Cincinnati vs Syracuse Big East Tournament Semi-Final Preview

Tonight at 7 pm on ESPN, the Cincinnati Bearcats take on the top seed in the Big East tournament Syacuse Orange. It's the Bearcats first ever semi-final game in this tournament. The Bearcats are coming off a huge double OT win over Georgetown. The starters played a lot of minutes in the game. All 5 played at least 40 minutes. Dixon played all but 2. Gates and Parker played 46. That's a lot. But the good news is that they are college kids with young legs, so the Bearcats should be able to bounce back. Syracuse played a tough UConn team in a tight game. 

The Bearcats and Orange played in January. The Orange won that game 60-53. They shot 46% and made big plays down the stretch, UC shot 34% and had 11 turnovers. Kris Joseph (17), Scoop Jardine (13) and Brandon Triche (11) carried the Orange. The Bearcats were paced by Cashmere Wright's 17. Yancy Gates had a very solid 16-10. No other Cat finished in double digits, which was a big reason why the Bearcats lost. 

Big East tournament semi-finals. Bilas, Raftery and Sean. I can not wait. Seriously. It's noon as I write this and I wish the game started now. It's going to be awesome. The Cats are going to give Syracuse hell. I believe it. You believe it. They believe it. Let's do this. 

Stats conference numbers only


Seed: 4
Record: 23-9, 12-6

Scoring

1. Sean Kilpatrick 13.9
2. Dion Dixon 13.3
3. Yancy Gates 11
4. Cashmere Wright 10.2
5. JaQuon Parker 8.8

FG%

1. Justin Jackson 50
2. Yancy Gates 49
3. Sean Kilpatrick 41
4. Ge'Lawn Guyn 39.3
5. JaQuon Parker 39

3PT %

1. JaQuon Parker 37.2
2. Cashmere Wright 37
3. Jeremiah Davis 35.3
4. Sean Kilpatrick 35
5. Dion Dixon 27

FT %

1. Dion Dixon 77
2. Sean Kilpatrick 70.5
3. JaQuon Parker 67
4. Cashmere Wright 67
5. Yancy Gates 61

Rebounding

1. Yancy Gates 9.4
2. Sean Kilpatrick 4.7
3. JaQuon Parker 4.7
4. Cashmere Wright 3.9
5. Justin Jackson 3.7

Off reb 

1. Yancy Gates 3.7
2. Justin Jackson 2
3. Dion Dixon 1.8

Def reb 

1. Yancy Gates 5.7
2. Sean Kilpatrick 3.4
3. JaQuon Parker 3.3

Assists

1. Cashmere Wright 4.2
2. Dion Dixon 2.4
3. Sean Kilpatrick 2.3
4. Justin Jackson 1.7

Turnovers

1. Cashmere Wright 2
2. Dion Dixon 1.4
3. Justin Jackson 1.2
4. Sean Kilpatrick 1.1

Steals

1. Cashmere Wright 43
2. Dion Dixon 31
3. Justin Jackson 17
4. Sean Kilpatrick 16

Blocks

1. Justin Jackson 22
2. Cheikh Mbodj 16
3. Yancy Gates 15
4. Dion Dixon 11

Record: 31-1
Seed: 1

Scoring

1. Kris Joseph 13.8
2. Dion Waiters 11.6
3. CJ Fair 10.2
4. Brandon Triche 9.1
5. Fab Melo 8.9

FG%

1. Fab Melo 61
2. CJ Fair 48
3. Kris Joseph 44
4. Dion Waiters 44
5. Scoop Jardine 43

3PT %

1. Scoop Jardine 35
2. Brandon Triche 34
3. Kris Joseph 33
4. Dion Waiters 32
5. CJ Fair 22

FT %

1. Brandon Triche 85
2. Fab Melo 77
3. CJ Fair 74
4. Kris Joseph 70
5. Dion Waiters 67

Rebounding

1. Fab Melo 6.1
2. CJ Fair 6
3. Kris Joseph 4.7
4. Dion Waiters 2.8
5. James Southerland 2.7

Off Reb

1. Fab Melo 2.3
2. CJ Fair 2.2
3. Kris Joseph 1.6

Def Reb

1. CJ Fair 3.8
2. Fab Melo 3.7
3. Kris Joseph 3.2
4. Dion Waiters 2.2
5. Scoop Jardine/James Southerland 1.9

Assists

1. Scoop Jardine 5.7
2. Dion Waiters 2.6
3. Brandon Triche 2.4
4. Kris Joseph 1.8
5. Michael Carter Williams 1.25

Turnovers

1. Scoop Jardine 2.3
2. Kris Joseph 1.5
3. Fab Melo 1.4
4. Dion Waiters 1.3

Steals

1. Dion Waiters 32
2. Kris Joseph 28
3. CJ Fair 23
4. Scoop Jardine 21
5. Brandon Triche 19

Blocks

1. Fab Melo 56
2. CJ Fair 15
3. Baye Moussa Keita 14

Paw Points

UC has won 3 straight against ranked teams and 8 of the last 10. They got one of the teams that beat them in that streak in the rematch. 

 Syracuse was tops in the Big East in scoring margin, outscoring teams by 10.3 a game. They averaged a league best 1.1 points per possession. They gave up a league low 0.94 ppp. They are pretty good. 

 Syracuse is the clear second best shooting team in the league, percentage points behind Marquette. Syracuse is hitting 45.5% from the field. Their effective FG% (counting 3s) is 50.3. Their true shooting (3s and FTs) is 53.5. UC is 48.7 by comparison. The Orange is 2nd, 3rd and 2nd best in the league in those categories defensively. They are very good. 

One area Syracuse doesn't stand out is foul shooting. They are in at 69.9%.  That's 9th in the league. They are in the middle of the pack in free throw rate as well. 

Syracuse also ranks 9th in 3 point percentage, 31.8.  Defensively, they gave up 346 three point attempts. 369 when you count the UConn game. That's a little over 19 a game. Teams only hit 29%. That's the mirage of the zone. UConn put up 23 and made 6. UC put up 25 in the first meeting, making 8. 

Syracuse is a bad rebounding team. They are 11th in the Big East in offensive rebound percentage at 33.7.  They are 15th defensive rebounding percentage at 59.8. They get 46.8% of the available rebounds, which was one of the 3 worst in the league. 

Rebounding is just about the only flaw. The Orange turn the ball over 15.5% of the time, the second lowest percentage. They force turnovers on 23.4% of possessions, the highest percentage. 13.4% of those are steals, also the highest percentage. Teams don't get steals off of them. 

Fab Melo didn't play in the first meeting. He was the Big East defensive player of the year. He draws a lot of charges. He's kind of important. 

Dion Waiters, the Big East 6th man of the year, played on 12 minutes in the first meeting. Got to imagine he will see a lot more time tomorrow. 

UC will be wearing these uniforms. 
 They are going to look orange. They will be ugly. Especially if the red shows that much in the shorts. If the shorts were not tiger striped for no reason, they would be ok. Adidas blows.