It’s back-to-back home games in the Big 12 for the Cincinnati Bearcats for the first time this season when Texas Tech visits Fifth Third Arena for the first time in school history. The Red Raiders’ visit is an opportunity for UC basketball to notch a much-desired and coveted Quad 1 victory.
Both teams are coming off Saturday wins. The Bearcats bounced Arizona State 67-60 to make it two wins in a row in the Big 12. Texas Tech whipped Arizona in Lubbock, 70-54 for its fourth Big 12 victory.
(Again) What is a Quad 1 win?
It’s considered by the NCAA a top-quality win against a top-quality opponent, based on numerical ratings. Where the game is played and who is the “home” team is also considered. Even though UC beat Dayton when they were No. 22, it still was just a Quad 2 win based on the Flyers’ current NCAA NET rank. The road win at Colorado is also a Quad 2 along with the win over Xavier in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. UC missed Quad 1 opportunities by losing to Villanova, Arizona, Baylor and Kansas. Texas Tech is 3-2 in Quad 1 games.
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Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
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Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
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Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
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Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
Favorable February for Cincinnati Bearcats
After playing four road games in January, one in the Central Time Zone (Baylor) and three in Mountain Time (Colorado, BYU, Utah), UC will only be on the road three times next month. Two are in Eastern Time (UCF and West Virginia), with a Central Time game at Iowa State sandwiched between. They also have five home games, including a pair of back-to-back dates with BYU and Utah on Feb. 8 and 11 and TCU and Baylor on Feb. 22 and 25.
“We’re playing 20 games this year in 10 weeks, no byes,” Miller said. “That creates its own challenge on coaches and really the players. To make a deal out of it, that it has any impact? For 20 league games, everybody’s doing the exact same thing. To me, there’s no point in even worrying about it. It’s equal. Everybody’s got to go through it.”
3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats basketball to win vs. Texas Tech
1. UC must keep Texas Tech Red Raiders below 70
The Red Raiders are 8-2 when scoring 80 or more points with the two losses being nip-and-tuck games with UCF and No. 2 Iowa State at home. Texas A&M beat them 71-67 at a neutral site in Fort Worth. They did beat Kansas State in a slower-paced game 61-57, coming back from a two-point deficit at halftime in Manhattan. Currently, it would be in UC’s best interest to keep the score down and win ugly. There aren’t many “pretty” losses.
So far, UC has kept each Big 12 opponent under its season average in points. However, the Bearcats haven’t scored 70 or more points since scoring 84 against Grambling State on Dec. 22.
“What I’d say to our players is, you have an eight-minute stretch, you don’t score and you damn win a Big 12 game,” Miller said. “Keep getting it out (of) the mud. Just keep competing, keep playing the next play.”
UC shot over 52% in its first five games, then 45% vs. Alabama State. Since then, they’ve only been over 40% four times, including Saturday’s 41.7% against Arizona State. They held the Sun Devils to 35.5%.
2. Make Texas Tech succumb to home-court advantage
UC had one of its better wins of last season in Lubbock, taking down the No. 15 Red Raiders 75-72 as Simas Lukošius, Dan Skillings and Aziz Bandaogo all hit in double figures. Coach Grant McCasland will surely remind his team of that, plus the Red Raiders have been resilient on the road. Thus far, they’ve lost two neutral contests but are 3-0 in true Big 12 road games, winning at Utah, BYU and Kansas State.
It’s Texas Tech’s first visit to Cincinnati as they played in United Supermarkets Arena last year and against the 1961 national championship team in the NCAA Tournament in Lawrence, Kansas nearly 64 years ago.
3. Cincinnati Bearcats must stop Texas Tech’s inside presence
J.T. Toppin and Darrion Williams are averaging a combined 32 points and 15 rebounds for Texas Tech. Toppin alone had 20 points and 16 rebounds against Arizona, as the Red Raiders dominated the backboards, 50-34. Only BYU and Kansas State have kept the 6-foot-9 Toppin in single digits this season, and the Red Raiders eked out close wins. Williams played 37 of the 40 minutes in last year’s game. In losses to UCF and Texas A&M, he was held to 11 points and has only been below double digits twice.
“When you can team rebound like this you can win in the Big 12, even on nights when you don’t shoot it great,” Coach McCasland said of Saturday’s numbers on the glass. “Fifty rebounds to 34 says a lot about the grit our team played with.”
Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders scouting report
Tip: Tuesday 7 p.m. Fifth Third Arena (12,012)
TV/Radio: ESPN2/ESPNU/700WLW
Series: Cincinnati leads 2-0 (UC won 75-72 Feb. 3, 2024 in Lubbock)
Texas Tech Red Raiders scouting report
Record: 13-4 (4-2 Big 12)
Coach: Grant McCasland (second season, 36-15)
Offense: 83.1 ppg
Defense: 65.4 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Darrion Williams (F, 6’6″, 15.6 ppg)
Elijah Hawkins (G, 5’11”, 9.1 ppg)
J.T. Toppin (F, 6’9″, 16. 6 ppg)
Chance McMillian (G, 6’3″, 14.9 ppg)
Kerwin Walton (G, 6’5″, 4.4 ppg)
Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report
Record: 12-5 (2-4 Big 12)
Coach: Wes Miller (fourth season, 75-48, overall 260-183)
Offense: 72.4 ppg
Defense: 60.6 ppg
Projected starters
(Position, Height, Stats)
Simas Lukošius (G-F, 6’8″, 12.4 ppg)
Dan Skillings Jr. (G-F, 6’6″, 12.4 ppg)
Dillon Mitchell (F, 6’8″, 11.1 ppg)
Jizzle James (G, 6’3″, 10.3 ppg)
Aziz Bandaogo (C, 7′, 8.1 ppg)
Players to watch
As mentioned, Darrion Williams returns for Texas Tech and rarely comes off the floor. J.T. Toppin was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year last season at New Mexico and now has joined Williams to average a combined 32 points per game for the Red Raiders. Toppin has six double-doubles for the Red Raiders.
For UC, Dillon Mitchell led the scoring against Arizona State with 14 points and has only been below double digits in three games (including losses at Villanova and Baylor). He is a key motivator with his dazzling dunks but will be needed on the glass in this game as Texas Tech outrebounds opponents by nearly eight per game. Though winning, UC’s been outrebounded the past two games and Mitchell’s last double-figure game on the boards was 11 in the loss at Kansas State Dec. 30,
“Coach knows what I’m good at, he knows all my strengths,” Mitchell said. “He puts me in the best situations to be successful, not only for myself but for the team. I’ll do whatever he needs me to do to help win games. If it’s screening, picking and rolling, whatever it is, just being versatile on both sides of the ball is the biggest thing.”
Rankings
KenPom.com: Texas Tech is No. 12, Cincinnati is No. 39
NCAA NET: Texas Tech is No. 15, Cincinnati is No. 39
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Can Cincinnati Bearcats basketball get Quad 1 win vs. Texas Tech?
