No. 11 Kansas upends Cincinnati in defensive battle

Hunter Dickinson had 14 points and 12 rebounds and No. 11 Kansas displayed stifling second-half defense to post a 54-40 Big 12 win over host Cincinnati on Saturday.

Kansas (12-3, 3-1) overcame 2-for-21 shooting from beyond the arc to record their third straight win and fifth in six contests. The Jayhawks shot 35.3 percent from the field.

Dillon Mitchell had 10 points and was the only player in double figures for Cincinnati (10-5, 0-4), which shot just 3-for-22 from 3-point range and 30.5 percent from the field.

Both teams went through ice-cold stretches in the second half. Cincinnati didn't register a second-half basket until Arrinten Page hit a jumper with 14:27 left while Kansas went four minutes without a basket early in the second half.

For the second straight game and third time in four outings, Kansas faced a halftime deficit. But as they did in their previous win over Arizona State, when they held the Sun Devils to 13 second-half points, the Jayhawks turned up the defensive intensity in the second half. Kansas outscored Arizona State 38-13 on Wednesday and outscored Cincinnati 30-15.

An alley-oop dunk by Shakeel Moore on a Zeke Mayo lob highlighted a 14-0 run that helped the Jayhawks seal the game. Kansas led 52-37 after that spurt.

After Cincinnati raced out to an 8-2 lead before an energized capacity home crowd, the Jayhawks answered with eight straight points to take a brief lead.

Trailing 12-10, Cincinnati went on an 11-2 spurt to take its biggest lead of the first half at 21-14. The Bearcats capitalized on six first-half steals to take a pair of seven-point leads but missed 7 of 8 shots to close the half and converted just two field goals in the final 6 1/2 minutes.

In the first half, both teams were off the mark from beyond the arc as Kansas converted just 2 of 9 while Cincinnati drained just 1 of 9. Kansas closed the half on an 8-2 run that narrowed Cincinnati's lead to 25-24 at the break.

--Field Level Media