Well, there's always next year.
The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team will have to wait another year to hold bragging rights over crosstown rival Xavier. The Bearcats rallied but fell short against the Musketeers 80-77 Saturday at Fifth Third Arena, extending their losing streak in the Crosstown Shootout to four straight.
Cincinnati (6-4) has now lost to nearby foes Northern Kentucky, Ohio State and Xavier (7-3) in a 24-day span.
"I can't tell you how bad I want it for our team and for the people that support this program, for the people that have played in this program and coached (in this program)," UC coach Wes Miller said. "I can't tell you how bad I want us to get to where we're supposed to be as a Cincinnati basketball program. I don't say the words 'I promise," but I promise we'll freaking get there. We'll get there or I'll damn be in the grave. It's that simple. We will get there."
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The Bearcats will be back at Fifth Third on Wednesday to face another neighborly rival in Miami University. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m on ESPN+.
What we learned from Saturday's loss:
Miller called timeout on purpose
Miller called his final timeout with 3:26 remaining. Every single one of the 12,012 fans in attendance knew that was going to be a factor down the stretch.
Cincinnati guard David DeJulius, who scored a game-high 22 points, tied the game at 77 apiece with 11 seconds to play after drawing a foul, banking home a 3-pointer and knocking down the ensuing free throw.
Xavier's Souley Boum, who countered DeJulius with 21 points, then drew a foul of his own and made the first of two free throws. The Bearcats grabbed the board on the miss, and Miller called a timeout, a timeout he didn't have.
"You're playing the odds," Miller said. "I think you have a better chance with .7 or more, really .3 or more, to throw the length, catch it and shoot it to extend the game than you have to get the defensive rebound, you gotta take a dribble, and then you throw a 70-footer. And you've got to get a good break. ... If I had to make that decision again, I'd do the same thing, because I do think it was the right decision even though it might not have made sense to everybody watching at the time."
Miller's gamble resulted in Boum making both technical foul shots and pulling Xavier ahead, 80-77. The Bearcats obviously weren't able to send the game into overtime on their final possession.
But that sequence wasn't the reason Cincinnati lost.
Slow start offensively dooms Cincinnati
The worst possible scenario for the Bearcats on Saturday was for them to get off to a slow start offensively against Xavier's balanced and potent offensive attack. Well, that's exactly what happened.
With UC Hall of Famer Kenyon Martin watching courtside, Cincinnati missed its first six shots, and Xavier stormed out to a 13-1 advantage. The Bearcats didn't make their first field goal until DeJulius knocked down a 3-pointer after more than four minutes ticked off the game clock.
"They came out and had a great game plan defensively," DeJulius said. "You could tell they scouted well. But it also just wasn't falling for us. We needed to share it a little more and get some live-ball stops on defense. I think those three things were the main factors."
Miller burned his second timeout at the 11:16 mark. Xavier led 20-8 at that point and took a 41-24 lead into intermission.
Even though the Bearcats rallied to make it a game, the slow offensive start ultimately doomed them.
Kenyon Martin's still making an impact
With the Bearcats trailing by 17 at the break, Martin took it upon himself to go into the UC locker room.
"Excuse my language, he got on our ass," DeJulius said. "And that's what we needed. He said you've got to play together. It's not about individuals, it's about the team. We all had to look in the mirror. When you've got an OG like that that comes in and demands that from us, we had to respond."
Cincinnati responded to the 2000 National College Player of the Year by scoring 16 points in the first four minutes of the second period. They scored 53 points in the second half, including 17 second-half points from DeJulius and 11 second-half points from Viktor Lakhin.
"The conversation (at halftime) was about playing our asses off, playing together," Miller said. "I spent less time talking about Xs and Os at halftime than probably any time in 12 years as a head coach. It's about playing your asses off and playing together, playing the right way. Kenyon Martin spoke to them at halftime. I probably didn't even walk in there. So, I'm not going to say I had anything to do with it. I thought we decided collectively we were going to play harder and we found some better results in the second half."
Cincinnati struggled inside defensively
After losing rim protectors Abdul Ado and Hayden Koval from last year's team, it was reasonable to expect that the Bearcats' interior defense would struggle a bit this season.
Cincinnati got exposed inside on Saturday, again.
Xavier's two big men, Jack Nunge and Zach Freemantle, got just about whatever look they wanted offensively. Nunge, who torched Cincinnati for 31 points and 15 rebounds last season, finished with 18 points. Freemantle chipped in with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He had eight points and eight boards at halftime.
"Props to Xavier," Bearcats forward Ody Oguama said. "Nunge, Freemantle, they're good players. They're where they're at for a reason. I thought we did a good job prior to the game of scouting, trying to really lock in on the defense end of what they're going to do, but props to them."
Crosstown Shootout rivalry – alive and well – belongs to Xavier
Cincinnati used to dominate the Crosstown Shootout rivalry. Not anymore. Though the Bearcats own a 51-39 lead in the all-time series, the Musketeers have now won four straight, eight of the last 10 and 12 of the last 16 meetings.
The balance of power has definitely shifted.
But the good news for the Bearcats program is the support of its fans and former players is still there. Martin, Steve Logan, Ruben Patterson, Leonard Stokes and Curtis Bostic were just a few of the many former standout UC hoopers in attendance.
"You look at that building tonight, and you want it so bad for those people. They deserve it," Miller said. "You want it so bad for these kids. They deserve it. And we will get there. The list of former players in there tonight, are you kidding me? ... That environment tonight is the best environment I've ever been a part of as a college basketball player or coach, and I've been a part of cool environments. It's the best I've ever been a part of. I hate that we can't get over the hump for the people that are supporting us, but we freaking will."