What does it mean to beat KU at Allen Fieldhouse? ‘Incredible amount of joy’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cincinnati defeats No. 8 Kansas 84-68; coach Miller soaked in locker-room celebration.
- Cincinnati improves to 15-12, 7-7; rebounds from 0-3 conference start to reach .500.
- Moustapha Thiam posts career-high 28 points and eight rebounds on his 20th birthday.
Cincinnati basketball coach Wes Miller conducted his postgame news conference wearing a shirt that had been drenched by his Bearcats basketball players during a festive locker room celebration after a shocking 84-68 victory over No. 8 Kansas on Saturday in tradition-rich Allen Fieldhouse.
“I think postgame celebrations in locker rooms should be kept in locker rooms. I’m wet, so that can tell you … they soaked me and doused me in water, and we had a really good time,” fifth-year Cincinnati coach Miller said after his squad improved to 15-12 overall and 7-7 in Big 12 conference play. KU fell to 20-7, 10-4.
“Those are the special moments as a coach and as a player you remember forever. We have the ability to have more of those if we stay the course. But I’ll leave it at that. I think sometimes the locker room stays in the locker room, right?” he added, smiling.
Miller’s Bearcats have clawed back from an 0-3 start in conference play. Now they are .500 in the league and just might be considered an NCAA Tournament bubble team, especially if they build on Saturday’s win.
“This is a great moment for our program and I feel an incredible amount of joy for our players,” Miller said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our team. And I would have said that regardless of the result tonight. I’ve been saying that. But what I feel joy for is that they get to feel that kind of a reward,” Miller added.
Asked where this win ranks in his career, Miller, a former player at North Carolina, said: “I don’t put it into perspective right now. I just feel so much joy for our players and obviously for our staff. It’s a big-time win and that says a lot about Kansas and coach (Bill) Self when you feel that way after a game like this.
“It says a lot about the program you played against, but I just feel a tremendous amount of joy for our staff and our players, and my biggest concern now is we can’t enjoy it too much, because again, the Big 12 doesn’t stop and we’ve got another one here (at Texas Tech) in a couple days.”
Miller was especially happy for big man Moustapha Thiam, who had a career-high 28 points with eight rebounds in 30 minutes.
The huge effort came on Thiam’s 20th birthday.
Of his own player’s huge effort, Miller said: “It’s Moustapha’s birthday. That’s one heck of a birthday present. We all got to feel like it was our birthday tonight with him.”
“This is definitely my best birthday,” Thiam, 7-2, 250 sophomore from Senegal, said. “Credit to my teammates and the staff and everybody. We came out (and said), ‘Just got to get the win,’ and we got it.”
Cincinnati outrebounded KU 40-29.
“We were really worried about the rebounding. We haven’t been at our best our last couple games on the backboards,” Miller said. “We had a bye week this week, which was much needed. Rebounding was a huge emphasis. It’s that point in the year. I think the best way to work on rebounding is to play live basketball.
“Rebounding is will and fight in pursuit of the ball more than it’s any technique, and it’s hard to do too much of that this time of year with some of the health stuff we’ve had. But we did as much as we could this week to try to fix our rebounding, and then we knew it’s a huge key against a really good rebounding team in Kansas.”
KU big man Flory Bidunga, who was guarded by Thiam, scored 18 points with 12 rebounds but had four turnovers against three assists.
“I’ve played against him since I was in high school,” Thiam said. “I think he’s a really good player. When I come out, it doesn’t matter, who it would be I’m going against. I’ve just got to approach it like every game and just trying to compete.”
