The Kansas Jayhawks visited the Armory Fieldhouse just a few months after The Beatles appeared at Cincinnati Gardens in 1964. Then-coach Tay Baker’s squad beat them 76-72, which would be the last UC win in the series until last year’s Big 12 tournament.

After falling short at Allen Fieldhouse in January 2024, 74-69 UC beat the Jayhawks 72-52 last March 13 in Kansas City, just 47 miles from their home. To be fair, Kansas played without Big 12 First Team players Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., but the game was in front of over 18,000 at the T-Mobile Center pulling for the Jayhawks.

Kansas coach Bill Self was none too pleased about exiting a tournament his team had owned for years. Now, Kansas is again a highly-ranked team with 7-foot-2 Dickinson back as they come to Cincinnati for the first time in over 60 years Saturday.

Saturday a tall order for Cincinnati Bearcats

This Kansas team has only lost three times. Wednesday, they came from behind against Arizona State at halftime to win by 19, 74-55. The Jayhawks fell against Quad 1 opponents in Missouri, Creighton and had a one-point home loss to West Virginia. The Bearcats and Jayhawks share one common opponent: Howard. Kansas began their regular season beating the Bison by 30, while UC beat them by 17 in early December.

The Bearcats are coming off their worst game of the season, a 68-48 thrashing at Baylor Tuesday in Waco. UC will look to bounce back with a sellout crowd at Fifth Third Arena.

“You know you’re going to hit tough stretches, that is part of this,” UC coach Wes Miller said of the 0-3 Big 12 start. “That doesn’t make it fun. It’s part of college basketball, it’s part of high-level competition. Going into the year, I went, ‘When we do, we’re going to be OK because of who we have in the locker room’. I’ve got high-character guys that are bought into this place and our program and they want to win.”

A boost from UC AD John Cunningham

Miller and company received support from athletic director John Cunningham Thursday as they await the powerhouse Jayhawks.

“It’s everything we always wanted when we got into the Big 12,” Cunningham said. “It does remind a lot of people of the competition we saw week in and week out when we were in the Big East. This is even more so.”

As for UC’s 0-3 start, Cunningham says the Bearcats are a really good team going through a tough stretch in a demanding league.

“I see no cracks in the armor in terms of the confidence of the team,” Cunningham said. “If I’m going to battle, I want Wes Miller and his staff right next to me. He’s the right man to get this thing moving the right direction. Honestly, sometimes the shots don’t drop. They’re going to start to drop.”

Tough travels for Cincinnati Bearcats

After waiting four hours to fly to Waco Monday night and arriving early on game day, the Bearcats were also delayed getting home. Though Miller mentioned it had nothing to do with the Baylor loss, he said UC didn’t arrive home until Wednesday afternoon due to flight complications. By NCAA rules, they took that day off and didn’t get back to practice until Thursday.

“We had to get a new plane so we slept in Waco and couldn’t leave until that morning,” Miller said. “This isn’t news to anyone who knows our program but the will, the want, the mindset, I believe it’s where he needs to be and I believe it’ll continue to be where it needs to be regardless of the results and circumstances. This team has the right internal stuff and internal fortitude. We’ll figure it out.”

A ‘Big O’ moment

On March 12, 1960 in an Elite Eight NCAA tournament game in Manhattan, Kansas, UC beat the Kansas Jayhawks 82-71 as Naismith Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson had 48 points and 14 rebounds.

3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats to beat Kansas Jayhawks

1. Seize momentum on your home floor

The University of Cincinnati winter semester begins Monday and Fifth Third Arena will be packed for a matchup with a team that has briefly been No. 1 and for the most part in the Top 10.

While the Arizona game drew 11, 212, students were not yet back and the intensity was nowhere near Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout levels. Of course, the Bearcats didn’t help matters getting behind by 13 at halftime. With an 0-3 Big 12 start, the Bearcats could use every piece of motivation they can find.

“You have to go through difficult moments, speed bumps and hurdles in order to do the things you have to do to become who you’re trying to become,” Miller said. “My fire burns in these moments. It burns brightest when things are at their most difficult times.”

2. Hound Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson

UC was able to hold him to 10 points and six rebounds in Lawrence last year thanks to foul trouble. They also outrebounded the Jayhawks 40-29 and the game was tied at halftime 35-35. Getting the prolific pivot in foul trouble would be beneficial again, as would the glass advantage.

Dickinson is often good for 16 points and 10 rebounds. He finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in their Arizona State win Wednesday.

“They’re the oldest team in the country, the most experienced team in the country,” Miller said of Kansas. “They’re a national championship contender. They present a load of challenges. The first is the depth and experience. You’re talking about guys on their roster that were the leading scorers at other high-major schools. They’re as deep as I’ve seen a college basketball team in the portal area.”

3. Let Dan Skillings Jr. get his minutes

Skillings was electric off the bench at Kansas last year with 16 points and even more so in the Big 12 tournament game when he popped in 25. When the 6-foot-6 wing is rolling, the Bearcats often follow suit. They didn’t on Tuesday, but maybe they do after a few spirited practices.

One solution might be to leave him on the floor. To date, Big 12 opponents are playing their starters more minutes than the UC starting five. No Bearcat has played 34 minutes yet and most games the starters are in for roughly 28 to 31 minutes of a 40-minute contest.

“We look at our coaching decisions after every game,” Miller said. “We always want to be consistent. I don’t ever want to be the guy that’s changing every game because I don’t think players can be effective like that. Over the course of time, we’re going to evaluate that. We have real data, real information, not just reactive information. We’ll adjust accordingly.”

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Kansas Jayhawks

Tip: Saturday, 2 p.m., Fifth Third Arena (12,012)

TV/Radio: ESPN+/700WLW

Series: UC leads 5-4 (Bearcats won March 13, 2024, in Big 12 tournament 72-52)

Kansas Jayhawks scouting report

Record: 11-3 (2-1 Big 12)

Coach: Bill Self (21st season, 599-146)

Offense: 78.9 ppg

Defense: 63.6 ppg

Projected starting lineup

(Position, Height, Stats)

Hunter Dickinson (C, 7’2″, 15.9 ppg, 10.4 reb)

Dajuan Harris (G, 6’2″, 10.3 ppg)

K.J. Adams (F, 6’7″, 8.5. ppg)

Zeke Mayo (G, 6’4″, 14.6 ppg)

Shakeel Moore (G, 6’1″, 3.3 ppg)

Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report

Record: 10-4 (0-3 Big 12)

Coach: Wes Miller (fourth season, 73-47, overall 258-182)

Offense: 75.4 ppg

Defense: 61 ppg

Projected starting lineup

Simas Lukošius (G-F, 6’8″, 13 ppg)

Dan Skillings Jr. (G-F, 6’6″, 13.1 ppg)

Dillon Mitchell (F, 6’8″, 10.9 ppg)

Jizzle James (G, 6’3″, 11.1 ppg)

Aziz Bandaogo (C, 7′, 9.4 ppg)

Players to watch

Hunter Dickinson is a fifth-year player who reliably has been at or near averaging a double-double since he began in 2020. He has seven double-doubles this year. If UC has another game where they’re destroyed in the paint (40-16 at Baylor) that means Dickinson had his way.

Dillon Mitchell has been UC’s double-double leader with three but he’s coming off a scoreless game where he had just two rebounds. He hasn’t been held without a point since his freshman year at Texas. For the Bearcats to have a chance, Mitchell must be productive.

Rankings

KenPom.com: Kansas is No. 10, Cincinnati is No. 33

NCAA NET: Kansas is No. 9, Cincinnati is No. 35

KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.

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The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, applauded city staff for their efforts to plow snow following Sunday’s storm.

On Thursday, KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas gave the city an A-minus grade for the job, even if the job isn’t totally complete. Drivers continue working in 12-hour shifts clearing the nearly one foot of snow which fell.

“Nobody is ever perfect,” Lucas said. “I think we continue to pursue getting every street addressed. But I think it was a really darn good response. I’d give an A-minus.”

Lucas said the city’s made changes to its snow response in the past four years. Those changes are paying off in the way of improved service.

“When I was growing up in Kansas City, the story was, ‘You go to the suburbs and everything is perfect,’ ‘You go to the city, and everything is not,’” Lucas said as he reiterated a narrative KSHB 41 News has heard before. “With respect to all of our peers around the region, I think you’ve seen that change a bit.”

Changes to the snow plan were the product of KCMO City Manager Brian Platt, who took over in December of 2020.

The following the year, the city began implementing four main changes to its plow routine:

• purchases newer trucks
• shifted employees from other departments and trained them to drive snow plows (even Platt drove a plow this week)
• those additional drivers allow the city to plow main streets and side streets simultaneously
• the city keeps drivers assigned to snow duty for longer periods of time

Al Miller

“It’s going to continue to get better. We’re not where we want to be, but we are going to get better,” KCMO director of Public Works Michael Shaw said. “So we have changed expectations because we are delivering a higher, better quality service.”

Grant Stephens

The changes seem to be changing opinions from residents.

“Considering how much snow came and how fast it was, I’m pretty satisfied,” Shawn Colby, a KCMO resident, said.

Al Miller

“This year seems to be better,” added Eileen Cohen. “It’s always the side streets, but what do you do? But I think they did a good job, it was a blizzard.”

Al Miller

“Honestly, I feel like they could do better with the side streets and stop pushing the snow people just shoveled back in front of their yard,” DJ Juan said, offering some advice to the city.

Al Miller

At Thursday’s council meeting, members introduced a resolution asking the city manager to review snow removal plans. The proposal should come up for more discussion next week.

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A year-to-date after three men were found frozen in their friend’s snowy Kansas City backyard after an NFL watch party, their families still have no explanation for their sons’ mysterious deaths. 

Clayton McGeeney, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and David Harrington, 36, were found dead behind their friend Jordan Willis’ home on Jan. 9, 2023. Two days earlier, the four men met up at the house to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. 

In the days before McGeeney’s fiancée found the men’s bodies, Willis could not be reached by phone and did not answer his door, according to family members who searched for the three friends who never returned home.

A representative from the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that an investigation into the men’s deaths is ongoing. Members of each of the three men’s families said that a year later, they still have no updates in the case, with Johnson’s mother saying she was “heartbroken.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ DEATHS: VICTIMS’ FAMILIES AT ODDS OVER ‘ANGRY’ SPECULATION, LAWYER SAYS

“No news or developments,” a source close to Willis said on Wednesday. “It’s very frustrating, and we don’t know what the holdup is.”

“He’s taking it hard on the anniversary,” the source said. “We thought there would be closure by now.”

Although preliminary autopsy results shared with the media by family members indicate that fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana were in their systems, the deceased men’s families have questioned Willis’ involvement in what happened, with some threatening to file lawsuits.

In September, Willis’ attorney John Picerno told Fox News Digital that “charges [will be] forthcoming in the next few weeks,” based on “internal conversations” with prosecutors.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ DEATHS: FAMILIES AT ODDS THREATEN LAWSUITS AGAINST EACH OTHER

An exterior view of the home of Jordan Willis in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 26, 2024. (DWS for Fox News Digital)

“They claim the case is still under investigation,” Picerno said on Wednesday. “But as you know, [the] prosecutor told me months ago that my guy has been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to harming the other three individuals.”

Julie Rendelman, a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that if Willis was responsible for his friends’ deaths, he “likely would have been arrested already.”

That said, she said she would “be shocked if a prosecutor’s office would promise that any individual wouldn’t be pursued, especially if the case is being investigated.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS DEATHS: ‘WALTER WHITE NARRATIVE’ ABOUT PARTY HOST IS ‘OUT OF CONTROL,’ SOURCE SAYS

Family and friends of Clayton McGeeney, left, David Harrington, center, and Ricky Johnson are clamoring for answers after the three men inexplicably died in below-freezing temperatures outside their friend’s Kansas City, Missouri, home. (Facebook)

“I’m not saying that [Picerno] is lying, but none of us were privy to any conversation that was had,” she said on Wednesday.

“It seems to me that there’s room to give some answers without giving it away, even if the answers are ‘we don’t have the answers,’” Rendelman said of the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office. “That happens – cases go unsolved.”

Criminal defense attorney Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that a year later, a medical examiner should have complete autopsy results. 

“After getting the results of the autopsy, which I would believe they have the full results by now, you would think that would be enough to bring charges against someone associated with the death of these three men,” Williams said on Wednesday.

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HIV scientist Jordan Willis, 38, checked himself into a rehab facility after his three friends were found dead in his backyard on Jan. 9, 2024. (GitHub)

“What is weird and strange and mysterious is that this is still an open case with the Kansas City Police Department – if they believe that this was not a death that was caused at the hands of another, you would think that they would close this investigation out, and they have not,” Williams said. “It’s still open, so… it could still be considered a homicide… The big question is, what direction is the investigation going?”

But Rendelman pointed out that, although toxicology results and an autopsy are likely completed, a medical examiner may have been unable to determine causes of death. 

Rendelman also said it is not outside the realm of possibility that detectives with the Kansas City Police Department are still gathering information in the case. They could be withholding information from the public so as not to jeopardize that investigation.

“I had cases as a prosecutor where we didn’t charge anyone for years,” she said. “We kept them very quiet and close to the vest because we didn’t want outsiders impacting our ability to fully investigate and hold the people responsible that were responsible… they may be concerned that anything they tell to the public could impact their ability to investigate this.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ MYSTERIOUS DEATHS YET TO BE RESOLVED A YEAR LATER

“Are there some law enforcement offices that just take longer to investigate things? Yes. Are there some prosecutors’ offices that aren’t as savvy in determining what the public should or shouldn’t know? Yes,” Rendelman said. 

Previously, members of the men’s families told Fox News Digital that they intended to sue Willis in civil court. David Harrington’s father told Fox News Digital that he and his son’s mother were “convinced that Jordan Willis played a part in this somehow” and they “just [hadn’t] figured out how yet.” 

Rendelman said that, in addition to holding someone responsible for their sons’ deaths, the families could get the information they are seeking through the discovery period of a civil lawsuit if the prosecutors’ office continues to keep them in the dark. 

“Sometimes people sue just to get information – you can get a subpoena, get depositions,” Rendelman said.

“I would have to believe that there’s going to be civil litigation that will bring out more than the public is going to learn from the criminal investigation,” Williams echoed.