Cincinnati Bearcats center Mustafa Thiam (52) makes a layup during the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and Oklahoma State Cowboys at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. The Bearcats won 91-68. When BYU visits Cincinnati in a Big 12 showdown Tuesday night, the nation’s leading scorer will try to shake up a team that has been knocked out late in the season.
BYU (20-9, 8-8 Big 12), which lost 79-71 at West Virginia on Saturday, has lost three of four since losing Richie Saunders and his 18.0 points per game to a torn ACL on Feb. 14. The Cougars fell out of the AP Top 25 Poll on Monday for the first time this season.
AJ Dybantsa, who leads college basketball in scoring with 24.9 points per game, had 20 points and seven rebounds in his latest outing. BYU allowed West Virginia to close the first half on a 23-5 run to take a 40-26 halftime lead, which angered Cougars head coach Kevin Young.
“The first half was a joke,” Young said. “It wasn’t the whole first half, but they made such a fuss, and it was some of the clips we saw at halftime, so there’s no excuse, so I thought our guys responded at halftime and put in a better effort in the second half.”
Cincinnati (16-13, 8-8) is making a blistering effort late in the season to improve its return to the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats earned their fifth win in six games with a 91-68 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, which helped them move up from No. 85 to No. 49 in the NET rankings, which help the NCAA Tournament Committee do its job.
“It’s hard to win a Big 12 game,” Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said. “It’s a very good team. Of course it would feel good to win by that margin.”
Now the Bearcats hope to feel good on Senior Night as they celebrate Day Thomas, Baba Miller, Jalen Celestine and Grant Darbyshire.
Thomas comes on the heels of a 26-point performance against Oklahoma State, tying a career high with seven 3-pointers. Miller came close to a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists with about four minutes left. Big man Moustapha Thiam added 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as the Bearcats led by as many as 32.
Thiam has been a force for Cincinnati recently. He recorded his fifth double-double of the season and second straight, and Thomas reached 1,000 career points.
“I knew I was close, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I was just trying to get the win,” Thomas said. “Reaching 1K is a blessing, especially for my story. It’s a big deal for me.”
–Field level media
