and elite standards. These guys have done a great job with that because it hasn’t been very easy with the results over the recent games.”

“Cincinnati was the tougher team tonight.” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “That was evident from the jump. We wanted to be the ones who came out and really threw the first punch, but they did it to us. We knew this was going to be a physical game with Cincinnati playing aggressively. We knew Cincinnati was a wounded animal on the side of the road. We knew that coming in, and they fought a lot harder than we did. We lost that game in the first half. Cincinnati deserved to win that basketball game.”

Baba Miller led the Bearcats with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds to secure his eighth double-double of the season.

“Baba is a great player and has continued to get better as the season progresses.” Tad Boyle stated. “He is long and physical. We wanted him to take some jump shots. We didn’t do a good job in our post defense when he and Thiam had the ball down low. We got abused down low and didn’t get much help.”

Moustapha Thiam had another efficient night as well for Cincinnati, racking up 15 points on 6-8 shooting. The 7’2” center has really stepped up over the recent games and has shown his ability to be an elite post player with his ability to step out eight to twelve feet and knock down those midrange jumpers like we saw this evening.

Historic Defensive Showing from Cincinnati.

The Bearcats' defense showed out tonight with its best defensive showing of the season. The Bearcats were able to force 17 turnovers on the defensive side of the ball, which allowed them to get out and run in transition. The Bearcats racked up 30 points off those 17 turnovers, which simply was the difference maker in this contest and played into Cincinnati’s favor.

Kerr Kriisa Injury update

Wes Miller noted he didn’t have an exact update on veteran point guard Kerr Kriisa, who missed his third straight game after suffering a separated shoulder in the Houston game.

“I don't have an update as of right now,” Miller told reporters. “I don’t think it will be months, hopefully not weeks. However, he has not been practicing yet since the injury. That will be pretty exciting when we are able to get him back. I thought we had found something in the short time with him, Jizzle and Day-Day. We saw some of the best offensive analytics that we have ever seen since we have been here at Cincinnati. It will be nice to get him back in the fold.”

The Rundown

Cincinnati jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, following four quick points from Moustapha Thiam. The Bearcats were looking to attack the 2-3 zone early with Thiam. However, defense quickly turned into offense for Cincinnati, as the team logged four steals that resulted in eight fast-break points. Attacking the rim remained a premium emphasis, with Cincinnati consistently driving to the bucket.

Cincinnati controlled an early 12-2 lead over the Buffaloes with 15:27 to play in the first half.

After Baba Miller went up top for a slam in transition, the Bearcats rattled off a 6-0 run to extend Cincinnati’s lead to 14. The momentum continued: relentless downhill attacks caused persistent problems for Colorado in the early going.  

Jalen Celestine knocked down a corner three following some great ball movement from freshman guard Keyshuan Tillery. Shon Abaev then followed up with three more from the charity stripe after being fouled on his first field goal attempt of the night.

Cincinnati extended its lead to 19 after a corner three from Abaev. Now, for Colorado, they failed to gain any momentum over the span of the first 12 minutes, as Cincinnati continued to play smoother defense in what was quickly turning into the best defensive performance of the season over the first twenty minutes of play. The Bearcats were shooting nearly 65% from the field, while Colorado was shooting just 29% from the field in the early portion of this contest.

Cincinnati controlled a 43-25 lead into the half behind 15 points from Baba Miller. Cincinnati dominated the paint with 20 of its 43 points coming at the rim. Thiam and Miller presented ultimate matchup problems for Colorado as the duo combined for 24 points in the opening segment on 10-12 shooting.

Meanwhile, the Bearcats slashed 57% from the field, shooting 16-28 from the field over the first twenty minutes of action. However, the offense played with a sense of urgency and great ball movement, as the Bearcats recorded an assist on 13 of their 16 baskets. The biggest takeaway, however, was the emphasis on getting downhill and attacking the Colorado 2-3 zone.

Colorado went on an 11-2 run to force a Cincinnati timeout following a made three from Iasiah Johnson with the Bearcats leading 52-40. The Buffaloes would cut the lead to ten, but Sencire Harris would then drop a beautiful pass to the post for Thiam, who finished through traffic to silence Colorado's run.

That was the last bucket for Cincinnati over the next four minutes. Meanwhile, Iasiah Johnson got hot for Colorado and simply took over here in the second half. Colorado then cut the lead to seven points following a Barrington Hargress layup in transition. Which marked five consecutive field goals for Colorado over the last two and a half minutes of play.

Colorado cut the lead to five, but Day-Day Thomas responded with a crucial three from the top of the key to extend the lead back to eight. Thomas followed right back with a left-handed layup to push the lead back to ten with three minutes to play.

Hargress made this a seven-point game with 1:32 left to play following two made free throws with Cincinnati leading 68-61. Cincinnati then turned it over on the ensuing inbound play seconds later, where Colorado quickly made them pay, as Hargress buried a corner three to cut the lead to four.

Jizzle James knocked down two crucial free throws to extend the lead to six. Shortly later, Harris forced a huge turnover in favor of Cincinnati, which resulted in a pair of free throws on the other end. Meanwhile, it came down to the very end, but Cincinnati was able to secure its first Big 12 victory of the season.

Up Next

The Bearcats welcome in #3 Iowa State to Fifth Third Arena on Saturday with tip-off set for 2pm.