Lethargic Buffs fall to Bearcats in Cincinnati

Junior Barrington Hargress controlling the floor against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The guard scored 14 points and dished out three assists in the loss. (Photo by CUBuffsMBB/X)    

The Cincinnati Bearcats (9-8, 1-3 Big 12) defended homecourt against the Colorado Buffaloes (12-5, 2-2 Big 12) on Wednesday night, as they beat the Buffs 77 to 68 and captured their first conference win of the season. 

The Bearcats completely shut down the Buffaloes ' offense with their aggressive style of defense that converted 17 Colorado turnovers into 30 points.

Forward Baba Miller dominated Colorado’s bigs in the paint and led all scorers in the game with 25 points. The senior had his eighth double-double of the year, and finished as the game's leading rebounder (11), while throwing out four assists and blocking two shots. 

To start the game, the Buffaloes committed four turnovers on their first four possessions of the game, leaving the Bearcats an opportunity to pounce. They did just that, scoring 8 points off those miscues and starting the game 5-for-5 from the floor. 

A combination of sloppy turnovers, poor effort on defense and stagnant offense led to an early 16-point deficit for the Buffaloes (8 - 24).

“Tonight we just got punched in the mouth,” head coach Tad Boyle said after the game. “We have to be tougher, because in this league, especially on the road, if you don’t play with toughness mentally and physically, you have no chance.”

Miller gashed Colorado early, scoring eight points on 4-for-5 from the field and center Moustapha Thiam poured on six more points, making two buckets down low and two free throws. 

At the halfway mark of the first half, the Buffaloes were losing in nearly every statistical category of the game. 

Field goal percentage was the most lopsided category, with the Bearcats (65%) shooting much more efficiently than the Buffaloes (31%) through the first 10 minutes. 

The Buffaloes were unable to chip into the lead and headed into halftime down 18 points without  any member of the squad having more than five points. 

“We lost this game in the first half, there is no doubt about it,” Boyle said. 

Colorado showed grit in the second half, fighting its hardest to keep the score within reason. Slowly but surely, the Buffaloes' defense started to string together stops and buckets started falling for freshman Isaiah Johnson. 

The phenom guard scored 16 points in the second half on 85 percent from the floor, single-handedly keeping the Buffs in the game. 

Back-to-back offensive fouls on the Bearcats helped the Buffaloes cut the deficit to seven points with eight minutes left in the game, but with Cincinnati already in the bonus and Colorado star Sebastian Rancik having four fouls, the odds were not in the Buffs' favor. 

With 90 seconds left until the final buzzer, forward Bangot Dak made a second-chance three-pointer and guard Barrington Hargress followed with one of his own to cut the deficit to four points, but that was the closest the black and gold would get.   

Despite outscoring the Bearcats by nine points in the second half, the 21-point deficit proved to be too much for the Buffaloes to overcome. 

Dak finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal, but don’t be fooled by the impressive stat line. Dak still has strides to make on the defensive end, especially on the glass, before he reaches his full potential. 

“We had some guys that are capable players that didn’t play well tonight,” Boyle said. “They [Cincinnati] struggled offensively; their numbers show it. But we didn’t make them struggle offensively in the first half. 

Colorado has three days to rest and assess the loss before traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia, to take on the Mountaineers (11-6, 2-2 Big 12) on Saturday at 4 pm MT. (CBS Sports)