KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dillon Mitchell delivered an impressive performance with 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, while Day Day Thomas led the scoring with 21 points as No. 13 seed Cincinnati secured an 87-68 triumph over No. 12 seed Oklahoma State in the opening match of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday.
Josh Reed contributed 19 points and Dan Skillings Jr. electrified the court with 13 points, featuring a series of spectacular dunks, propelling the Bearcats (18-14) into the second round where they will face the fifth-seeded Iowa State on Wednesday.
Cincinnati began the season strong, winning 10 of their first 11 games, reaching as high as No. 14 in the rankings, but faced challenges during conference play. The Bearcats struggled in their Big 12 opener with four consecutive losses and endured another four-game losing streak between late January and early February.
However, on Tuesday, they played like a team worthy of their ranking by avenging their recent defeat to Oklahoma State (15-17) in Stillwater. By halftime, Cincinnati established a 38-26 lead and maintained a comfortable margin throughout, never allowing the Cowboys to shrink the gap to less than 10 points.
Oklahoma State faced difficulties, especially with their top scorer and rebounder, Abou Ousmane, who was sidelined for most of the game after fouling out with a technical in the second half, ending his night with only four points and one rebound. Connor Dow emerged as a key player for the Cowboys, sinking four 3-pointers and achieving a career-high 12 points.
As takeaways, Cincinnati is under pressure to amass more victories or perhaps win the tournament to secure a place in the NCAA Tournament. For Oklahoma State, this marked the first time Steve Lutz, their head coach, tasted defeat in a conference tournament game as a Division I leader. Before this loss, Lutz had maintained an 8-0 record in conference tourneys with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Conference and Western Kentucky in Conference USA.
A crucial moment came when the Bearcats, leading 46-34 with about 16 minutes to play, proceeded to score nine consecutive points, capitalizing on successive turnovers that resulted in fast-break layups.
Significantly, the Cowboys accumulated two technical fouls during the matchup, one of which was assigned to Arturo Dean for disputing calls in the first half.
Looking ahead, Cincinnati is slated to take on the 12th-ranked Iowa State Cyclones in the opening contest of Wednesday’s second round of the tournament.
