Cincinnati 62 Seton Hall 57

The Cincinnati Bearcats got a huge win on Saturday afternoon over Seton Hall. Not only was a it a very nice win that we could all pretty much relax during, but the Bearcats really got a boost numbers wise. The RPI is something we all know sucks. The RPI went from the 92 to 80 on stat sheet. Improvements like that will only keep coming if Cincinnati takes care of business against Louisville on Thursday. Seton Hall had fancy computer numbers which only made this win more impressive. That's the part of the system that's unsexy. I understand a great deal of the fan base that is pissed off that UC is a bubble team because of the fact UC has 19 wins and 9 wins in the Big East. But the fact they played no one in the non-conference really hurts. The way things have shaken out, UC has played 0 top 50 teams in the non-con. The highest is 52. That's to Marshall. And they lost. The second highest is 54. To Xavier. And they lost. Their best 2 non-con wins are to 111 and 112 Oklahoma and Georgia. After that it's 199 Northwestern State. I was not fond of the non-conference schedule when it was announced and was very critical of Mick's defense of it. That's the thing biting UC in the ass right now. Of course, things would look even better if 2 of the 5 Big East losses weren't to the 2 of the worst 6 teams in the league. Guess UC will just have to win the rest of the games this season. Sound good? Yes. 

The intensity the Bearcats had to start the game was very noticeable. It was a little like the Syracuse game because they game out dropping 3s. They hit a pair racing out to a 10-0 start. They knocked down another 3 to make it 21-10 and yet another one to make it 30-15 with 5:31 to go in the half. It was one of the best starts of the season. The Pirates had no answer for the UC offense. UC's defense gave Seton Hall no room to breathe. At one point early, SH had 7 turnovers and 6 made field goals. 

Things tightened up when Yancy Gates was called for a technical foul when he dispatched Jordan Theodore, who was called for a foul trying to tie up Gates. Gates arm swung him to the ground. It wasn't the smartest play by Gates. If Herb Pope is the one who is tying him up, Pope probably doesn't go to the floor. But against a guard, that's a technical. SH cut the lead to 8 immediately afterwords. That helped them go into the break down 9 instead of down much more. 

 7-2 spurts don't look that impressive regularly, but when you are up 9, they tend to stand out. Such was the case in the 2nd half. UC went up 14 on such a run during some sloppy, sloppy action. 

UC had an answer for nearly everything the Pirates did. SH cuts the lead to 8, Cash hits a 3. Lead to 8 again, Parker traditional 3 point play.  Lead to 9, Kilpatrick layup. Lead to 9, Dixon layup. Answer, answer, answer, answer. 

Seton Hall did make a small run late.  They got the lead to 4 with 30 seconds left. But Dixon made a free throw, Theodore missed a 3 horribly and Parker made a free throw.

Seton Hall couldn't get good shots late. They got the ball with 48 seconds left down 6 and couldn't get anything going. They called a timeout with 34 seconds left. When you need quick baskets and you need quick baskets now, holding the ball for 14 seconds before calling a timeout is huge. They scored 4 seconds late. That's an 18 second possession down 6 late in a game with only 1 shot attempt. That's good D.  

The D the whole game was pretty solid. Seton Hall didn't get many good looks from 3, 4-20. They were only 41% on 2s. The Bearcats forced those 7 turnovers in the first half that gave them a lot of life, but when SH only turned the ball over twice, the Pirates only got 4 more shots than the first half. It made Kevin Willard cry. 



A lot of credit goes to the guys who guarded Jordan Theodore and Herb Pope, Cash, Dixon, SK, Jackson, Gates, Mbodj, maybe even Parker. Pope was 3-11. He was put on the foul line to get points and he didn't do it consistently by going 4-8. Theodore took a lot of the shots in the second half, 15!, but made just 5  in a 6-21 day. He only went to the foul line 3 times. The stars went 9-32. I'll take that every day of the week. They had 5 of the 9 turnovers to boot. Great D on them. 



Offensively, UC was much, much better in the first half than the second. There was a huge drop in shooting, 48% to 32%. UC made just 8 second half shots. They didn't pass very well, 13 assists to 13 turnovers. They assisted on 5 of the 8 second half buckets. Some of the late game execution was just standing there for 30 seconds and rushing up a shot, which really helped the Hall out. They shot free throws pretty well going 13-18. 3 of the misses seemed to come late. The 3 point game was great. UC got good looks and knocked them down. 9-21 is one of the best marks this season. Hitting 43% on anyone is going a long way for a win. This was one of those games where shooting 5% better than your opponent was enough. 

Yancy Gates did not have a great game. He had 8 rebounds, which was good. Only 1 offensive. As a result, Gates was 2-6 from the field, 1-2 at the line, for 5 points. He had a block, a steal, an assist and a turnover. Not his best game, but his defense and rebounding were very good. 

#GatesDunk



We are seeing less of Cashmere Wright, 28 minutes, but maybe that is helping him some. He was 4-6, 3-4 from 3, 2-2 at the foul line for 13 points. He had 2 rebounds and a steal. His shooting and defense were very solid. The problem with this game was something that hasn't been a problem of his in a while, turnovers. Cash had 0 assists to 4 turnovers. That's not what you want from your point guard at all.



Dion Dixon was a stat sheet stuffer and looked like the best player on the floor. He was horrible from 2, 3-10, but hit 2-4 from 3 and 8-10 at the foul line to power UC with a game high 20 points. 2 of the shots Dixon missed were shots very late in the shot clock. He hit the glass with reckless abandon getting 6 boards. He had a team high 5 assists. He had a steal. Dixon blocked 2 more shots. I said he wasn't quite Kenyon Martin but he was getting there last game, well, he's approaching Kenyon territory now. 2 or 3 blocks against Louisville seals it. He had a great all around. Dion made me proud to call him my best friend. Let's look at him block Pope again. 



Another kind of quiet game for Sean Kilpatrick. He was 3-8 from the field, 1-5 from 3. 7 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 block. Hard to tell if he's in a slump or if people are just denying him the looks he wants from 3. He got a lot of his 22 in the last game from the line if you recall. I think we need more driving Sean Kilpatrick. 

JaQuon Parker answered the bell big time on Saturday. He knocked down a pair of 3s, his first in a while, a pair of 2s and a pair of free throws for 12 points. He did work on the glass with 7 rebounds. He had a block and a steal defensively. JaQuon works hard and it's good to see his hard work pay off. You can feel the guys feeding off of him when he's making shots and getting his game rolling. Parker also played 32 minutes, his most in a while. He plays with a lot of heart. I hope he's in for a late season surge. 



Jermemiah Davis saw 3 minutes, the fewest of anyone off the bench. He had a board. Cheikh Mbodj only saw 5 minutes. He had a board and a foul. That's the Mbodj. 

Justin Jackson fell a little bit from the field, 1-4, didn't rebound much, 2, and had 2 turnovers, but JJ had 4 assists in his 18 minutes. He was a passing machine. You can count on Jackson for at least 1 flashy pass and at least 1 boneheaded turnover a game, but the flashy pass almost makes the turnover seem worth it. He was a nice boost.

I talk about Jackson looking awkward on his drives. Go Bearcats gives us photographic proof. 



Ge'Lawn Guyn came into the game shooting. He took all 3s, knocking down his first one. That's all he did, but it was good. He's not a huge drop off from Cash. Sure there is one, but it's not something that makes you wish Mick wasn't jerking Cash's minutes around this late in the season. 

Photos via Cincinnati.com. Dixon (top), Parker and Jackson via Go Bearcats, as is the box score

Official Basketball Box Score
Seton Hall vs Cincinnati
02/18/12 4 p.m. at Cincinnati, Ohio (Fifth Third Arena)


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VISITORS: Seton Hall 18-9, 7-8 BE
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
02 MOBLEY, Brandon..... f  1-4    0-1    0-0    0  3  3   3   2  0  1  1  0  16
15 POPE, Herb.......... f  3-11   0-2    4-8    5  9 14   2  10  2  2  1  1  35
01 THEODORE, Jordan.... g  6-21   0-4    3-3    3  3  6   4  15  5  3  0  0  36
04 COSBY, Aaron........ g  2-6    1-5    0-0    1  2  3   2   5  0  2  0  3  34
23 EDWIN, Fuquan....... g  7-15   1-5    0-0    1  2  3   3  15  1  0  1  1  38
13 KARLIS, Haralds.....    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   4
14 WILSON, Freddie.....    1-3    1-1    0-0    1  0  1   1   3  2  1  0  0   8
33 AUDA, Patrik........    3-5    1-1    0-0    4  2  6   1   7  1  0  0  0  29
   TEAM................                         3     3
   Totals..............   23-66   4-20   7-11  18 21 39  16  57 11  9  3  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-31 32.3%   2nd Half: 13-35 37.1%   Game: 34.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-11 36.4%   2nd Half:  0-9   0.0%   Game: 20.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-4  100 %   2nd Half:  3-7  42.9%   Game: 63.6%   2,2


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HOME TEAM: Cincinnati 19-8, 9-5 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  2-6    0-0    1-2    1  7  8   3   5  1  1  1  1  31
01 Wright, Cashmere.... g  4-6    3-4    2-2    1  1  2   2  13  0  4  0  1  28
03 Dixon, Dion......... g  5-14   2-4    8-10   2  4  6   1  20  5  3  2  1  39
23 Kilpatrick, Sean.... g  3-8    1-5    0-0    2  2  4   0   7  3  2  1  0  35
44 Parker, Jaquon...... g  4-9    2-5    2-4    1  6  7   1  12  0  0  1  1  32
00 Davis III, Jeremiah.    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   3
05 Jackson, Justin.....    1-4    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   3   2  4  2  0  0  18
13 Mbodj, Cheikh.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   5
14 Guyn, Ge'Lawn.......    1-3    1-3    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  0  0  0  0   9
   TEAM................                         3  3  6             1
   Totals..............   20-50   9-21  13-18  11 26 37  12  62 13 13  5  4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0%   2nd Half:  8-25 32.0%   Game: 40.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  7-12 58.3%   2nd Half:  2-9  22.2%   Game: 42.9%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-7  85.7%   2nd Half:  7-11 63.6%   Game: 72.2%   1,1


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Officials: Brian O'Connell, Jeff Anderson, Paul Fair
Technical fouls: Seton Hall-None. Cincinnati-GATES, Yancy.
Attendance: 13003
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Seton Hall....................   28   29  -   57
Cincinnati....................   37   25  -   62

Points in the paint-SHU 34,CIN 16. Points off turnovers-SHU 12,CIN 12.
2nd chance points-SHU 15,CIN 12. Fast break points-SHU 9,CIN 3.
Bench points-SHU 10,CIN 5. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-SHU 2nd-00:11, CIN 2nd-04:14.
Largest lead-SHU None, CIN by 15 1st-05:31.