It’ll be a homecoming of sorts when Cincinnati plays hosts to Baylor on Wednesday night in a Big 12 contest featuring a pair of struggling teams.
Former Cincinnati star wing Dan Skillings Jr. returns to the place he called home for the previous three seasons before entering the transfer portal last spring and transferring to Baylor.
“I am looking forward to playing in Cincinnati,” Skillings said. “I love the city and I love the fans and it will be a very emotional game.”
Skillings is averaging 10.3 points in his 18 games this season for the Bears, tied with Isaac Williams IV for fourth on the team. Cameron Carr leads Baylor at 20.4 points per game while Tounde Yessoufou is averaging 17.7 and Obi Agbim is scoring at a clip of 10.7 points per contest.
Baylor (11-8, 1-6 Big 12) opened the season 10-2 but has dropped six of seven since opening Big 12 play, including three straight entering Wednesday. Baylor’s only conference win this season came on the road at Oklahoma State on Jan. 13.
In its last game on Saturday, Baylor fell at home to TCU, 97-90, committing 18 turnovers and losing despite shooting 50 percent from the field and outrebounding TCU, 37-24.
“(Eighteen) turnovers, you can’t win,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “So, we got to get better with the execution. Defensively, we got to get more stops.”
Cincinnati (10-10, 2-5) enters the game having been swept in an Arizona doubleheader spanning four days last week. The Bearcats lost 77-51 to No. 1 and unbeaten Arizona on Wednesday in Tucson.
Then on Saturday night, they were beaten by Arizona State, 82-68, in Tempe. Adding to the misery of the trip, the team had to stay an extra day in Arizona due to the snowstorm back in Cincinnati.
Arizona State closed the game on a 16-5 run over the final five minutes while Cincinnati went 1-of-10 from the field to finish the contest. Baba Miller led the Bearcats with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while also adding nine rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Moustapha Thiam added 15 points and six boards.
“We just didn’t play at the level we know we can play,” Miller said. “We just got to get better and climb out of this hole we’re digging ourselves into. We all have faith. The season hasn’t been going the way we all wanted it to be.”
–Field Level Media
