Cincinnati Bearcats forward Babar Miller (18) drives the ball during the first half of the Phillips 66 Big 12 men’s basketball tournament between the Cincinnati Bearcats and Utah Utes at the T-Mobile Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Kansas City, Missouri. Jalen Celestin scored 19 points and Baba Miller added 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as ninth-seeded Cincinnati beat 16th-seeded Utah 73-66 in a first-round game of the Big 12 Conference Tournament Tuesday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Bearcats face No. 8 seed UCF in the second round Wednesday afternoon. The team finished tied for eighth place after the Big 12’s regular season gauntlet, with the Knights holding a tiebreaker against Cincinnati to earn a first-round bye.
Cincinnati (18-14) is still fighting for an NCAA Tournament berth and took a step toward that goal Tuesday with its seventh win in its last nine games. The Bearcats will have a chance to bolster their resume when they play UCF, splitting the season series.
Cincinnati endured a rough first 14 1/2 minutes before jumping out to a 15-2 run to take a nine-point lead at halftime. The Bearcats quickly extended their advantage to 48-33 when Baba Miller hit a jumper and a layup, the latter with 12:58 remaining.
Utah got closer to 63-58 with 4:35 left on Brown’s jumper, but never got closer than four points the rest of the game.
Mustafa Thiam had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Cincinnati.
The Utes’ Terrence Brown led all scorers with 22 points. Keanu Doss added 15 points and 12 rebounds and Seydo Traoré had 12 points as Utah (10-22) ended the season with its sixth straight loss. The Utes’ 10 wins are their fewest in a campaign since they went 6-25 in 2011-12.
The Bearcats fell behind 15-6 Tuesday against conference doormat Utah on a free throw by the Utes’ Don McHenry with 11:41 left in the first half. Cincinnati made just 2 of its first 10 shots in the first 8 1/2 minutes of play.
Cincinnati made it 18-17 on Shon Abaev’s 3-pointer with 5:23 left in the first half, cutting the deficit to one point through the first six minutes. After Utah’s Kendyl Sanders laid up to get the margin back to three points, the Bearcats found their stride and closed the half with a 12-0 run capped by Thiam’s jumper to take the lead with 23 seconds left and take a 29-20 lead heading into the break.
Celestine’s eight points led all scorers before halftime, and Brown had seven points to pace the Utes. Utah had a shooting success rate of only 19.4% in the first half, missed its last five shots, and went scoreless for the final 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
–Field level media
