Dan Skillings Jr. exits Cincinnati Bearcats basketball for Baylor

After seeing Josh Reed commit to Penn State earlier Tuesday, Cincinnati Bearcats basketball officially lost Dan Skillings Jr. in the portal to Baylor later in the day. Skillings confirmed the move via his Instagram account.

Skillings was the first departure for UC head coach Wes Miller on April 7. He joins a Baylor team coached by Scott Drew that has lost nearly everyone. From the starting lineup that the Bearcats defeated 69-67 on Feb. 25, the Bears lost Norchad Omier to graduation and the NBA, V.J. Edgecombe to the NBA, Langston Love transferred to Georgetown, Robert Wright III to BYU and Jalen Celestine is in the portal (and one of Cincinnati’s targets).

Three other Bears are in the portal. As of Tuesday, April 15, Skillings would be the seventh new player for next season.

Skillings played just 15 minutes with four points and rebounds in UC’s Quad 1 win over Baylor. In UC’s 20-point loss to Baylor in Waco Jan. 7, he had 18 points on five treys but just two rebounds.

In two losses to Baylor in his sophomore season, Skillings had 24 points in a 62-59 loss in Waco and 15 points in their Big 12 quarterfinal loss to the Bears.

Skillings announced his return for his junior season with Wes Miller and UC about a year ago when he was coming off a season where he averaged 12.9 points per game and 6.4 rebounds.

His opening game showed great promise as he had 17 points and 11 rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but a knee injury kept him out of the lineup for over a month. That double-double would be his only one of the season. He started every game from the Dec. 14 Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout with Xavier until the end of the swing out to Utah culminating with the Jan. 28 loss to the Utes after being blown out days earlier at BYU.

From Feb. 2 on, Skillings came off the bench and would only reach double figures four more times, the last being 12 points and five rebounds against DePaul in the opening game of the Crown tournament in Las Vegas.

In his final season at UC, Skillings averaged 9.3 points per game and 3.8 rebounds, down from his stellar sophomore campaign. He did improve his shooting percentages hitting 43% from the field and 31% from the arc.

Known for his 7-foot-2 wingspan on a 6-foot-6, 215-pound frame, Skillings came to the Bearcats from the Philadelphia area in 2022 and provided fans with a variety of high-flying highlights.

The Big 12 schedule has yet to be released, but there is the potential for Skillings to play again at Fifth Third Arena, this time in opposing colors.