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  • Cincinnati Stumbles In Another Ugly Loss, Paying Eastern Michigan To Beat UC At Home

Cincinnati Stumbles In Another Ugly Loss, Paying Eastern Michigan To Beat UC At Home

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Basketball

(BCSNN) — The Bearcats looked flat, sloppy, and ultimately overmatched Wednesday night, falling 64–56 to Eastern Michigan at Fifth Third Arena. The loss dropped Cincinnati to 5–2 on the season and raised serious questions about a team that has struggled to find consistency.

Head coach Wes Miller didn’t sugarcoat the performance. “I’m very disappointed,” Miller said. “Adversity struck not the way we wanted it to, but now we have to handle it the right way. That means that we can’t accept it, we have to learn from it, and we have to become a better team because of it.”

Cincinnati missed 18 of its first 22 shots and trailed by as many as 17 in the first half. The Bearcats looked disorganized offensively, settling for contested jumpers while Eastern Michigan built a 27–10 lead behind a 17–1 run.

Day Day Thomas provided the lone spark, scoring 17 points and hitting four 3-pointers, including a 30-foot bomb that briefly energized the crowd. Sencire Harris added 12 points, but the rest of the roster failed to deliver.

Eastern Michigan, meanwhile, looked sharper and more composed. Carlos Hart led the Eagles with 15 points, while Addison Patterson and guards Mak Manciel and Jon Sanders combined for timely buckets that kept Cincinnati at arm’s length. EMU shot 50 percent in the first half and punished UC with second-chance points.

The Bearcats did mount a late rally, cutting the deficit to one after a steal and layup by Tyler McKinley with just over five minutes left. But as has been the case too often, Cincinnati collapsed when it mattered most. Patterson’s free throws sparked a 7–0 Eagles run, capped by Hart’s dagger three-pointer to push the lead back to eight.

Cincinnati’s inability to finish possessions and its poor shot selection doomed the comeback. The Bearcats finished shooting under 40 percent and were outrebounded 41–35, despite a brief second-half surge.

The loss was Cincinnati’s first at home this season and highlighted glaring issues in execution and toughness. For a program with high expectations, dropping a game to a middling Eastern Michigan squad is a sobering reminder of how far the Bearcats still have to go.

Cincinnati will try to regroup Monday when it hosts Tarleton State at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast locally on 700 WLW.