Cincinnati 74 DePaul 66

Cincinnati bested DePaul Saturday night to improve to 16-7, 6-4 this season. While the picture up top and the ones below make it seem like a UC slam dunk party, it was almost anything but. DePaul has a lot of young players and they play a kind of funky style. In a league of slow down, DePaul speeds up with their press. They aren't winning a ton of games, 2-8 in the league, but the Blue Demons have something going. Fortunately for the Bearcats, DePaul hasn't mastered closing down the stretch. The Bearcats haven't been closers all the time this season, but Cashmere Wright acted like Mariano Rivera Saturday, slamming the door. Sean Kilpatrick and Dion Dixon have made huge shots for the team late in games this year, but it seems like Cash wants the ball in his hands. He's made smart decisions. That's a very important thing for a team that has trouble closing games. The road only gets tougher from here. 

 A large part of why the road is going to get tougher from here is because the defense has not been very good. DePaul hit 47.5% of their shots. Out of the 35 they missed, they got offensive rebounds on 10 of them. This is not one of the better UC defensive teams in recent memory. If they play anyone with scorers who take smart shots, the Bearcats are in some trouble. 

The Bearcats do have 1 ace up their sleeve, and that's that they force turnovers against bad teams and are able to score. The Cats forced 18 and scored 22. That was a large part of the 74. It was good to see the press broken back out and the guards back to pocket picking ways. Wright, Dixon and Jackson combined for 7 steals. UC had 10. Take away the 22 points off turnovers and UC is in the 50s. Just like where they were for Syracuse and Rutgers. Sometimes it's not rocket science. 

We are seeing another kind of blemish, kind of not blemish emerge and that's rebounding. Getting outboarded by DePaul is not really that great of a thing since the Demons are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. The guard rebounding was solid, but if Yancy Gates isn't getting a double double, this team seems to not rebound. He didn't get a double double. 

Finally, finally, finally the Bearcats got to the free throw line. The percentage was bad, 60.7, and part of the reason it was a close game, but 28 attempts is more like it. 17 easy points combined with the 22 points off of possessions you didn't give up a shot are points DePaul is going to have a hard time contesting. 

The easy points are needed because the offense still has some issues that need working out. UC was 3-15 from 3. They were horrible at the line as noted. They turned the ball over 10 times. That's 3 straight games with double digit turnovers. Maybe 4, but it's at least 3. Not a trend you want to see pop up this late in the season. Shot selection is an issue.

Some teams can deal with the pressure late. Other teams can't. 5 minutes to go with DePaul up 2, UC got a 3 by Cash, tip in by SK, FTs by Cash and a layup by Wright. DePaul went quick shot after quick shot after quick shot, mostly all bad shots Worrel Clahar, and didn't score until there were 7 seconds left. Just like Oklahoma and Georgetown. Almost. 

Before we get into the Bearcats, let's talk about DePaul real quick. Cleveland Melvin is a tremendous player. He had a double double in the first half. He finished with 18-13. He needs to work on passing out of the double team. Once he does that, he's going to be special. There was a time in the first half he was unstoppable. Jamee Crockett was huge. He was 7-12, 3-7 from deep for 17 points. He fouled out on a stupid foul with 5 minutes left. As I just said, DePaul had trouble scoring. And seriously, Worrel Clarhar, you aren't Kevin Durant. Don't try to be the hero. 



 Not a great game from Yancy Gates. He was 5-10 with 1-3 at the line for 11 points. He had 6 boards, 4 offensive. He also turned the ball over twice and committed 4 fouls. Yancy did block a pair of shots and get a steal, but not the most productive 28 minutes. He was outshined in the front court. Some part was because of the 2 first half fouls, but that's not an excuse. He played 17 second half minutes and had 2 defensive boards.



Cashmere Wright finished with 11 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. He made the big 7 point surge when UC needed it late. He pulled in a big board as well. He was 2-5 down the stretch. That was the icing on an incredibly aggressive second half that saw him shoot 12 times. And hey, Cash made 2 pointers! Sure one of them was on a goaltend and he was 3-9 on 2s, but 2 of them dropped. It's a start. Cash was also in foul trouble the first half, playing just 8 minutes. I think 18 that he played the second half was a season high for a half. 

Dion Dixon didn't have a great day from the field, 4-12, 0-4 deep, but he went 8-8 at the foul line. I love free throw shooting Dion Dixon. I don't love wild shot taking Dion Dixon nearly as much. The mixture of the 2 wasn't exactly peanut butter and chocolate, but he scored 16 points that UC needed. Dixon turned the ball over twice to one assist, which has been unusual for him. I think most fans would take 4-8 from 2 and 8-8 at the foul line. Just cut the 3s down, best friend. 

Sean Kilpatrick looked back to his Sean Kilpatrick self. He was 6-12, 2-6 from 3, 2-4 at the foul line for 16 points. He threw in 5 rebounds and 4 assists with a steal. Only 1 turnover. He took care of the ball, made smart decisions and hit the glass. It looks like the week off did SK some good. After all, he was able to dunk. His tip late was huge. He'll get the 3s to start falling at a higher rate again. We need Sean Kilpatrick healthy. He's not going to be completely healed, no one is, but if he's able to do the things he wants on the floor, that's great. 

JaQuon Parker got the start as UC went small and pressed Depaul. Parker was rebounding and press JaQuon. He had more boards than points, 5-4. He had a problem with turnovers. Park turned it over 3 times. I don't think we know what his role will be the rest of the season, but we do know that it's going to be in the pressing unit. Solid game. 

Justin Jackson came off the bench with a career game. He was 5-5 from the field and 4-8 from the foul line to give him a new career high of 14 points. He was as confident in his offensive game as he was in his defensive game. He had 2 blocks and 2 steals. This is what I wanted to see from Justin Jackson. He more than lived up to my expectations. He had 4 rebounds to boot. That's not an amazing statistic, but it's a start when he's been getting half of that lately. He even made a Magic Jackson pass. I like my Justin Jackson extremely overconfident. Bring it, JJ. 



Nice minutes from Jeremiah Davis. Went 0-2 from the field and FT line, but had 2 boards, 2 assists and a steal. Solid. 

Cheikh Mbodj had 3 boards and 2 points. He was 1-3 shooting. The only shot he made was what you would expect. He was going up for a shot, had the ball knocked out of his hands, the ball flew high in the air about 3 feet over the shot clock high and fell in perfectly. Of course that's the shot he makes. Wouldn't expect anything different. 

No headband from Ge'Lawn Guyn. You're dead to me Ge'Lawn. 

Not really. Let's be friends.

1 minute from Kelvin Gaines and he had an offensive foul. That goes down as a foul and a turnover. Lighting up the box score. 

Speaking of box score, that's thanks to Go Bearcats. Photos thanks to Cincinnati.com. 

 

Official Basketball Box Score
DePaul vs Cincinnati
02/04/12 7 p.m. at Cincinnati, Ohio (Fifth Third Arena)

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VISITORS: DePaul 11-11, 2-8 BE
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 MELVIN, Cleveland... f  9-17   0-1    0-1    2 11 13   0  18  1  3  1  0  36
21 CROCKETT, Jamee..... f  7-12   3-7    0-0    1  5  6   5  17  1  0  1  2  27
33 FABER, Krys......... c  1-3    0-0    1-2    2  1  3   3   3  0  0  0  0  17
20 YOUNG, Brandon...... g  4-12   1-6    0-0    1  2  3   0   9  7  6  0  1  31
32 McKINNEY, Charles... g  3-5    0-0    2-4    0  1  1   4   8  2  2  0  0  18
00 CLAHAR, Worrel......    3-7    0-2    2-2    1  1  2   3   8  4  3  0  1  27
02 McGHEE, Edwind......    1-1    1-1    0-0    0  4  4   0   3  1  3  0  0  18
10 ROBERTSON, Derrell..    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  1  0  0  0  10
23 KIRK, Donnavan......    0-2    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   4   0  1  0  0  0  16
   TEAM................                         2  3  5             1
   Totals..............   28-59   5-17   5-9   10 30 40  21  66 18 18  2  4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-33 48.5%   2nd Half: 12-26 46.2%   Game: 47.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-10 20.0%   2nd Half:  3-7  42.9%   Game: 29.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-7  57.1%   2nd Half:  1-2  50.0%   Game: 55.6%   2,1


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HOME TEAM: Cincinnati 16-7, 6-4 BE
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Gates, Yancy........ f  5-10   0-0    1-3    4  2  6   4  11  0  2  2  1  28
01 Wright, Cashmere.... g  4-13   1-4    2-2    0  2  2   3  11  4  0  0  3  26
03 Dixon, Dion......... g  4-12   0-4    8-8    3  0  3   0  16  1  2  0  2  34
23 Kilpatrick, Sean.... g  6-12   2-6    2-4    1  4  5   1  16  4  1  0  0  37
44 Parker, Jaquon...... g  2-3    0-0    0-0    0  5  5   1   4  0  3  0  1  24
00 Davis III, Jeremiah.    0-2    0-1    0-2    0  2  2   0   0  2  1  0  1  11
05 Jackson, Justin.....    5-5    0-0    4-8    2  2  4   2  14  1  0  2  2  23
13 Mbodj, Cheikh.......    1-3    0-0    0-1    1  2  3   1   2  0  0  0  0  10
14 Guyn, Ge'Lawn.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   6
24 Gaines, Kelvin......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   1
   TEAM................                            3  3
   Totals..............   27-60   3-15  17-28  11 23 34  14  74 12 10  4 10 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0%   2nd Half: 15-30 50.0%   Game: 45.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-9  11.1%   2nd Half:  2-6  33.3%   Game: 20.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-17 64.7%   2nd Half:  6-11 54.5%   Game: 60.7%    2


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Officials: John Cahill, Mike Roberts, Tim Higgins
Technical fouls: DePaul-None. Cincinnati-None.
Attendance: 10450
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
DePaul........................   38   28  -   66
Cincinnati....................   36   38  -   74

Points in the paint-DPU 38,CIN 44. Points off turnovers-DPU 10,CIN 22.
2nd chance points-DPU 8,CIN 12. Fast break points-DPU 20,CIN 16.
Bench points-DPU 11,CIN 16. Score tied-9 times. Lead changed-16 times.
Last FG-DPU 2nd-00:07, CIN 2nd-00:13.
Largest lead-DPU by 5 1st-06:04, CIN by 10 2nd-00:13.