Since he’s been on the job, Wes Miller is 0-for-10 against the Houston Cougars.
Not many coaches in the Big 12 fare well against Kelvin Sampson’s rugged, take-no-prisoners crew. He’s lost just five games in the league in three seasons.
The Cincinnati Bearcats have played Houston 51 times overall and have won 33 of them. But, they’ve dropped the last 13. For perspective, when Mick Cronin left for UCLA, UC’s record against Houston (factoring in Bob Huggins wins) was 32-5. The last UC victory over the Cougars was John Brannen’s team winning 64-62 on Feb. 1, 2020, at Fifth Third Arena, nearly six years ago.
UC just hosted Baylor and Dan Skillings Jr. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, winning by 10, 67-57. It was the fewest points Baylor had scored in a game since being held to 55 by the Houston Cougars. Houston is No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches poll and 10th in Associated Press. The Cougars played at TCU Jan. 28, winning 79-70.
The win over Baylor for UC falls in the Quad 2 category. Obviously, a win over Houston would be a Quad 1, where UC is just 1-7 with the lone win being the Iowa State victory Jan. 17.
Buy Cincinnati Bearcats tickets
Cincinnati Bearcats close calls vs. Houston Cougars
Wes Miller’s teams have never played Houston when they were not ranked. In order, he has faced the Cougars at No. 6, No. 14, No. 18, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, No. 1, No. 4 and No. 10, dropping all nine.
UC has lost by six in 2023, by five in 2024 and by seven this season on Jan. 3.
UC Bearcats banged, bruised
Sencire Harris took a couple of IVs before the Baylor game to overcome illness, but was a no-go in that game. Tyler McKinley has had chronic knee issues and played only in the first half against Baylor. Kerr Kriisa has had ongoing shoulder issues since injuring it in the first Houston game. Kriisa didn’t practice before Baylor, but played almost 10 minutes.
Freshman Shon Abaev was seen by the UC bench on crutches before the game with what is being described as a lower leg injury.
“He’s had such great practices and is starting to figure it out, so I’m heartbroken for him,” Wes Miller said. “There’s a lot of crap going on.”
3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats to win at No. 7/No. 10 Houston
1. UC must finish, finish, finish
(This could be all three keys). On Jan. 28, 2023, at the Fertitta Center, UC had a 43-36 lead on the Cougars, which grew to 60-49 with 11:28 to go in the game. Houston took the lead at 3:51, UC tied it at 1:19 on a David DeJulius 3-pointer, but did not score again with Houston winning 75-69.
On Feb. 10, 2024, UC had a 32-29 halftime lead at Fifth Third Arena and led 38-31 with 17:19 left in the second half. The Cougars came back, UC got within two at 1:41, but Houston prevailed again, 67-62.
Less than a month ago, the Bearcats led 33-28 at halftime, the first time all season Houston had trailed at the break. With 17:09 to go, the Bearcats led by 10, 40-30. A Kingston Flemings 3-pointer put the Cougars up three at 5:25. A Moustapha Thiam dunk tied it at 60 with 3:52 left, but the Bearcats would not score again and fell short for the 13th time in a row against the Cougars, 67-60.
UC finished in the victory over Baylor Wednesday night, but also didn’t make a field goal over the final 7:16.
“We’ve been working really hard at closing games out,” Miller said. “You can hear guys talking about it in timeouts and we’ve worked on it in practice and film sessions. They’re getting better and better. There’s some examples of closing them out here in the last couple weeks: Colorado and Iowa State and against Baylor. At UCF, we did some things like scoring late, but didn’t get the key stop. Saturday night (at Arizona State) was frustrating for us, but outside of that, the last three weeks, this group’s been heading in the right direction.”
2. Cincinnati Bearcats must stop Houston’s guards
That’s been easier said than done for most. Freshman Kingston Flemings had 19 points in the first meeting and Milos Uzan had 18, with the pair combining for six of Houston’s eight 3-pointers. UC was successful on containing senior Emanuel Sharp, who was 0-for-9 from the field. Normally, all three are 35% or better from the perimeter.
Flemings and Sharp had 25 and 23 points, respectively, Jan. 28 at TCU. UC played zone some in the recent win against Baylor, which helped hold Cameron Carr of the Bears to a season-low four points. Carr was averaging over 20 points per game.
3. Toughen up on defense
For the most part, UC has held opponents below their offensive averages but ran into runaway trains in No. 1 Arizona and Arizona State in the somewhat discouraging desert swing.
Not many hold Houston under 70, which UC did on Jan. 3. Only Middle Tennessee State and Notre Dame have kept them below 70 and lost as the Bearcats did. The Cougars have won 15 in a row at Fertitta Center, including all 10 this season. When they pull away, it can be ugly as they’ve defeated Big 12 opponents Baylor by 22, West Virginia by 29 and Arizona State by 30.
Even if UC “D’s up” the truth of the matter is a visiting team will not get the benefit of the doubt on the road against a ranked team, particularly against a Hall of Fame coach. If you’re going to win, you’ll have to take it and run.
Cincinnati Bearcats at Houston Cougars
Tip: Saturday, Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. (Eastern)/11 a.m. (Central) at Fertitta Center (7,100)
TV/Radio: Fox/WLW-AM (700)
Series: UC leads 33-18 (Houston won 67-60 Jan. 3 at Fifth Third Arena)
Houston Cougars scouting report
Record: 18-2 (6-1 Big 12)
Coach: Kelvin Sampson, 12th season, 317-86 (overall 742-313)
Offense: 79.1 ppg
Defense: 62.1 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Kingston Flemings (G, 6’4″, 17.5 ppg)
Emanuel Sharp (G, 6’3″, 16.4 ppg)
Milos Uzan (G, 6’4″, 11. 2 ppg)
Joseph Tugler (F, 6’8″, 8 ppg)
Chris Cenac Jr. (F/C, 6’11”, 9.2 ppg)
Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report
Record: 11-10 (3-5 Big 12)
Coach: Wes Miller (93-69, fifth season; 278-204 overall)
Offense: 72.3 ppg
Defense: 67 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Day Day Thomas (G, 6’1″, 11.2 ppg)
Jizzle James (G, 6’3″, 10.5 ppg)
Sencire Harris (G, 6’4″, 7 ppg)
OR
Jalen Celestine (G/F. 6’7″, 5.9 ppg)
Baba Miller (F, 6’11”, 14 ppg)
Moustapha Thiam (C, 7’2″, 11.2 ppg)
Cincinnati Bearcats, Houston Cougars players to watch
Freshman Kingston Flemings has been phenomenal and has scored as many as 42 points (at Texas Tech Jan. 24). He has dished out as many as nine assists in a game and averages over five per contest in addition to shooting over 50% from the field, 38% from the arc and over 80% from the stripe.
UC best competes when guards Day Day Thomas, Jizzle James and Sencire Harris are playing productive minutes. That did not happen on the trip out west. It did when they beat No. 2 Iowa State as Thomas had 19 points, James had 15 and Harris 12. When they combine for just seven points as they did against No. 1 Arizona, things won’t end well. Any positive minutes from Kerr Kriisa will help.
“We haven’t really had them all healthy and humming,” Miller said of his guards. “Last week (at Arizona and Arizona State) with Day Day and Jizzle, that was out of character. I knew they’d both respond. Keyshuan (Tillery) is really emerging like we thought he could. If we can get everybody healthy and playing, we have a really nice group of guards on this team.”
James had 17 points vs. Baylor and Thomas had eight, which is an improvement, but only equals what Houston’s Flemings had at TCU.
Rankings
KenPom.com: Houston is No. 6, Cincinnati No. 56
NCAA NET: Houston is No. 9, Cincinnati is No. 74
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Scouting report for Cincinnati Bearcats to knock off Top 10 Houston
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
