Connect with us

WVU Basketball

WVU Basketball Meets Cincinnati Amidst Similar Skids

Published

on

wvu basketball cincinnati
Image credit to Cincinnati Athletics

WVU basketball and Cincinnati find themselves in similar unenvious positions heading into Sunday’s meeting in the Queen City. The Mountaineers (13-7, 4-5 Big 12) and Bearcats (12-8, 2-7) have each lost three games in a row and have a losing record in the month of January.

“I’d like to take the month of damn January and throw it the hell away,” Cincinnati coach Wes Miller quipped Thursday.

After starting the season 10-1, Cincinnati has lost seven of its last nine games, all in conference play. UC’s only Big 12 wins came against Arizona State and Colorado, teams that find themselves with similarly dire conference records.

“I think our guys are hungry, I think they want it badly,” Miller said. “This group is learning what that takes in the Big 12 and we have to learn quickly.”

UC is returning home from a road trip in which the Bearcats dropped both games at BYU, 80-52, and at Utah, 69-66. UC lost to Texas Tech, 81-71, in it’s last home game.

West Virginia, meanwhile, has lost five of its last seven games, going just 3-5 in the month of January despite appearing in the top 25 rankings twice. The Mountaineers have lost to Arizona State, Kansas State and Houston in its losing streak.

The teams meet Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN+) in Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Area, where one of their three-game losing streaks will come to an end.

While the Mountaineers’ recent skid can be blamed on offense — the team is shooting 12-68 (17.4%) on three-pointers during this skid — defense has been the Bearcats’ biggest issue lately.

Opponents have shot over 45% from the floor and at least 38% from three in each of UC’s three most recent losses. In an 80-52 loss to BYU last week, the Cougars were 15-24 from range against the Bearcats, making 11 second-half three-pointers.

And like WVU, Cincinnati’s offense hasn’t been consistent. There have been games where the three-point shooting isn’t there, UC was 3-14 from range against Texas Tech despite shooting 51.9% overall, and there have been games where three-point shooting is all they’ve got, the Bearcats were 8-22 from deep against Utah despite shooting just 39.3% from the floor.

Miller is in his fourth season as Cincinnati’s coach while the Bearcats are in the second season as a member of the Big 12.

“I want to win every damn game and I want our players to have success,” he said. “But it is an opportunity to really learn and grow and find the competitive edge we expect in this program.”

UC is 9-18 in Big 12 play since it joined the conference. Like this season, Cincinnati began the 2022-23 season with a 14-2 record before going through a 4-10 stretch in conference play.

“It’s probably simple in an answer, but the process isn’t simple,” Miller said. “The frustration stems from not finding the results that you want to find.”

Cincinnati beat WVU three times last season, 69-65 in Morgantown, 92-56 in the regular-season final and 90-85 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Sunday’s game if the first of two meetings this year between the former Big East foes.

For a related story, Kelvin Sampson offers honest assessment of WVU basketball under Darian DeVries.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get WVSN in your mailbox!

Enter your email address to subscribe to WVSN and receive notifications of new posts by email.