The Cincinnati men's basketball team will head to Orem, Utah, to take on Utah Valley in the NIT Quarterfinals Wednesday night (9 p.m. ET).
Cincinnati never trailed after the opening minutes to eventually rout CAA champion Hofstra, 79-65, in what was the Pride's second home loss. Landers Nolley II scored in double-figures for the 25th-straight game, scoring 20 for the 12th time this year as well. The Bearcats, who attempted a season-low 14 three-pointers, shot 52.6 percent overall to mark the ninth time above 50 on the season, something they did only once last year.
David DeJulius (15 pts, 9 assists) had his fifth game of nine or more dimes to move within one of third in single-season school history, trailing only Keith LeGree (1996) and Oscar Robertson (twice). He has 16 assists to one turnover in the NIT, and 25 to 3 when counting the two AAC Tourney games, to currently rank third nationally at 3.19. Ody Oguama's 14 points and 11 boards marked his second double-double, with UC moving to 13-1 when one of its players does so. His partner in the post, Viktor Lakhin, scored 16 points against Hofstra for his most (as well as minutes: 28) since UCF on Feb. 4, his last game at full health. Mika Adams-Woods is 10-for-17 from deep over his four AACT/NIT games (58.8 percent), coming at the right time as he has improved his FG% by 9.1 and 3FG% by 10.1 from last year. As a team, UC has a 19.8-11.5 free-throw advantage over the last four games.
With 41 wins at Cincinnati, Wes Miller has the most of any UC coach in his first two years since Ed Jucker (56), which included his 1961 and 1962 national titles. Cincinnati improved to 20-2 when winning the boards and 21-4 when up at the half, while the Hofstra win improved UC to 18-2 when holding its opponent to 69 or below.
SERIES HISTORY
Cincinnati defeated Utah Valley in its lone prior meeting, 92-72, on Dec. 11, 2010. The victory gave UC an 8-0 start en route to its first of nine-straight NCAA Tourney appearances. The Bearcats led 56-38 at the break and hit 14 three-pointers, led by Rashad Bishop's 17 points that all came in the first period.
This is Cincinnati's first trip to Utah since making the trip as a No. 8-seed in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, falling to Gonzaga in the opener. It also visited in 1995 as the No. 7 seed, defeating Temple, but falling to UConn, and in 1994 where it fell to Wisconsin in the first round.
Its last regular-season trip came against the Utah Utes on New Year's Day in 1964. UVU is located four miles from future Big 12 rival BYU.