Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Wes Miller coaches in the second half of the NCAA basketball game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Saturda

BYU bested Cincinnati’s elite defense. Going into the matchup, the Bearcats had held opponents to just a 28% shooting clip from 3-point range as KenPom’s No. 9-ranked overall defensive unit in the country.

Cincinnati Bearcats basketball began January 2025 ranked No.16 and has plummeted out of the polls. Scott Springer takes a look at why.

It will be extremely difficult to knock off the Cougars in the mountains. BYU is 9-1 at home and 2-1 in Quad 2 games, as Cincinnati fits that distinction being a team ranked outside the NET's top 30. The Bearcats are 2-1 against BYU since the 1949-50 season, winning by an average of 11 points.

The Bearcats dropped another conference conference game on Saturday night 80-52 to BYU. The Cougars stifled Cincinnati's offensive sets all game and used hot three-point shooting (15-24) to cruise to what tied for the worst losing margin of the Wes Miller era.