Cincinnati Bearcats beat Bryant to rebound from Crosstown Shootout loss at Xavier

The bad taste won't dissipate soon, but three days after losing their fifth straight Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout to Xavier, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats entered the win column yet again with an 85-53 victory over Bryant University.

UC's 7-footer Aziz Bandaogo had a double-double and a stat line not seen in Fifth Third Arena for a while with 12 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks. C.J. Fredrick recovered from his scoreless game Saturday with a team-high 14 points and John Newman III, Dan Skillings Jr. and Jizzle James had 11 each.

UC pretties up a game that began flat

Looking like they were still shell-shocked from the Xavier loss, the Bearcats went over five minutes without a field goal to start. Bryant led 5-1 at the first timeout with a lone free throw from Lakhin being the only score. A 3-pointer by C.J. Fredrick broke the seal at 14:58 of the first half, plus he was fouled and sank the free throw.

UC's halftime lead was only three and they missed treys, lay-ups and dunks and turned the ball over carelessly. Still, on a night when they seemingly couldn't throw the ball in the ocean for a while, they upped their record to 8-1 against a team that had knocked off then-No. 10 Florida Atlantic, a 2023 Final Four team, last month.

On the other hand, Xavier plowed Bryant 100-75 on Nov. 24. But, what had the makings of a close game into the second half turned into a 32-point blowout enabling the 9,303 fans at Fifth Third Arena to hit the exits early.

"This group's pissed!" UC coach Wes Miller said. "This group took that (Xavier) loss harder than any team I've had take a loss since I've been here. We addressed some things from that game that maybe had us gun shy or maybe not as confident tonight."

Takeaways from Tuesday's triumphant tilt

A final flurry covers the spread

UC began the day a 20.5-point favorite in the game but didn't take a 10-point lead until Day Day Thomas made a pull-up 3-pointer with 7:28 left. Bryant would take it under 10 again but the Bearcats went up by double digits for good on a pair of Fredrick free throws with 6:29 left. Three minutes later UC led by 20 and the 32-point difference at the buzzer more than covered the spread. Their biggest run of 18-0 came at the end of the game.

"We had plenty of chances early, it just felt like one of those nights where nothing was going our way," Miller said. "I thought we handled it much better in the second half and eventually you find a way to bust the game open."

Trio of shooters right the ship

Against Xavier, Fredrick, Skillings and Simas Lukošius went a combined 2-for-20 for a total of four points. Tuesday, Fredrick took high honors with 14 points and three trifectas, Skillings had 11 and Lukošius seven with five rebounds for a total of 32 points, closer to their average. UC shot 40.3% on the night, their lowest of the season, but were a torrid 59.3% in the second half.

"Obviously it was disappointing to lose that game (Xavier) we all wanted that one, but in a 30-game season you've got to quickly move on," Fredrick said. "At halftime we regrouped and I thought we did a much better job of handling the chaotic nature of the game in the second half."

Bigs bang boards

UC outrebounded Bryant 57-33 and Bandaogo's 17 are the most by a Bearcat since Trevon Scott had 21 against UCF on Feb. 19, 2020. It ties his career high and is the third time he's reached 17. It's his 18th career double-double and first as a Bearcat. Lakhin added a dozen boards.

"The first half wasn't really that good so the second half I tried to give everything I had for the team," Bandaogo said.

Charity begins at home

Miller's men got to the charity stripe 37 times, making 29 for 78.4% Tuesday compared to Bryant's 4-for-9. If Bryant's strategy was to foul Bandaogo to prevent slams, he made them pay by making 8-for-12. Seven of Skilling's 11 points also came at the free-throw line.

UC defense gets it done

Playing a team that had scored 140 and 108 points in early season games, Bryant's 53 points were a season-low. The Bearcats had 10 blocks with Bandaogo and Skillings combining for six. Even though UC didn't shoot their best, they held the Bulldogs to 31.8% for the game and 25.9% from the arc.

"Sometimes you have to put his (Bandaogo's) development in perspective," Miller said. "This time last year was the first time he had success at any level of basketball. The year before when he was at Akron, he didn't play. He wasn't even getting in the games."

Next up for Cincinnati Bearcats

UC has a 7 p.m. tip with Dayton at Heritage Bank Arena on Saturday, Dec. 16. The Flyers beat Troy last Saturday and are 7-2.

"We get a chance against a big-time team," Miller said of Dayton. "A team that's going to play in the NCAA tournament, a team that's top 30-40 in college basketball no matter how you look at it."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats beat Bryant to rebound after loss to Xavier