In search of their first Big 12 home victory of the season, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats sent their fans on the proverbial roller coaster of emotions before disposing of Arizona State 67-60 Saturday.

UC had a 14-point halftime lead that they extended to 17 three minutes into the second half. About five minutes later, the Sun Devils had cut the Bearcats lead to four points.

In the end, defense won again as Arizona State's 60 points was one of its lowest-scoring outings. The Sun Devils previously had 55 in a win over Idaho State, 55 in a loss at Kansas and 56 in a loss at BYU. They came in averaging 75.7 points per game.

"We made it tough for them to get quality looks," UC coach Wes Miller said. "I was pleased with our transition game. I thought we used live-ball stops to run and got some things going in the open court. It's something we've got to continue to build on."

The Bearcats blitzed Arizona State on fast breaks 25-2.

Cincinnati Bearcats spread wealth

Dillon Mitchell led four Bearcats in double figures with 14 points. Dan Skillings Jr. and Jizzle James had 12 each and Simas Lukošius had 10, all in the first half.

Miller said James received IV fluids before the game and had been ill the past two days. Still, he hit in double figures for the first time in five games. UC also got good minutes off the bench from Day Day Thomas (six points, four assists), C.J. Fredrick (two treys for six points and an assist) and Tyler Betsey had five points and his first Big 12 triple.

"I'm really happy for him, I knew it was a matter of time," Miller said of Betsey. "He's an elite shooter. Everyone in our locker room, we have a ton of confidence in him. It's not been the easiest start to conference play, but (being) a freshman in this league, that's hard."

Arizona State got 15 points and 14 rebounds from center Jayden Quaintance. Alston Mason had 13 and B.J. Freeman 12.

UC outshot the Sun Devils 42% to 35%. It was Arizona State's worst shooting game of the season and the fourth time in the last five games they've been below 40%. The Sun Devils did outrebound the Bearcats 42-33.

"We knew it would be kind of a low-scoring game," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. "We respect how hard Cincinnati plays and their defense. We have to climb all the way back in it to even have a chance. We have to learn how to put 40 minutes together and we didn't come close tonight."

The Bearcats tied their season-high in steals, matching what they had in Colorado Wednesday night with 11.

Slowest of starts for both teams

Though the Bearcats didn't score until over three and a half minutes into the contest, they eventually would lead at halftime by 14, 36-22 when Day Day Thomas hit a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer.

UC led 24-11 after a C.J. Fredrick 3-pointer, then the Sun Devils cut the lead to four. Over the last 2:28 of the opening stanza, the Bearcats went on a 12-2 run. It was the second-lowest output at halftime by Arizona State, which was held to 20 against Baylor the previous Saturday. UC held Arizona State to 19% from the field over the first 20 minutes.

Arizona State outscored UC 38-31 in the second half but got no closer than four. Quaintance, a player Miller recruited out of Cleveland, had 14 of his 15 points after halftime.

"We really needed a sense of urgency in the second half," Quaintance said. "It took a little too long to start up. We started fighting back but it was too late."

The Bearcats improved to 12-5 (2-4 Big 12) while Arizona State is now 10-7 (1-5 Big 12).

UC's last Big 12 home win was against West Virginia on March 9, 315 days ago. This was their first back-to-back Big 12 wins since defeating West Virginia and Kansas in last year's conference tournament.

The Bearcats are now 5-2 in afternoon tip-offs if you keep track of such things. Saturday's Fifth Third Arena crowd was 11,090.

Takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Arizona State Sun Devils

Did UC run with Arizona State?

The Sun Devils came in 7-2 in games where they scored over 80 points, but are now 2-5 when they score less than 70. The game started with both teams going a combined 0-for-11, so Saturday wasn't meant to be a score-fest. Arizona State was held to 22 points in the first half.

Arizona State did make a ferocious run in the early part of the second half, trimming UC's lead from 17 to four. Not helping matters was a scoreless drought of 8:08 in the half.

"When a basketball team doesn't score in eight minutes, they freakin' know," Miller said. "We weren't as good defensively during that stretch. We got out and ran a lot in the first half, but we defended our tails off. In that stretch in the second half, we didn't do a whole lot of things well. You try to win the next damn possession and everybody do their job on offense and let these guys be the players they are. I think everybody here sees in stretches that our guys are really good offensive players."

Miller told his players he was pleased they won a Big 12 game despite the lengthy dry spell vs. the Sun Devils.

Arizona State freshman Joson Sanon did not play

Sonon has now missed four of the last five games due to an ankle injury and is just behind top scorer B.J. Freeman in points per game (12.8) for the Sun Devils. From the three-point line, he hits 48%.

UC continues to be without Connor Hickman as he also heals from a lower-body injury. He has missed the past two games and is sidelined indefinitely.

Dunks for Dan (Skillings Jr.), Dillon (Mitchell)

Both had key steals and sky-walking dunks as UC held off the Sun Devils' advances. Mitchell had a couple worthy of ESPN SportsCenter (even though the game was on CBS Sports Network).

"I just go up there and do whatever's needed for me to do," Mitchell said.

Cincinnati Bearcats are 'jersey boys'

After winning in their "Black Cats" uniform featuring the "Cincy" logo in Colorado, UC debuted their "White Cats" look in polar bear winter white with silver trim Saturday. Overall, they're now 4-0 in the new unis.

Next on Big 12 menu?

For the first time this season, UC has back-to-back Big 12 home games as they'll entertain Texas Tech Tuesday night. The Red Raiders present a Quad 1 win opportunity as they come in 13-4 (4-1 Big 12) after beating Arizona, which had been 5-0 in the league, 70-54 in Lubbock Saturday afternoon.

UC twice will have back-to-back home games next month when they entertain BYU Feb. 8 and Utah Feb. 11, then TCU on Feb. 22 and Baylor Feb. 25.

UC arrived home from the Colorado win at 3:30 a.m. Thursday to get a couple days prep for Arizona State. Miller and staff were immediately going to watch Texas Tech tape after Saturday's win.

"It's a really short turnaround to play at 2 o'clock on a Saturday and it's a really short turnaround again (for Texas Tech)," Miller said. "Everybody in our league is doing the same thing. That creates its own challenge on coaches and really the players. Over 20 league games, everybody's doing the exact same thing in this league. To me, there's no point in even worrying about it."

UC women make for sweep

In the nightcap of Saturday's roundball doubleheader the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team made a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Colorado 65-59. Tineya Hilton had a career-high 27 points. UC is 11-5 (3-3 Big 12) while Colorado drops to 12-6 (3-4 Big 12).