Bearcats suffer first loss of the season to No. 6 Louisville, 74-64

Cincinnati Basketball suffered its first loss of the season on Friday night as it fell victim to #6 Louisville 74-64.

The Cardinals were led by senior guard Ryan Conwell, who finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-15 shooting, while shooting 50% from behind the arc. The senior sharpshooter took over this game in the second half as people quickly saw why the senior guard was one of the most sought-after players in the transfer portal this offseason.

“Ryan is a guy who, if you make a mistake, he makes you pay,” said Wes Miller. “We know that from playing against him in recent years.”

Freshman phenom Mikel Brown Jr finished the game with 22 points as well for the Cardinals despite shooting just 4-15 from the field. The crafty point guard sparked one of the biggest moments in this game after a huge three, followed by a dunk and slam to extend the lead back to double digits in the final minutes.

“We wanted Mikel Brown to try and do it all.” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller stated. “We knew that if we played that way, and you look down and see he is at 22. We wanted to look down at the end of the game and see 4-15 from the field.”

Cincinnati was led by Day-Day Thomas and Shon Abaev, who each finished with 12 points. However, the duo was held to just 7-30 field as the offensive firepower just wasn’t able to withstand the talented Louisville defense.

Moustapha Thiam had arguably his best game of the season, finishing with ten points and nine rebounds as well.

Free Throw Struggles continue.

Like we have seen all season thus far, Cincinnati continues to struggle from the free-throw line. Tonight, the Bearcats went 10-16 (63%) from the stripe. However, in a game like this, Cincinnati desperately needed to shoot around 80% from the line in order to win this basketball game and failed to do so this evening.

“We are going to be better from the free-throw line. We left a lot out there. We had a couple of misses off the front end, then we missed the front end of two one-and-ones in the first half.”

Baba Miller Injury Update

Cincinnati forward Baba Miller exited the game with a little over ten minutes to play due to an apparent hip injury and was unable to return to the game. He exited the bench with trainer Bob Mangine before returning to the team a few moments later.

“Baba got hit on the hip. I don’t know much outside of that right now. He tried to give it a go and wasn’t able to return. We will re-evaluate him and see where he is heading into Monday night vs NJIT.”

From Wes Miller

“Louisville is the sixth-ranked team in the country and a team many views as a national championship contender,” said Wes Miller. “If there is anything to take away from the loss tonight, it is that this could be a great basketball team. Everyone thinks its coach speak, but this could be a great basketball team. We struggled to get the ball inside and play out of the post, and that was frustrating. Disappointed in the loss, but this is something we can learn from and correct.”

How it Happened.

The Cardinals took an early 3-0 lead over the Bearcats following consecutive free throws from Issac McKneely after an early foul on Shon Abaev. Cincinnati responded with a defensive stand as they pushed the tempo, which led to a run-out layup for Day-Day Thomas for their first points of the night.

That sparked a seven-point swing in favor of Cincinnati as the Cardinals' offense went 0-6 from the field to start the game. Cincinnati was looking to attack the paint early as Moustapha Thiam had four early points in the opening segment, which was a great sign for Bearcats fans.

The Bearcats controlled a 9-4 lead with 15:35 remaining in the first half. However, they saw guard Kerr Kriisa pick up his second personal foul right before the intermission.

Cincinnati extended its lead to eleven following constructive free throws from Thomas. The guard play from Cincinnati was causing Louisville a load of problems as the Bearcats' guards broke down the defense multiple times early, resulting in easy buckets from Tyler McKinley and Moustapha Thiam.

The Cardinals' first field goal came with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half as Mikel Brown ended the 0-9 drought with a layup. However, the Bearcats' defense was able to force four early turnovers in the opening eight minutes, which, in a game like tonight vs a tough Louisville team, is huge.

Louisville responded with a nine-point swing following the triple from Kobe Rodgers to cut the Bearcats' lead to two. Adrian Wooley would get downhill and attack the rim and tie this game at 17 with 8:20 left in the first half. Just like that, the nation's number two scoring offense was awake. Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s offense, on the other hand, went ice cold during that stretch, going just 1 for 6 from the field.

Shon Abaev silenced the Cardinals' momentum after a corner three. Sincere Harris then went coast-to-coast for the three-point play to give Cincinnati a 23-19 lead. The Bearcats extended their lead to six with just over two minutes left in the first half after a triple from Thomas.

Cincinnati edged a 32-28 lead heading into the break after a Thiam block right before the buzzer on Aly Khalifa.

However, the story of the first half was Cincinnati’s defense, as they held the Cardinals to just 26% from the field in the first half. Now, heading into tonight, Louisville was the number two scoring offense in the country, averaging well above ninety points per game, but Cincinnati seemed to have some answers here in the early minutes of this one.

The Cardinals took a 40-37 lead with 15:43 in the second half following seven quick points from Louisville Guard Ryan Conwell. The senior sharpshooter was looking to be the difference maker in this contest and quickly found his shot to kick off the second half.

Cincinnati cut the Cardinals' lead to one following a triple from Kriisa. However, the Bearcats' offense was still cold coming out of the locker room as they were just 4-13 from the field over the first eight minutes of the second half.

From that point forward, it was all Louisville, as they extended their lead to nine with just over eight minutes to play. Now, for Cincinnati, it appeared they would have to finish this game without forward Baba Miller. The seven-footer suffered an injury after taking a hard foul on his way to the basket. Miller stayed in the game but then came out the very next possession after giving up an easy layup, where he came away limping following the basket.

The Cardinals continued to wear down the Bearcats over the course of the next few minutes. However, the Bearcats weren’t shying away as they made this a six-point game after Shon Abaev converted the nice scoop and score lay-up.

Then, Mikel Brown took over. The projected NBA Lottery pick knocked down a deep three, then converted a steal on the next defensive possession, resulting in a slam to give the Cardinals a 66-55 lead with 3:25 to go.

Up Next

The Bearcats (4-1) will be back in action on Monday night when they welcome in NJIT (3-2) to Fifth Third Arena with tip-off set for 7pm.