Recap: Arizona State 82 Cincinnati 68

After being overwhelmed by Arizona two nights earlier, the Bearcats followed it up with another disappointing showing away from home, falling 82–68 to Arizona State on Saturday night. The loss dropped Cincinnati to 10–10 overall and 2–5 in Big 12 play, with glaring issues on both ends of the floor surfacing once again.

(Photo: Arizona State Athletics)

“I’m just disappointed. Very disappointed,” head coach Wes Miller said after the game. “We didn’t defend like we needed to tonight, which is frustrating because we’ve been playing really well there. The turnovers I thought were the worst part of the game for us, and they resulted in baskets for them, and that set us apart. We missed some layups that resulted in baskets on the other end that were huge swings. So obviously we’re very frustrated with tonight’s performance, and we’re going to do what we’ve done all year, and that’s respond and get back to it and get ready to play another Big 12 game on Wednesday.”

The final score doesn’t fully capture how this one slipped away. Cincinnati remained within striking distance for much of the night, but turnovers, poor perimeter shooting, and defensive breakdowns allowed Arizona State to seize control and pull away late.

The Sun Devils closed the game on a decisive 16–5 run over the final five minutes, while Cincinnati managed just one made field goal in its final 10 attempts. What was a manageable seven-point deficit at 70–63 quickly ballooned into a double-digit margin, ending any hope of a late rally.

Miller pushed back on the idea that late-game execution has been a consistent issue, but acknowledged that the combination of scoring struggles and defensive lapses made closing difficult.

“I didn’t think that we had a late-game drought at Central Florida. I thought we really executed down the stretch in that game. We had trouble getting stops. We executed down the stretch in the Colorado game. We executed down the stretch in the Iowa State game,” Miller said. “We had a hard time scoring the entire game against Arizona, and then we did have a tough time scoring down the stretch in this game. So I don’t know if it’s been consistent over the last three weeks, to be fair, but when you have that in a Big 12 game, and especially when you’re not able to rely on your defense to get stops, that’s going to be a tough thing down the stretch. You made a couple uncharacteristic errors too that made it a little more difficult.”

Game Recap

Cincinnati actually played its best basketball of the season early, shooting 58.3% from the floor in the first half and trading punches with Arizona State in a tightly contested opening 20 minutes that featured 11 lead changes. 

The Bearcats built momentum behind interior scoring from Baba Miller and Moustapha Thiam, briefly holding a 27–25 lead midway through the half. Kerr Kriisa and Keyshuan Tillery provided perimeter sparks with early threes, and Cincinnati appeared poised to take control.

“I thought Miller played pretty good,” Wes Miller said. “I thought he had advantages on the interior tonight, and there were times it was evident and obvious.”

Instead, familiar problems emerged. The Bearcats committed 10 first-half turnovers, many of them unforced, which Arizona State quickly converted into points. Moe Odum capitalized repeatedly, scoring 17 of his game-high 33 points before halftime, as the Sun Devils turned miscues into a 13–4 edge in points off turnovers and 14-5 advantage in fast-break points.

“Obviously, that was just trying to get it inside, but sometimes it just wasn’t there,” Miller said of the turnovers. “I think some of them are really careless. There’s some careless turnovers, making passes that aren’t there, not catching the ball and kind of moving before you catch it — just catching and securing it, whether it’s a play in the paint or a play in transition. There’s a couple footwork turnovers. I mean, when you have 15, it’s generally not one thing. But the way they capitalized on the turnovers was about the biggest swing in the game for us.”

Despite Cincinnati’s strong shooting, Arizona State carried a 37–33 lead into halftime, a troubling sign given how well the Bearcats had shot the ball.

Cincinnati briefly reclaimed the lead early in the second half when Jizzle James capped a 6–0 run with a jumper to make it 41–40. But that moment proved fleeting.

Arizona State immediately responded with a 9–3 run, fueled by Santiago Trouet, and never trailed again. The Sun Devils continued to exploit defensive lapses, particularly from the perimeter, where Cincinnati struggled to contest shots and recover in transition.

A 10–2 Arizona State run, capped by an Andrija Grbovic three, pushed the lead to 59–48 at the 11:35 mark. From there, Cincinnati spent the rest of the game trying — and failing — to climb back.

When the Bearcats did cut the deficit to three at 64–61, Moe Odum delivered the knockout blows, drilling back-to-back threes to spark the game-ending run.

"We’ve got to do a better job there,” Miller said of Cincinnati’s perimeter defense. “He made a couple very, very tough ones over the top late in the clock in the first half — you can live with those — but that’s what they all need to look like. He got some really easy looks tonight on some breakdowns by us defensively.”

Key takeaways

-Baba Miller was the clear bright spot, finishing with 23 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, consistently creating offense in the paint. His frustration did lead to a flagrant foul, however, and he also fouled out for the first time this season. Late-game execution collapsed. The Bearcats shot 1-of-10 from the field down the stretch, with no consistent scoring option outside of Miller.

-Moustapha Thiam added 15 points and six rebounds, giving Cincinnati a noticeable interior edge. That advantage was negated as Cincinnati’s 21.7% turnover rate directly led to easy Arizona State baskets and erased any advantage gained inside.

-The Bearcats won the rebounding battle 38–31 and outscored Arizona State 34–26 in the paint, normally a recipe for success.  

-Three-point shooting was disastrous: Cincinnati went just 4-of-17 (23.5%) from deep, while Arizona State hit 13-of-28 (46.4%). Giving up nearly 47% from three while shooting under 25% yourself is a losing formula, no matter the rebounding edge.

-Turnovers were costly and varied, resulting in 15 giveaways and 17 Arizona State points off turnovers. Cincinnati has now been outscored 159–119 across two road games in Arizona. Against Big 12 competition, sloppy possessions and defensive lapses get punished immediately.

-Guard play struggled mightily. Starting guards Day Day Thomas and Jizzle James combined for six points, with Thomas scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting. Over the past two games, Cincinnati’s starting guards have produced almost nothing offensively. When your starting guards combine for single-digit scoring in Big 12 play, it puts enormous pressure on the frontcourt — pressure Cincinnati couldn’t withstand.

“We’ve got to get Day back playing well,” Miller said. “He’s had a great year. We all have a ton of confidence in him. It’s not been his best stretch here this week, and we’ve got to get him back to playing the way we know he can play.”