What we learned from Cincinnati Bearcats loss in road game at West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – In their first meeting in a dozen years, the Cincinnati Bearcats could have silenced the quietest road crowd they had heard all year. Instead, after taking a 60-50 lead on a Simas Lukošius bucket with 6:29 to go, they were outscored 19-5 down the stretch and fell 69-65 to the Mountaineers.

The 10,349 at WVU Coliseum whooped it up at the end.

Lukošius had given UC one last lead at 63-62 with 1:29 left but West Virginia answered almost immediately with a RaeQuan Battle 3-pointer and prevailed from there.

"I'm extremely disappointed and frustrated with the way we finished the game," UC coach Wes Miller said. "We've got to be able to close games out with a 10-point lead and six minutes left. That's inexcusable and that falls on the coach sitting in this chair. I've got to do a better job preparing my team. We blew an opportunity on the road. That's really disappointing."

While the Mountaineers have a losing record at 8-13 (3-5 Big 12) their previous two home victories came against ranked Big 12 teams in Kansas and Texas.

"The physicality they (UC) play with remains me of those old Big East rivalries," West Virginia interim coach Josh Eilert said. "It was a huge challenge with us as well as they rebound it to come out here with a victory. We were down 10. I think that's the first time all year with a double-digit deficit that we had enough resolve, enough resilience, enough poise to make that comeback and get a victory."

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The Bearcats fall to 14-7 (3-5 Big 12). Dan Skillings Jr. led UC with 15 points, Lukošius had 13, and Day Day Thomas had 12.

5 reasons the Bearcats left Morgantown with an L

1. West Virginia recovered from a double-digit deficit

The Mountaineers have not fared well when down by double-digits but that came to a screeching halt Wednesday. After the Lukošius basket put UC up 60-50, West Virginia tied the game in just over three minutes. Five minutes would pass before Lukošius nailed a 3-pointer giving UC its last lead at 63-62. Then, just 25 seconds later, Battle knocked down the biggest shot of the game for WVU putting them in the lead for good.

"We do great at the Coliseum," Battle said. "We just want to keep going and stay the course and carry that over to more away games."

2. The halftime lead didn't matter

The Bearcats led 27-23 at halftime, their first lead at the break since Dec. 22 vs. Stetson. They started the first half up 7-2, then didn't score for 4:11 before clawing back. In the second half, a Thomas trey had UC up 30-23 before the Bearcats went cold again. The game would be tied seven times with 12 lead changes, but the Mountaineers left in the win column.

3. Rebounds are deceiving

UC outrebounded Kansas 40-29 Jan. 22 and lost by five. They outboarded West Virginia 42-33, including 18 offensive rebounds, but lost by four. WVU led in the paint 34-30, largely thanks to Jesse Edwards, who just returned to WVU a game ago. The 6-foot-11 center had 25 points and 10 rebounds despite making just 3-of-9 free throws with a bad wrist. West Virginia shot 28 free throws to UC's eight, making 16.

Edwards went over the 1,000-point mark in his career in the game.

"This is right up there," Edwards said. "It (the win) means a lot to us."

Said Miller of Edwards, "He got behind us numerous times and gave us a ton of problems in the ball screen. He's a terrific roll threat, ball screen, terrific offensive rebounder and we didn't do a good job. When you have a combination of all those things, there's going to be problems."

4. Lakhin back, minus the points

Viktor Lakhin was back after illness but did not appear to be on his game. He had just three rebounds and didn't score for the first time since Feb. 20, 2022 when he played just four minutes against Temple.

5. John Newman III went down

After West Virginia's Edwards made a layup late in the game, UC's Newman went down. UC's medical staff attended to him and he was able to walk off on his own. The injury was called a "bad bruise" in the rib area pending further review in Cincinnati. Minus the man Coach Miller calls a "warrior," UC did battle back, but it's tough to recover from losing arguably your toughest guy.

Hello Huggs

Former UC and West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has been attending Mountaineers games and was present Wednesday night with his wife and daughters. Huggins was greeted by several former players, including Terry Nelson who put him on 700WLW radio with Dan Hoard. Steve Logan and Leonard Stokes also made the trip and former Bearcat DerMarr Johnson is on the Mountaineers staff.

The officials on the night also came off the floor to greet Huggins.

"They've always liked me," Huggins said.

The 70-year-old Huggins wore a gold Mountaineer pullover and displayed noticeable weight loss. When asked if he would coach again, he merely shrugged with an "I don't know" look on his face.

Next game

The Bearcats are in Lubbock, Texas at 6 p.m. (Eastern) on Saturday vs. No. 15 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders lost at No. 25 TCU 85-78 Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big 12 basketball Cincinnati Bearcats lose at West Virginia