Cincinnati Bearcats basketball goes cold, suffers 1st loss of the season at NKU

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – It wasn't rocket science. In fact, it was quite simple for University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach Wes Miller.

"You score 11 points in a half, it's going to be hard to win a basketball game in college basketball," he said.

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Miller's Bearcats went ice cold in the second half and suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday night, falling to Northern Kentucky 64-51 in front of a sold-out crowd inside NKU's Truist Arena.

It was UC's first loss to the Norse in nine all-time meetings.

After working its way to a 40-36 lead at halftime, Cincinnati (3-1) shot just 14% (4-for-29) from the field in the second half. The Bearcats committed seven of their 11 total turnovers after intermission, and NKU (2-1) tallied seven second-half blocks en route to outscoring the Bearcats 28-11.

"I told the guys in the locker room, the first thing that you do when that happens is look in the mirror as a coach," Miller said. "What did I not do to prepare us to play against the match zone?"

The Norse opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to grab the early lead. They surged ahead 8-1 before Viktor Lakhin scored the first field goal for the Bearcats at the 17:04 mark.

Cincinnati freshman guard Josh Reed checked in for his college debut and promptly grabbed an offensive rebound, scored on a putback and drew a foul (missed the free throw). Reed then knocked down a jumper from beyond the arc to pull the Bearcats within 19-15 with 12:28 to play in the opening half.

"He's going to be a terrific player," Miller said of the 6-foot-7, 220-pound freshman. "I think anybody that saw his nine minutes tonight sees why. He's a terrific, young player."

NKU extended its lead to 30-22 below the 8:00 mark after sinking four of its first five attempts from deep. But the Bearcats countered with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 30 apiece, forcing Norse coach Darrin Horn to call a timeout with 6:02 remaining.

"Boy, I thought we had some good moments in the first half," Miller said. "I was proud at how we dug back in and made some tough shots early."

Kalu Ezikpe dropped in a shot off the bench to put Cincinnati up 36-34 with 2:20 left before halftime. It was UC's first lead of the night.

The Bearcats took a four-point lead into the locker room.

The Norse scored the first eight points of the second half, prompting Miller to call a timeout to stop the bleeding.

But NKU continued to put pressure on the Bearcats on one end with its zone defense and then capitalize on the other end. Trevon Faulkner sank a 3-pointer to put the Norse up 51-42 with 12:34 to play.

Rob Phinisee found Jeremiah Davenport who knocked down a 3-point shot to bring Cincinnati within seven, 55-48, with 8:57 remaining. And then both teams went cold.

The score stayed the same until Lakhin hit the second of two free throws with 5:34 left.

NKU grabbed a 59-49 lead around the 4:00 mark and never looked back.

While the Bearcats had no players score in double figures, the Norse had three double-digit scorers. Junior guard Marques Warrick led all scorers with 22 points, sophomore guard Sam Vinson added 15, and senior forward Chris Brandon finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds.

"We talked about him," Miller said of Brandon. "If you quizzed the guys multiple times, the first thing they would've said about him is 'rebounding.' I think he had two offensive rebounds at halftime. I was pleased with that. He's an elite offensive rebounder. ... I was worried about him, and he was phenomenal tonight. ... I felt like he was all over the damn place. Give him a ton of credit."

Freshman guard Dan Skillings Jr. dressed but did not play after rolling his ankle Sunday against Eastern Kentucky.

"Daniel Skillings didn't practice yesterday (Tuesday) after a sprained ankle," Miller said. "He felt good enough to go today, but that's not fair to put him in that position. He didn't go through any of the scouting or he didn't go through any of the preparation. Three games into his career, he's still learning. So, I didn't think it was fair."

The Bearcats will look to bounce back in Hawaii when they take on No. 14/12 (Associated Press/coaches) Arizona in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. Tipoff is set for 11: 30 p.m. ET Monday on ESPN2. The tournament field also includes No. 9/10 Arkansas, No. 10/9 Creighton, No. 17/19 San Diego State, No. 23/22 Texas Tech, Ohio State and Louisville.

"We've got a day off tomorrow (Thursday) just to kind of decompress," said UC guard David DeJulius, who scored nine points Wednesday, well below his 21.3 points-per-game average. "We've got practice and then we leave Saturday. So, there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves at this point. It sucks. But we all understand how big this week is for us and the totality of our season."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati basketball: Bearcats fall to NKU