CINCINNATI — Once-ranked powerhouse BYU was defeated by red-hot Cincinnati 90-68 on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 12,012 at Fifth Third Arena, which was absolutely no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the past few weeks.
It seems ridiculous at this point for some to think that the Cougars, now on a three-game losing streak and nine of their last 13 games, will somehow turn things around and get back to winning ways. BYU’s hopes of getting outside of a double-digit seed in the NCAA tournament took another big hit when another Quad 1 chance fell through.
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In fact, it’s as uninspiring as the Cougars (8-9, 20-10), who are even closer to a first-round game in next week’s Big 12 Tournament.
They should hope they don’t have to face the Bearcats (9-8, 17-13), who play with a sense of urgency and desperation that has been missing from BYU coach Kevin Young’s team over the past month, save for a win over No. 6 Iowa State in a friendly at the Marriott Center.
It’s a sign of a mediocre team, or worse, that it can’t perform as well on the road in front of a raucous crowd as it does at home, and that’s certainly true for BYU.
Looking to make up for a 79-71 loss to unranked West Virginia three days ago, the Cougars looked more lost on defense, more disorganized on offense and as bad as at any time this season on Tuesday.
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“We got into trouble early in the game with bad offense,” Young said. “They led by 13 points in the first half because of turnovers and that continued in the second half.
“We were down 21-4 because of turnovers. It’s hard to win. We just weren’t careful with the ball.”
At the same time, the Cincinnati team playing at home played hot and passionate, beating BYU 50-50 all night and taking advantage of various mismatched opportunities to win on the road.
Of course, BYU superstar freshman AJ Dybantsa scored a game-high 23 points, but he had to take 21 shots to get there and was 1-of-8 from 3-point range.
Point guard Rob Wright scored 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting but didn’t have an assist in 32 minutes.
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That just doesn’t win basketball.
Wright (four) and DiBanza combined for nine of BYU’s 15 turnovers, and as Young pointed out, Cincy’s turnovers turned into 21 points.
In another soft defensive game against BYU, Cincy committed just seven turnovers, several of which came in the final minutes.
“They just took the ball away from us. Really, that’s the bottom line,” Young said. “We have to do a better job of decision-making.
“That’s an area we’ve been working on. I mean, Rob and AJ ran the ball a lot. They had nine turnovers between the two of them, so that needs to improve.”
The Cougars did improve on the glass, which was a major culprit in their loss to West Virginia, which is saying something considering Cincy has one of the tallest frontcourts in the Big 12 — led by Bubba Miller and Mustapha Thiam.
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The two scored a combined 31 points and 21 rebounds, completely dominating the interior. Super senior Day Day Thomas contributed 12 points, Jizzle James and Jalen Celestine each contributed 18 points, and five Bearcats scored in double figures.
Young said he’s excited to see Thomas and James move forward, a backcourt duo that also defeated the Cougars here last year.
What will it take for the Cougars — who are pretty much a two-man team without Richie Sanders — to achieve that balance.
Newcomer Alexei Kostic is coming off the bench – he came off the bench and scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but starter Khadim Mbupou did not score in 12 minutes, starting center Koba Keita was almost non-existent offensively, scoring 2 points and 4 fouls in 21 minutes, while Kennard Davis Jr. only had 6 points and one rebound in 21 minutes.
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Young became so desperate that he turned to seldom-used Dominique Diomande for 13 minutes. The Washington transfer defended well and had five rebounds, but it was too late to count on him.
At times, DiBanza tried to do too much and it looked like both he and Wright were wearing down. Both men missed a lot of their usual shots.
“It wasn’t good,” DiBanza said when asked how he responded to Cal’s double teams and constant harassment. “Just turning the ball over, careless passes, not having enough power on the ball. They were just physical. I thought I was getting to my spot.
“I could have settled down. I mean, I think I did settle for tough (shooting) at times…For the most part, I had a good look, but I just wanted to be more physical on the ball and not make stupid mistakes again.”
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If there’s one stat that represents this game (besides points from turnovers), it’s UC’s 12 fast break points to BYU’s 2 points. Nothing excites a home crowd like steals and fast-break dunks, and Cal has plenty of them.
Nothing comes easy for BYU’s offense. The Cougars shot 41 percent from the field, 29 percent from 3-point range, and shot almost as high a free throw percentage as the Bearcats, but couldn’t make much.
They are 13 of 19 at the charity stripe.
DiBanza appeared in eight games in 11 games and received chants of “overrated” or “Boozer is better” almost every time he appeared at the free throw line.
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Cincinnati continued to come out firing in the final seconds — Celestine’s 3-pointer with 56 seconds left gave the team a 19-second lead — but Young had nothing but praise for the Bearcats, who played like a team that could do some damage in the Big 12 Tournament.
Brigham Young University is not.
“You have to give Wes (Miller) a lot of credit,” Young said. “He felt the same way I feel now a few weeks ago. He’s a competitive guy.
“He’s a good coach and he’s done a great job of finding a rhythm for this particular team that he’s playing for now.”
Offensive tempo is no longer in BYU’s vocabulary. DiBanza, who scored more than 20 points for the 23rd time this season, and Wright were Young’s only options. One problem moving forward is that some are regressing rather than improving, like Mihailo Boskovic and Keita.
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Of course, the poor start continues to plague the Cougars. BYU’s first-half woes always seem to have a different reason, and tonight it was turnovers. The Cougars scored 10 points in the first half and Cincy turned it into 13.
Dibansa was under too much pressure in the first half and made 5 turnovers. He scored 8 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists.
He made 3 of 11 shots in the first half and 0 of 4 three-pointers.
Young used his seventh different starting lineup this season, but to no avail. Cincinnati went on a 14-2 run early in the first half to take control of the game, engage the crowd and force Young to take a timeout to stem the bleeding.
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With less than five minutes left in the half, BYU trailed by 16 points, 37-21, before Kostic hit a few baskets late in the half to make it 43-31 at the break.
The Cougars stepped up defensively in the final minutes of the first half but couldn’t sustain it into the second half.
As a result, the Cougars turn their attention to Saturday’s home finale against No. 16 Texas Tech, which was defeated by TCU in Lubbock on Tuesday night.
Young said his message to the Cougars after the frustrating loss was simple.
“I just hope our players continue to believe in each other and believe in themselves,” he said.
Not many others are currently doing this, for obvious reasons.