Cincinnati Bearcats vs. KU Jayhawks basketball: Probable starters, tipoff, notes
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cincinnati enters Saturday’s 12 p.m. game at Allen Fieldhouse on a 3-game streak.
- Kansas is 14-1 when outrebounding opponents and strong on blocks.
- Baba Miller (11 DDs) vs. Flory Bidunga (128 blocks) is a notable matchup.
The Kansas Jayhawks will meet Cincinnati in a 12 p.m., contest Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Here’s what you need to know before tipoff:
Cincinnati vs Kansas: How to watch
When: 12 p.m., Saturday.
Where: Allen Fieldhouse.
TV: CBS.
Radio: WHB (810) in Kansas City; ESPN Wichita (92.3 FM).
Probable starters
Cincinnati (14-12, 6-7)
F (No. 18) — Baba Miller, 6-11, Sr., 13.7 ppg.
C (52) — Moustapha Thiam, 7-2, Soph., 11.2
G (32) — Jalen Celestine, 6-7, Sr., 7.1
G (2) — Jizzle James, 6-3, Jr., 11.4
G (1) — Day Day Thomas, 6-1, Sr., 11.1
Kansas (20-6, 10-3)
F (No. 40) — Flory Bidunga, 6-10, Soph., 14.5 ppg
F ( 15) — Bryson Tiller, 6-11, Fr., 9.0
G (3) — Tre White, 6-7, Sr., 13.8
G (14) — Melvin Council Jr., 6-4, Sr., 13.8
G (22) — Darryn Peterson, 6-6, Fr., 20.0
More on the game
About Cincinnati (14-12, 6-7): The Bearcats enter on a three-game winning streak. The Bearcats, who will have had six days between games, beat Utah, 69-65, on Sunday in Cincinnati. They defeated Kansas State 91-62 on Feb. 11 and won at home against UCF, 92-72, on Feb. 8. … Wes Miller is 96-71 in five seasons at Cincy. …
The 2025-26 campaign marks the 125th season of competition for Cincinnati men’s basketball. Cincinnati boasts 44 All-Americans, 41 conference titles, six Final Four appearances and back-to-back national championships across its history, which dates to the 1901-02 season. … Per Real GM, the Bearcats have the third-most NBA Draft picks all-time among Big 12 schools. Kansas has 101, followed by Arizona (82), Cincinnati (57) Kansas State (54) and Houston (49). …
Senior forward Baba Miller has 11 double-doubles. In his last game against Utah he scored 13 points with seven boards. Miller reached the 1,000-point mark for his career with a dunk late in the Bearcats’ win over UCF. Miller scored 316 points in two seasons at Florida State and 384 last year at Florida Atlantic before arriving at Cincy. Miller is the first Bearcat to have three 17-rebound games in a single season dating to the 1996-97 campaign. …
Against Western Carolina on Nov. 3, senior guard Kerr Kriisa became the fourth active player nationally to record 1,000 points and dish 500 assists in their career. … Miller is 13-8 in overtime as a head coach, including 9-6 at UNCG and 4-2 at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati, allowing 67.0 points per game, ranks 11th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. Cincinnati also ranks ninth in the country in non-steal turnover percentage (9.6%), 33rd in opponent offensive rebound percentage (26.8%). ... The Bearcats’ opponents are taking 17.9 seconds per possession, good for 280th nationally. The Bearcats rank third in the Big 12 in 3-point attempts per game (26.2), fourth in the conference in scoring defense (67.0), field-goal-percentage defense (41.1) and assists per game (16.5) and fifth in defensive rebounds per game (26.12) and turnovers forced per game (13.15).
About No. 8 Kansas (20-6, 10-3): The all-time series between the teams is deadlocked at 5-5. KU is 2-0 against Cincinnati in Allen Fieldhouse. As members of the Big 12, KU is 2-1 against Cincinnati. Kansas head coach Bill Self is 2-1 all-time against Cincinnati as KU coach. ... Wes Miller is 1-2 versus KU as Cincy coach. KU beat the Bearcats, 54-50, on Jan. 11, 2025 in Cincinnati. The Jayhawks lost to Cincy 72-52 in a Big 12 tournament game on March 13, 2024. …
With its win at Oklahoma State, KU improved to 138-24 (85.2%) following a loss in the Bill Self era (2003-04 to present), including 6-0 this season. ... KU has won 20 games for the 37th time in the last 38 seasons (excluding 2018 due to NCAA sanctions). … Self is 629-162 while at Kansas, 836-267 all-time. … He is one of only four active coaches in NCAA Division I with 800 or career wins, joining Rick Barnes, John Calipari, and Kelvin Sampson.
The Jayhawks are 17-3 when leading at halftime. … KU had seven blocked shots in Wednesday’s win at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys had none. … Kansas is 14-1 when out-rebounding its opponent. … The Jayhawks are 19-0 in games in which they’ve had a better shooting percentage than the opponent. … KU is 11-0 when scoring 80 or more points. … KU has shot 80% or better from the free-throw line in 10 games. This season, Kansas is shooting 78.3% (206 of 263) from the free-throw line. The Kansas school record for the highest free-throw percentage in a season is 73.7% set in 2012-13. …
Darryn Peterson has scored in double figures in 15 games. … Flory Bidunga has 128 blocks, 16th most in program history. Bidunga has had multiple blocked shots in 33 games including 20 this season. … Tre White has scored in double figures in 69 games including 21 this season. … Melvin Council Jr. has had five or more assists in 14 games.
