CINCINNATI (Interstat) — In a commanding wire-to-wire performance, the Cincinnati Bearcats avenged a narrow loss from earlier this season by overwhelming the UCF Knights 92-72 in a Big 12 Conference men’s basketball game Sunday at a sold-out Fifth Third Arena.

A crowd of 9,969 watched the Bearcats improve to 12-12 overall and even their conference record, while the Knights, who entered with a 17-5 mark and a national ELO projection favoring them to win, fell to 17-6. The result flipped the script from the teams’ meeting just four weeks prior, a 73-72 UCF victory in Orlando.

The most critical phase of the game was its outset, where Cincinnati established a dominance it would never relinquish. From the opening tip, which 7-foot-2 center Moustapha Thiam won, the Bearcats imposed their will. Thiam drew a foul on UCF’s John Bol on the game’s first possession and hit a free throw, and after he missed the second, Jalen Celestine secured an offensive rebound and scored a layup for a quick 3-0 lead. This sequence set a tone of physicality and second-chance opportunity that UCF never adequately answered.

Cincinnati’s first-half execution was particularly devastating. The Bearcats built a 40-28 halftime lead by shooting efficiently and capitalizing on UCF’s mistakes. They converted Knights turnovers into 15 fastbreak points in the game, compared to just eight for UCF, and repeatedly found easy baskets in transition. While both teams finished with 30 points in the paint, Cincinnati’s interior presence, led by Thiam and Baba Miller, felt more consistent and disruptive, especially defensively.

The Knights showed brief signs of life early in the second half, but any momentum was swiftly extinguished. Every UCF push was met with an immediate and often emphatic Cincinnati response. A key sequence came midway through the second period when UCF’s Chris Johnson hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 62-58 with just over 13 minutes remaining. The Bearcats answered with a Baba Miller dunk off an offensive board, and after a UCF free throw, Miller assisted on a Jizzle James 3-pointer. The lead ballooned back to eight points and continued to grow, as Cincinnati’s offense operated with precision and poise against a scrambling UCF defense.

Baba Miller, the 6-foot-11 forward from Mallorca, Spain, was the catalyst for Cincinnati, delivering a game-high 17 points to go with five assists, orchestrating the offense from the high post and the perimeter. His versatility proved a constant mismatch. He was supported by a balanced and efficient scoring effort: Jizzle James added 15 points, Celestine had 14, Thiam posted a formidable 15-point, 9-rebound line, and Day Day Thomas contributed 11 points and four assists.

For UCF, Chris Johnson of Houston led the way with 16 points and six assists, while Jordan Burks of Decatur, Alabama, and Jamichael Stillwell of Atlanta, Georgia, each added 14 points. Riley Kugel chipped in 10 points. The Knights, however, were plagued by stretches of stagnant offense and defensive lapses, unable to string together enough stops to mount a serious comeback after the Bearcats’ initial onslaught.

The game’s statistical oddity was the final combined score of 164 points sailing far over the pregame over/under line of 145.5, a testament to Cincinnati’s offensive explosion and the pace of the contest, despite UCF’s own scoring struggles at key junctures.

The victory provides a significant boost for Cincinnati as it navigates the heart of the Big 12 schedule, with a road game at Kansas State next on Wednesday. UCF, which saw a promising start to conference play dented, must regroup before hosting West Virginia on Saturday. For the Bearcats, Sunday’s performance was a statement of resilience and capability, thoroughly dominating a Knights team that had bested them in a nail-biter just weeks before.