Baba Miller scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and Jizzle James added 17 to help short-handed Cincinnati beat visiting Baylor, 67-57, in Big 12 play Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati (11-10, 3-5) never trailed in the game and led by as many as 18 and gave their embattled head coach Wes Miller a win on his birthday.
With a large number of NBA scouts in attendance to evaluate Miller and Baylor’s Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou, it was Miller who put on a show for the entire game. The double-double was Miller’s ninth of the season while another Cincinnati big man, Moustapha Thiam chipped in with 14 points to help the Bearcats snap a modest two-game losing streak and win for just the third time in their last eight games.
Yessoufou finished with 16 points and seven rebounds while Carr was limited to just four points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field for Baylor (11-9, 1-7), which lost its fourth straight and seventh in eight games.
Dan Skillings Jr. returned to Cincinnati after spending three seasons in the Bearcats program and scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in his return to the Baylor starting lineup.
But it was Skillings who committed a flagrant foul trying to box out Miller that led to a Cincinnati five-point possession with eight minutes remaining. That possession was part of an 8-0 run that pushed the Cincinnati lead to 64-46 with 6:36 left.
Cincinnati played the game without shooting guard Shon Abaev, nursing a sore left knee, and defensive guard Sencire Harris, missing the game with an illness.
The Bearcats opened the game by winning the tip, with Day Day Thomas finding Baba Miller for an alley-oop dunk. Miller was again the dominant forced for the Bearcats, grabbing eight rebounds and scoring 10 in the first half.
Cincinnati would build a 15-5 lead thanks to an 8-0 spurt that featured five points from Keyshuan Tillery. Baylor answered with the next 10 points before Cincinnati again reclaimed control with a 7-0 run.
The Bearcats held Baylor to 11-of-31 shooting from the floor in the opening 20 minutes to take a 35-28 halftime lead.
Baylor big man James Nnaji returned to action for the Bears, playing seven scoreless minutes after not playing in Saturday’s home loss to TCU.
