Cincinnati led Minnesota by seven points with 2:38 remaining Monday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats didn’t score again.

Minnesota closed on a 9-0 run, capped by a deep 3-pointer from Bobby Durkin in the final seconds. The senior forward had missed all five of his previous attempts from beyond the arc before delivering the game-winner, giving the Golden Gophers a 63-61 victory in front of 10,419 fans.

The loss drops Cincinnati to 2-1 and leaves Jerrod Calhoun one win shy of 300 for his coaching career. Minnesota improved to 3-0.

Five Empty Trips Doom the Bearcats

Eric Mahaffey, a junior guard coming off the bench, scored on a layup off an Amani Lyles assist to give Cincinnati a 61-54 advantage. Over the final 2:38, however, the Bearcats came away empty on all five possessions.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson started Minnesota’s comeback with a basket at 2:17. Tylen Riley missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, but Lyles, a senior forward who transferred from Akron, appeared to deliver a major defensive stop by drawing Crocker-Johnson’s fifth foul at 1:35.

Cincinnati couldn’t capitalize. Nolan Groves, a sophomore guard, took the ball from Riley with 1:07 remaining. Kyan Evans, Minnesota’s senior guard, grabbed an offensive rebound off a Durkin miss and scored with 52 seconds left.

Lyles then turned the ball over with 31 seconds remaining, allowing Isaac Asuma, a junior guard, to cut the deficit to 61-60 with a layup at the 17-second mark.

The free-throw line ultimately decided the outcome. Myles Colvin, a senior guard, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds remaining. Asuma missed one of his own at the other end, but MJ Collins Jr., another senior guard, missed a second front end with five seconds left.

Asuma secured the rebound, took a couple of dribbles and found Durkin across midcourt. The senior forward buried the game-winner.

Riley stood by his teammates afterward, showing confidence in both players despite the costly misses.

“If I had to do it all over again, I’d send both those guys to the line again to shoot those free throws,” Riley said. “MJ Collins is a capable shooter at making free throws. Myles Colvin, another guy capable of making free throws. I wouldn’t change it; I trust those guys to do it again. They just missed the free throws.”

What Cincinnati Did Well

For most of the night, Cincinnati’s defense dictated the game. The Bearcats forced 17 turnovers, including seven by Evans, and converted those mistakes into a 16-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

The defensive pressure was especially effective in the first half. Minnesota failed to score a single point off a Cincinnati turnover before halftime, while the Bearcats scored 10 points off Golden Gopher mistakes.

Cincinnati also protected the rim, recording six blocks compared to zero for Minnesota. Riley Allenspach, a 6-foot-11 senior forward coming off the bench, accounted for two blocks in 11 minutes. Elijah Perryman, a sophomore guard, added four steals in just seven minutes.

The Bearcats received a significant contribution from the bench, outscoring Minnesota’s reserves 15-4. Cincinnati also won the fast-break scoring battle 8-4.

The perimeter defense delivered another encouraging performance. Evans connected on 3-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc, but the rest of Minnesota’s roster combined to shoot 5-of-17. Durkin and Crocker-Johnson went a combined 2-of-11 from deep, while the Golden Gophers finished the night shooting 32 percent from 3-point range.

Offensively, Riley carried the load. The senior guard finished with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including an impressive 6-of-9 performance from beyond the arc. Sixteen of his points came after halftime.

Riley’s 3-pointer at the 14:05 mark gave Cincinnati a 42-39 lead, and the Bearcats maintained the advantage for the next 14 minutes. Adlan Elamin, a sophomore forward coming off the bench, extended the margin to 49-41 with a jumper at 8:11, giving Cincinnati the largest lead of the night.

The Bearcats also found success inside the arc, converting 16 of 27 two-point attempts. Mahaffey finished 3-of-4 from the field for seven points, while Tyler Tejada, a senior forward and starter, added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Tejada also threw down a dunk off a Collins assist.

Where Cincinnati Struggled

Outside of Riley, Cincinnati’s perimeter shooting was nonexistent. The rest of the roster combined to shoot 1-of-20 from 3-point range, with Colvin accounting for the lone make at the 3:26 mark to give the Bearcats a 59-54 lead.

Collins finished 0-for-4 from deep, and Cincinnati went just 7-of-29 from beyond the arc as a team. The shooting struggles started early, with the Bearcats connecting on only 3-of-16 attempts from 3-point range in the first half.

“Outside of Tylen Riley, we were 1 of 20,” Calhoun said. “So got to take a look at every single shot, but it’s a couple of games in a row now we haven’t made any threes. And when you’re not making shots, you have to have the ability to rebound.”

Minnesota’s coaching staff clearly made limiting Cincinnati’s perimeter threats a priority. Colvin and Collins, two of the Bearcats’ primary outside shooting options, combined for just 11 points.

“One of the biggest keys to the game was, we call them the Currys but Myles Colvin and MJ Collins Jr, we said right away that we have to do a great job on those guys,” Minnesota coach Niko Medved said. “Not let them get going from the three point line and I thought we did that.”

Calhoun also had reason to be concerned about the battle on the glass. Minnesota outrebounded Cincinnati 40-28 and collected 13 offensive rebounds, including seven before halftime. The Golden Gophers converted those second chances into 11 points.

Evans led Minnesota with a career-high 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and five assists.

With senior forward Jayden Hastings in street clothes, Cincinnati started sophomore forward David Iweze at center. Iweze finished with no points and two rebounds in 12 minutes. Elamin, who stands 6-foot-10, contributed six points but failed to grab a rebound in 14 minutes.

Medved acknowledged the importance of winning the rebounding battle and protecting the basketball in a physical contest.

“It was kind of an old fashioned rock fight tonight,” Medved said. “We thought we had to do two things well here tonight to give ourselves a chance: we needed to rebound and we needed to take care of the ball. We went one for two.”

Cincinnati’s defense also lost some of its effectiveness after halftime. Minnesota shot 37 percent in the first half before improving to 50 percent after the break. The Golden Gophers also outscored the Bearcats 18-12 in the paint during the second half.

After Cincinnati built an eight-point advantage at 49-41, Minnesota responded with a 7-0 run to pull within one. The Bearcats never regained a lead larger than seven points.

The late-game execution proved even more costly. Cincinnati committed just 12 turnovers throughout the contest, but two came during the final 67 seconds. The Bearcats attempted only one field goal over the final 2:38, finished 8-of-12 at the free-throw line and missed both attempts that mattered most down the stretch.

Calhoun Takes Responsibility

Following the loss, Calhoun pointed to his team’s struggles with execution and processing instructions from the coaching staff. Rather than place the blame entirely on his players, the first-year Cincinnati coach took responsibility.

“Just attention to detail,” Calhoun said. “I can’t tell you how many times we draw things up and they can’t process the information. So it’s bad coaching. We’ll have to figure out what they can process and run, to be honest with you.”

Calhoun also emphasized the importance of protecting home court, particularly with the limited number of opportunities available throughout a college basketball season.

He called Monday’s result a game Cincinnati couldn’t afford to give away.

“These losses will come back to haunt you,” Calhoun said on the postgame radio show. “It’s just the reality of college basketball. You only get 32 opportunities, so you have to win your home games.”

Next Up: Dayton

The defeat also came with a hit to Cincinnati’s standing in the analytics rankings. KenPom dropped the Bearcats from No. 31 to No. 39, while Minnesota climbed from No. 43 to No. 35.

Calhoun’s pursuit of career win No. 300 will now continue on the road. Cincinnati travels to Dayton on Saturday for a matchup against the Flyers at UD Arena.

The Bearcats will have a quick opportunity to respond after letting a seven-point lead slip away at home.

“It’s a long season, and Saturday is a new day, so we got to come back ready to play,” Tejada said.