MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Another stiff challenge awaits West Virginia on Wednesday night when old Big East rival Cincinnati returns to the WVU Coliseum for the first time since 2012.
 
The Mountaineers and the Bearcats played 10 times while the two were members of the Big East with West Virginia winning six and Cincinnati claiming four. Overall, the two have met 20 times going back to 1941 and the series is deadlocked at 10 wins each.
 
West Virginia is 6-3 against UC in games played at the WVU Coliseum, including winning the last two meetings in 2010 and 2012. WVU was on a four-game winning streak over the Bearcats when the series ended in 2012 after West Virginia departed for the Big 12 and Cincinnati moved to the American Athletic Conference.
 
This year, the Bearcats are 14-6 overall and 3-4 in their inaugural season in the Big 12 under third-year coach Wes Miller, a former James Madison and North Carolina player whose head coaching career includes a stop at UNC Greensboro before replacing John Brannen in 2022.
 
Miller led Cincinnati to a 23-13 overall record last year and the NIT quarterfinals and is looking to get the Bearcats back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
 
The current four-year tournament drought is the longest since Mick Cronin ended Cincinnati's six-year dry spell in 2011 following the departure of Bob Huggins.
 
In addition to Huggins, West Virginia and Cincinnati are linked through coach Gale Catlett, who led the Bearcats to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1975, 1976 and 1977 before returning to his alma mater, and current assistant coach DerMarr Johnson, who played one season with UC before being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 2000.
 
Miller's team this year shows conference victories at 12^th-ranked BYU on Jan. 6, at home against 19^th-ranked TCU in overtime on Jan. 16, and most recently at home against UCF on Jan. 27.
 
Cincinnati's four losses have been at home against 25^th-ranked Texas on Jan. 9, at 14^th-ranked Baylor on Jan. 13, at home against 15^th-ranked Oklahoma on Jan. 20, and at seventh-ranked Kansas on Jan. 22.
 
Outside of league play, UC's best win is probably its 89-54 victory over Georgia Tech on Nov. 22.
 
Miller's starting lineup has a United Nations flavor with 7-foot senior center Aziz Bandaogo hailing from Senegal, 6-foot-11 forward Viktor Lakhin coming from Russia and 6-foot-8 junior guard Simas Lukosius a native of Lithuania.
 
Lakhin, who missed the UCF game because of illness, shows averages of 12.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, including a career-high 26 in a 12-point win over Eastern Washington earlier this season. Bandaogo is pulling down a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game and has grabbed 17 rebounds three times during his career, most recently against Bryant on Dec. 12. He scored a career-high 23 points last year against Seattle when he played at Utah Valley.
 
Lukosius is averaging 8.9 points per game and has reached double figures eight times so far this year, most recently scoring 17 in the Oklahoma loss.
 
The UC backcourt features two explosive players, 6-foot junior Day Day Thomas from Bishopville, South Carolina, and 6-foot-5 senior John Newman III from Greensboro, North Carolina.
 
Both are averaging better than 10 points per game while Newman is shooting an impressive 51% from the floor. Thomas leads the team with 66 assists while Newman is grabbing 56.3 rebounds per game.
 
"Cincinnati is a team that plays really, really physical," West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said. "With some of the teams we've struggled with, between UMass, Houston and Central Florida, they're right up there with those type of teams in terms of their physicality, so we're going to have to match that physicality."
 
Lukosius is the team's top 3-point threat by connecting on 31 of 92, Lakhin is UC's top offensive rebounder with 56 and its top shot blocker with 22.
 
Cincinnati's top bench performer is 6-foot-6 sophomore guard Dan Skillings Jr., who is averaging 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Most recently, he poured in 21 in UC's 11-point win over UCF with Lakhin out.
 
The Bearcats can go 11 deep with no player averaging more than Newman's 28.7 minutes per game. Among the bench producers is 6-foot-1 freshman guard Jizzle James, who is averaging 7.3 points and has handed out 44 assists.
 
Cincinnati is outscoring its opponents by an average of 11.2 points per game and has an impressive plus-10 margin on the glass. The Bearcats check in at No. 32 in the most recent NCAA NET rankings compiled through Monday's games.
 
"They are a very, very good offensive rebounding team, and that's something we're going to have to shore up," Eilert said. "If you look back at the game at Oklahoma State, the first play on the defensive end we gave up and offensive rebound and it ended up being a made 3-point shot. Then, down the stretch when we were trying to make winning plays, they made those winning plays and got those offensive rebounds and kick outs."
 
Meanwhile, West Virginia is now 7-13 overall and 2-5 in league play following its four-point road loss against the Cowboys last Saturday. WVU also dropped a 72-59 decision at UCF following its 91-85 upset victory over third-ranked Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 20.
 
Senior guard RaeQuan Battle continues to lead West Virginia in scoring with an average of 16.3 points per game, but he's struggled mightily in his last two games against UCF and Oklahoma State, scoring five and two points respectively.
 
Against Oklahoma State, WVU was bolstered by the return of 6-foot-11 senior center Jesse Edwards, who missed nine games with a fractured wrist sustained in the loss at Massachusetts. Edwards played 16 minutes off the bench, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds.
 
Edwards' replacement, Patrick Suemnick, has also struggled of late after posting 16 points in a home win over Texas and 20 in the upset victory against Kansas. The 6-foot-8 senior forward failed to score in 27 minutes of action against UCF and tallied just two points in 14 minutes of work against Oklahoma State.
 
Josiah Harris came off the bench to score 15 points to lead WVU in the UCF loss, while guard Kerr Kriisa led West Virginia with 21 in the Oklahoma State defeat.
 
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN+ (Eric Rothman and Tim Welsh).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi begins at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
Tickets remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.