Cincinnati 71 Syracuse 68

The quest for 72 points in 4 straight games died last night, but that was the only negative in an amazing Cincinnati win over the Syracuse Orange, 71-68. Cincinnati is playing Louisville for their first Big East Championship. The fact we are able to say Cincinnati is playing for the Big East Championship should be putting a bounce in your step and a smile on your face. Look how happy the team is in that photo. We should all be so happy. I know when Justin Jackson dunked home the ball with a few seconds left, I looked like that cheerleader. I'm sure all the Syracuse fans looked like Kris Joseph. 

It's past 2 am as I write this, so I'm just going to touch on the key parts. There will be a game write up of this one during the summer. Believe that. Let's get to it. 

0 teams beat Syracuse with Fab Melo in the lineup before Friday night. 

The Bearcats came into this game like they were going to walk right over Syracuse. That's the swag they played with the first half. And you know what? That's exactly what they did for the first 20 minutes. They jumped out 7-0, got it up to 25-8 and went into the locker room up 13. You could tell they were confident with the shot selection, which was split between 3s and 2s. The 3s were good looks for the most part and UC knocked down 8. Sean Kilpatrick, who hit 3 the last 4 games, dropped 4 of 5 in the first half. Cashmere Wright hit 3 of 6. The ball movement was outstanding. UC had 12 assists on 13 FGs. Cash had 5 of them. It was just about as perfect of a half as this team could play. 



UC got back to their normal offensive selves in the second half, 41% shooting, but they pulled in 13 offensive rebounds. 5 of them by Yancy Gates. The turnovers rose as Syracuse put on a press, but the Bearcats continued to make shots when it mattered. 

One of those shots was Sean Kilpatrick's 6th 3 of the game with 1:47 left to put UC up 10 off a 7-0 run. It gets it's own little paragraph. 

UC tried to make us all die by not hitting free throws late again. Parker and Dixon both missed front ends of 1-1s. Gates and Parker both hit 1 of 2. That made things tense late. 

Luckily Dion Waiters made the 2nd of his free throws, one he was trying to miss, with 6 seconds left. That allowed to catch Syracuse unprepared and get a game icing breakaway dunk by Justin Jackson. Photo proof:


I guess this is a good time to talk about the uniforms. I hope UC never wears them again because good fucking god do you see those shorts? Bret Hart would be embarrassed in them. The players love them because the players love any uniform that makes them stand out. It looks like Jackson is wearing pink shoes. 

The defense got 8 of their 11 steals in the second half. That was very important because Syracuse, specifically Dion Waiters, was on fucking fire. Waiters hit 7-10. From 3. He had a 28 on 8-16, 5-6 FTs. Dion was 3-8, 2-3 in the first half for 8 points. He was incredible. Another in the list of huge guard performances hung on UC. That sounded weird. Waiters was single handily keeping the Orange in the game for the most part. The Orange were 14-28, 9-17 from 3 the second half. The UC free throw defense was stellar. Brandon Triche missed 2 huge FTs before the 7-0 run. He's 85% at the line. When you have a big lead, you can give up baskets and still win. 

The offense is gonna go as well as Cashmere Wright can make it go. He was great at times, 11 points, 8 assists, but he had 5 turnovers and UC bogged down. None of the guards outside of Dixon late took a free throw. That's not great. When shots don't fall, guys need to get to the line. They don't. 

I'm interested to see what kind of legs UC has tonight. Mick rode the starters longer and harder than he had all season long. They were up to the challenge. I wonder how much of the zone was to save legs and how much of it was strategic. Syracuse had no answer for it, so it worked on both. This is a 6 man team right now. I will ride with these 6. 

If UC wins the Big East tournament, Yancy Gates is going to be the MVP. He had 18-7 and played 37 minutes. He was 6-13 from the field and 6-8 at the foul line. 5 of his 7 boards were offensive. 6 of them came in the second half. So did 15 of his points. The man wants it. He's playing on a whole different level. I can't wait to see what he has in store tonight. 


Cash had 11 on 4-11, 3-9 from 3 with 8 assists, 5 boards, 1 steal and 5 turnovers. He played 38 minutes. He had the team rolling early. I'd like to see him keep his foot on the pedal and not turn into such a jump shooter and give the ball up so much. Maybe that happens next season. When he takes charge, this team can be something else. 

A day after he went shot crazy, Dion Dixon reigned it in and played himself a very solid game. He had 11 on 5-8, 1-3, with 3 boards, 3 steals and a block. He doesn't run the show as well as Cash does, but he gets the job done. He took the shots that were available to him and didn't force the issue. It was a very mature game by my best friend. Keep it up, 3. 

Sean Kilpatrick. What a game. He had 18 on the back of 6 of 9 from 3. He had 5 assists and 5 steals with 3 boards. It was one of his best games of the season. The thing I love about Killa is that he knows he's going to make everything and never hesitates to pull the trigger. You can tell some people know they are in slumps because they will change their game. Not SK. He got the shots he wanted and he made them. Defensively, he was extremely active in the zone and deflected a lot. Just a big time game when UC needed a big time game. Love it. 


JaQuon Parker, I love you man. 9 points, 8 boards, 2 steals. The 8 boards was a team high. He controlled the defensive glass because that's what he does. He didn't have his shot 2-8, but made 5-7 at the line. It's a shame the 2 misses weren't earlier in the game and nearly gave me a heart attack. He's the man. I would take a team of 10 JaQuon Parker's and we would be the toughest team in America. I think his attitude and intensity have rubbed off on everyone else. He is going to have a nice game tomorrow. 

Justin Jackson was a huge energy shot off the bench. He had 4 points, 4 offensive rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls. In 16 minutes. Justin Jackson packs a lot into a little time. One of the turnovers was him getting sucked into the Fab Melo charge magnet, and you'll take 2 turnovers with him. Plus, we got some great #JustinJacksonMeanFace. And we got this Justin Jackson pass face, which I imagine is the look he has every pass. 


Cheikh Mbodj was the only other bench player to get minutes. He got 3 and missed a put back. 

Big East Championship game you guys. I love this team. I love you. Hugs



Photos: Top image from SI/Getty. Rest from Go Bearcats. Box Score: Go Bearcats 
 

Official Basketball Box Score
Cincinnati vs Syracuse
3/9/12 7pm at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY


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VISITORS: Cincinnati 23-9
                          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  6-13   0-0    6-8    5  2  7   1  18  1  2  0  0  37
01 Wright, Cashmere.... g  4-11   3-9    0-0    0  5  5   5  11  8  5  0  1  38
03 Dixon, Dion......... g  5-8    1-3    0-1    0  3  3   2  11  1  1  1  3  37
23 Kilpatrick, Sean.... g  6-10   6-9    0-0    1  2  3   1  18  5  3  0  5  38
44 Parker, Jaquon...... g  2-8    0-1    5-7    2  6  8   1   9  0  1  0  2  31
05 Jackson, Justin.....    2-4    0-0    0-2    4  0  4   4   4  2  2  3  0  16
13 Mbodj, Cheikh.......    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                         4  1  5
   Totals..............   25-55  10-22  11-18  17 19 36  14  71 17 14  4 11 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0%   2nd Half: 12-29 41.4%   Game: 45.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  8-13 61.5%   2nd Half:  2-9  22.2%   Game: 45.5%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-2  50.0%   2nd Half: 10-16 62.5%   Game: 61.1%    2


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HOME TEAM: Syracuse 31-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
05 FAIR, C.J........... f  1-3    0-0    0-0    5  6 11   3   2  1  1  0  1  22
32 JOSEPH, Kris........ f  2-6    2-6    3-4    0  0  0   2   9  1  4  0  1  33
51 MELO, Fab........... c  5-9    0-0    1-4    7  1  8   0  11  3  2  0  1  33
11 JARDINE, Scoop...... g  2-3    2-3    0-0    0  3  3   5   6  2  5  0  1  26
20 TRICHE, Brandon..... g  4-13   1-5    0-2    2  0  2   1   9  4  2  0  2  27
01 CARTER-WILLIAMS, M..    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0  0+
03 WAITERS, Dion.......    8-16   7-10   5-6    0  2  2   2  28  4  1  1  2  32
12 KEITA, Baye.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
25 CHRISTMAS, Rakeem...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
43 SOUTHERLAND, James..    1-7    1-5    0-0    0  6  6   1   3  0  0  3  1  23
   TEAM................                         4     4
   Totals..............   23-57  13-29   9-16  18 18 36  16  68 15 15  4  9 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-29 31.0%   2nd Half: 14-28 50.0%   Game: 40.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-12 33.3%   2nd Half:  9-17 52.9%   Game: 44.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-2  50.0%   2nd Half:  8-14 57.1%   Game: 56.3%    4


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Officials: Karl Hess, Mike Roberts, John Gaffney
Technical fouls: Cincinnati-None. Syracuse-None.
Attendance: 20057
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Cincinnati....................   35   36  -   71
Syracuse......................   23   45  -   68
2012 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS GAME 1
MSG SELLOUT