Cincinnati rolls past West Virginia with big 2nd half

Field Level Media|published: Sat 9th March, 16:18 2024

Mar 9, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Dan Skillings Jr. (0) drives to the basket against West Virginia Mountaineers guard Kerr Kriisa (3) in the first half at Fifth Third Arena. credits: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

John Newman III celebrated his final home game with 14 points as the Cincinnati Bearcats routed the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers 92-56 in the Big 12 regular season finale for both teams.

Newman, a graduate student, was honored on Senior Day along with senior Ody Oguama, who finished with two points.

Cincinnati dominated West Virginia's big men inside, outscoring the Mountaineers 48-14 in the paint and avenged a 69-65 loss on Jan. 31.

The 36-point win was the biggest conference win of the season for Cincinnati (18-13, 7-11), which rebounded from blowing a double-digit lead on Tuesday night at Oklahoma.

Dan Skillings Jr. led the Bearcats with 17 points while Jamille Reynolds added 13.

Cincinnati outscored West Virginia 56-27 in the second half.

Noah Farrakhan had 12 points to lead West Virginia (9-22, 4-14), which endured its 22nd loss of the season and established the mark for futility in West Virginia basketball, eclipsing the 21 defeats suffered by the 2018-19 team.

Jesse Edwards, coming off a 36-point effort in a loss to TCU on Wednesday night, was held to just eight points.

Saturday marked the fifth time in its past nine games that West Virginia allowed at least 90 points in a game.

The back-and-forth first half featured several momentum swings. After Day Day Thomas tipped the ball into Cincinnati's own basket for West Virginia's first points, the Bearcats ran off the next nine points, featuring a pair of field goals from Aziz Bandaogo and a three from Simas Lukosius.

West Virginia rallied with a 10-2 run to take a 12-11 lead.

With the game tied at 19, Cincinnati surged to a 17-3 spurt to take a 36-22 lead, capped by a Newman layup with 2:07 left.

West Virginia answered with the final seven points of the first half to cut Cincinnati's lead to seven, 36-29.

Cincinnati big man Viktor Lakhin missed a second straight game with a right ankle injury.

Bob Huggins, who coached both schools to the Final Four during his Hall of Fame career, was on hand for the game, as was former Cincinnati All-American star Kenyon Martin.

-Field Level Media