Tonight at 7, the Cincinnati Bearcats finish up their first of 5 two game pods by traveling to Providence to take on the PC Friars. The Bearcats have won the last 3 against the Friars. This is a tricky road game. PC just beat Villanova. They have some great talent. Bryce Cotton leads the Big East in scoring. Vincent Council leads the Big East in assists. Providence is not a great defensive team, but they are a solid offensive squad. This is a road game. That means it could be a dangerous game. 

Stats are BIG EAST PLAY ONLY 

Record: 17-4, 5-3 

Road/Neutral: 8-1

RPI (from Real Time RPI): 21

Rank: 17

Vs Providence: 4-4

At Providence: 1-2

Winning Streak: 3 

Last Meeting: 81-66 February 15, 2012

Minutes

• Sean Kilpatrick 35.4
• JaQuon Parker 31.7
• Cashmere Wright 29.5
• Titus Rubles 23.6
• Cheikh Mbodj 22.2

Scoring

• Sean Kilpatrick 18.1
• Cashmere Wright 14.6
• JaQuon Parker 9
• Titus Rubles 6.1
• Cheikh Mbodj 5.9

Field Goal % (Min 15 attempts)

• Cheikh Mbodj 50
• Justin Jackson 41.7
• Sean Kilpatrick 39.8
• Cashmere Wright 39,6
• Jermaine Sanders 39.3

Free Throw % (Minimum 15 attempts)

• Cashmere Wright 85.7
• Sean Kilpatrick 76
• Titus Rubles 70
• Cheikh Mbodj 68.4
• Justin Jackson 66.7

3 Pointers Made (3 point %)

• Sean Kilpatrick 27 (34.2%)
• Cashmere Wright 15 (29.4%)
• JaQuon Parker 10 (34.5%)
• Jermaine Sanders 5 (29.4%)
• Titus Rubles 3 (20%)

Rebounding

• Titus Rubles 6
• Cheikh Mbodj 4.8
• Sean Kilpatrick 4.7
• Justin Jackson 4.5
• JaQuon Parker 4.4

Assists

• Cashmere Wright 27
• Titus Rubles 21
• JaQuon Parker 17
• Sean Kilpatrick 14
• Justin Jackson 10

Turnovers

• JaQuon Parker 22
• Sean Kilpatrick 15
• Titus Rubles 14
• Cashmere Wright 14
• Justin Jackson 11

Steals

• Cashmere Wright 10
• Sean Kilpatrick 7
• Titus Rubles 5
• JaQuon Parker 5
• Justin Jackson 5

Blocks

• Cheikh Mbodj 23
• Justin Jackson 12
• David Nyarsuk 8
• Sean Kilpatrick 4
• Titus Rubles 3

Record: 11-11, 3-7

Home: 8-4

RPI: 113

Vs Top 25: 0-3

Minutes

• Bryce Cotton 38.1
• LaDontae Henton 33.8
• Vincent Council 32.9
• Kadeem Batts 29.2
• Kris Dunn 23.3

Points

• Bryce Cotton 20.7
• Vincent Council 11.1
• Kadeem Batts 11
• LaDontae Henton 9.5
• Kris Dunn 6.2

Field Goal %

• Kadeem Batts 47.3
• Bryce Cotton 46.6
• Kris Dunn 39.6
• Vincent Council 37
• Josh Fortune 30

FT %

• LaDontae Henton 90
• Bryce Cotton 75
• Kris Dunn 70.6
• Vincent Council 64
• Kadeem Batts 55.3

3 Pointers Made (3 pt %)

• Bryce Cotton 35 (40.2%)
• Josh Fortune 12 (41.4%)
• Vincent Council 6 (33.3%)
• LaDontae Henton 4 (14.8%)

Rebounding

• LaDontae Henton 8.3
• Kadeem Batts 6.4
• Bryce Cotton 4
• Kris Dunn 3.6
• Josh Fortune 2.3

Assists

• Vincent Council 73
• Bryce Cotton 22
• Kris Dunn 9
• Kadeem Batts 7
• LaDontae Henton 7

Turnovers

• Vincent Council 34
• Kadeem Batts 25
• Kris Dunn 25
• LaDontae Henton 22
• Bryce Cotton 16

Steals

• Vincent Council 11
• Kris Dunn 11
• Bryce Cotton 10
• Kadeem Batts 9
• LaDontae Henton 8

Blocks

• Kadeem Batts 7
• Vincent Council 5
• Kris Dunn 3
• LaDontae Henton 3
• Brice Kofane 3

Sidiki Johnson is not on any of the stat lists because he has taken a voluntary absence from the team. 

Providence is very thin. Only 6 guys have played every game. Johnson played in 8. Ted Bancroft has played in 8. He is only there to spell Council. I would be stunned if Cotton didn't play all 40 tonight. 

Only 1 player is averaging 20 points a game in the Big East for the season and in Big East play. That's Bryce Cotton. He's going to shoot the basketball. A lot. Good luck to whoever draws him tonight. 

Providence is one of the faster paced teams in the league. Cincinnati should be able to slow the down. 

The Friars average 0.99 points per possession on offense, while giving up 1.05 on defense. They are the 5th worst team in the league in both, so 11th. Cincinnati is 7th offensively and defensively at 1.02 and 0.97. 

Neither team is adept from the field. They are the 2nd and 3rd worst in terms of field goal percentage. 

Something to watch is the 3 point shooting. Neither team gives up a lot of looks, PC 146, UC 148, but both teams shoot a lot. Cincinnati leads the Big East with 203 attempts. Providence is making 35% from deep, the 4th best percentage in the league. 

There could be a lot of free throws tonight. Cincinnati has the 3rd highest free throw rate, PC the 4th. UC has the 4th lowest free throw rate for it's opponents. The Friars are generous with the fouls. 

Providence is the best offensive rebounding team in the Big East. They are pulling 40.7% of their misses. Pittsburgh is number 2. UC faces a tough offensive rebounding challenge this week. Cincinnati is the second best team in the league at getting defensive rebounds at 69.8%. Whoever controls the glass will have a big advantage. 

Providence will give the ball away. They turn it over on 22% of their possessions. They get it stolen on 11.9%. That's a huge number. Only Seton Hall is worse and we saw the Bearcats get a major spike in steals on Saturday. 

Providence is middle of the road in steal % and near the very bottom in block %. They are Rutgers level of non-threatening. 

That should mean a big game for Cheikh Mbodj. I'm calling 12 points. Maybe a double double. I'm feeling 13 tonight. 

Cincinnati is a 4.5 favorite tonight. 

Prediction

I think they win by slightly more than that. 

Cincinnati 67 Providence 61

Today is national signing day. It's become a huge event in football circles. Unfortunately for me, I don't care about college football recruiting. At all. Apologies if you do. There are other sites that cover it more in depth. I asked people on twitter yesterday if anyone would be interested in covering this. No one replied. That's normally not a good sign. Who cares about me? Let's check out the UC class of 2013 from Go Bearcats.

Time	Signee	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Video	Hometown / School
Enrolled	Darren Doston	DB	6-2	195	Watch	Daytona Beach, Fla./Seabreeze/College of the Sequoas
Enrolled	Zach Edwards	DB	5-11	175	Watch	Middletown, Ohio/Middletown
Enrolled	Javon Harrison	ATH	6-1	190	Watch	Dayton, Ohio/Huber Hts. Wayne
Enrolled	Jerrell Jordan	DL	6-3	245	Watch	Alta Vista, Va./Alta Vista/Copiah-Lincoln CC
Enrolled	Kyle Williamson	OL	6-5	265	Watch	Madeira, Ohio/Madeira
7:31 a.m.	Mark Barr	WR	6-1	171	Watch	Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas
8:00 a.m.	Ben Flick	OL	6-6	260	Watch	Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton
8:02 a.m.	Aaron Brown	DB	5-11	180	Watch	Miami, Fla./Northwestern
8:45 a.m.	Mark Wilson	DL	6-3	215	Watch	Hampton, Va./Phoebus
9:15 a.m.	Johnny Holton	WR	6-3	190	Watch	Miami, Fla./Coral Gables/College of DuPage
10:30 a.m.	Tshumbi Johnson	ATH	5-11	180	Watch	Immokalee, Fla./Immokalee
10:40 a.m.	Brent Stockstill	QB	6-0	190	Watch	Murfreesboro, Tenn./Siegel
11:10 a.m.	Terrrell Hartsfield	DL	6-4	245	Watch	Wake Forest, N.C./Rolesville/Copiah-Lincoln CC
12:00 p.m.	Mike Tyson	DB	6-2	190	Watch	Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor/Hargrave Military Academy
12:00 p.m.	Howard Wilder	DB	6-0	185	Watch	Sea Pleasant, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/Pierce College
1:10 p.m.	Tyler Cogswell	TE/ATH	6-4	225	Watch	Plantation, Fla./American Heritage
1:12 p.m.	Korey Cunningham	TE/DE	6-5	225	Watch	Montevallo, Ala./Montevallo
1:15 p.m.	Travis Johnson	TE	6-4	225	Watch	Tampa, Fla./Jesuit
1:20 p.m.	Hosey Williams	RB	5-11	205	Watch	Miami, Fla./Southridge/ASA
1:25 p.m.	Chris Burton	TE	6-4	245	Watch	Danville, Va./George Washington

Scout has Mike Tyson and Jerell Jordan as 4 star recruits. They rank Cincinnati's class 66th. They have Cincinnati with the 6th best class of the Big East. Rutgers is tops at 32. Louisville, UConn, Houston and USF come in at 54, 58, 59 and 62. SMU is at 68. UCF, Temple and Memphis are at 87, 94 and 95. 

Rivals tells a bit of a different story. They rank the Bearcats class at 102. That's under schools like FIU, Northern Illinois, and Navy. The same as Western Michigan. They don't have any of the UC recruits at 4 stars. Rivals has the Big East as it was last season in their conference rank. Pittsburgh has the best class, followed by Rutgers, USF, Louisville, UConn, Syracuse, Temple and Cincinnati. UC ranks under UCF, SMU, Memphis and Temple. So Rivals really doesn't like Cincinnati's class of 2013. Rivals has no star rankings for the JUCOs. 

Here is a little table to make this read easier. These are the average rankings of the Big East as of about 3 pm. It's next year's, for now, Big East. No Pitt, no Syracuse.

The great and talented UC dance team was picked to represent Team USA in the ICU Championship. The ladies are representing for pom, hip hop and I think another thing I'm unfamiliar with. The dance team finished second at nationals a month or so ago. Their hip hop routine is off the chain. 

The person who runs the dance team twitter  said I could practice with the team any time and that I am an honorary member. I may have made the last part up. The first part is the truth. This is not only a win for the lovely and talented dance team, but also for Bearcats Blog. 

The photo above is from the Dance Team Instagram. Give them a follow on twitter and instagram. Support the ladies. The person who runs the twitter is awesome and very nice. UC football had a big season, basketball is having a big season and the dance team is doing the damn thing as well. Congratulations to all of them. Hard work pays off. 

The new college basketball polls are out and Cincinnati has made a big climb in both. The Bearcats rank 17 and 17. That's a 6 spot move on one and a 7 spot move on the other. I don't know how UC would move 7 spots after beating Rutgers and Seton Hall, but Marquette moved up a spot after losing to Louisville by 83 points yesterday. Polls are stupid. 

What is not stupid are Matt Norlander's best photos from January. It features President Ono getting his head shaved. It also features this picture

Credit for that goes to CBS. That picture is awesome. I didn't know Sergeant Doakes from Dexter attended games. That one band member at the top is not too impressed. He's seen better. The guy in the front row either looks discouraged or he is doing his best #MeanFace. I gotta say, when I first said Justin Jackson mean face last season, I had no idea that it would catch on. I think whoever was running the Go Bearcats twitter that night also used it and the rest was history. That's a lesson to all of you kids out there, say a lot of things and maybe one of them will catch on. 

Oh, here are the polls. 

This was a pretty big weekend for Cincinnati basketball. It started on Saturday morning with the win over Seton Hall. It extended to Sunday when 5 star recruit Jermaine Lawrence picked Cincinnati. Take a minute to check out of the Big East standings. Cincinnati is tied for 2nd with Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown. They are a game in the loss column out of first place. It's hard to not want to look ahead and wonder if this team can acquire greatness. There is a damn good shot that this team could, and they will be favored to, win the next 4 games. That might put them at the top of the league. We've never been to these heights with Cincinnati basketball in the Big East. 6-3 is the best 9 game record ever. Lord knows that there are traps all over the place and every game is a battle. I trust this team. 

Trust is a very important word in life. There aren't a lot of things that you can trust and rely on. I trust that this team is going to find a way to win. The 3 of 4 losing skid that welcomed in 2013 seems to have been necessary. This team needed to be tested. They needed to see what they have inside. New Mexico is a good team. Notre Dame was playing well. St John's is a little better than most people thought, and they always give Cincinnati fits. Those games seemed to strengthen the core. When it comes down to brass tax, this team has what it takes to win. Syracuse is a tricky one because they let that one get away. But I don't think they will let many more get away from them down the stretch. This team has the instinct. 

What this team doesn't have is the killer instinct. Saturday showed the same problem that plagued UC against Marquette. The same problem that plagued them against DePaul to a lesser extent. They get up big and it seems like they take the foot off the gas. Marquette is not in the same class because they were shooting unbelievably bad and started making shots. But that was still a 16 point lead that was blown. DePaul was down 11 late and was able to cut it to 5 and eventually 3. 

Seton Hall was down 20. They were playing awful basketball. Kevin Willard went to multiple timeouts early in the second half. The Bearcats could do no wrong. Seton Hall could do no right. The subs gave some horrible minutes. Dan Cronin, Mick's brother, predicted a run was coming when the lead was 15. He was not wrong. I don't think it is too much to ask for this team to just put someone away. The season is long. We have at least 11 games left. I don't think I can take panic attacks in every one of them. 

Justin Jackson gave us a different type of game than he did against Rutgers. Different in this case doesn't mean bad. He had 3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers. Only 1 foul. Jackson played 20 minutes. He split time evenly with Titus Rubles. Jackson doesn't have to be a superstar. He has to be an active energy boost for this team. He gets knocked on his passing because for every good pass there is a turnover to follow, but he has a lot of passing skill. Look at his face when he thinks he made a good pass. You can see how proud he is of it. Solid game from Jackson. Keep it up, 5. 

Cheikh Mbodj is on a tear right now. He put up 7-7-5 blocks. He is on the highest scoring 3 game stretch of his career. He was 2-5 from the field and 3-4 at the stripe. All he has to do to be effective is score on dunks and layups. His post game is incredibly weak. 2 of his misses were on awful attempts. One of them was blocked. Mbodj cleans up the offensive glass pretty well. The biggest flaw for him is staying on the court. He was saddled with 4 fouls. Mick wants to play him 30 minutes so badly. The rotation is getting a lot tighter. Mbodj has to be on the floor longer for the team to be successful. With the way he has played on both ends, he needs to stay on the floor to take advantage of his hot streak. 

Cashmere Wright has had a rough go of things since returning. He is 7-29, 4-21 from 3. Titus Rubles is telling him to stop shooting 3s right now. Cash hit 2 of those 3s in the game Saturday. They were both on wide open looks. One of them he created with some nice dribbling, the other was a spot up. I'm a little worried that he's relying too much on the 3 point shot. Especially since it has stopped falling. He has 6 games this season where he has attempted 8 or more 3 pointers. 2 of them are in the last 3 games. He's made 3-8, 5-9, 5-10, 2-8, 1-8 and 1-8. I know you were all wondering. He has not been the same shooter in Big East play. Getting to the basket more seems like it would help him. 

It definitely helped him get to the free throw line. Cash was 7-7 from the stripe. He was 4-13 from the field. He had 4 assists to 2 turnovers. Wright recorded 1 steal to tie him with Darnell Burton for second most all time. I am pretty sure I said that stat incorrectly on Friday, so apologies. 

Sean Kilpatrick went full volume shooter Saturday afternoon. He scored a game high 21 points. He used 19 shots to get them. He was 3-4 from 2 and 5-15 from 3. He only got to the free throw line once. Killa is a gunner. Luckily for all of us, he does more than just shoot. He had a team best 7 rebounds. He added a pair of steals. He got a steal late that led to his 3 late to ice the game. Offense on this team is going to come down to Sean Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright scoring. Only 4 players attempted more than 2 shots. Only 3 players made at least 2 shots. Killa played 36 minutes. He's good. I like him. You probably do as well.

JaQuon Parker had trouble getting his shot to fall, but he went 6-8 at the foul line for the majority of his 9 points. He had 2 boards and 2 assists. He was also called for a travel. It seems like he is called for a travel in every game. Not a lot to say about JaQuon today. 

Titus Rubles rebounds like a mad man. He had 6 in his 20 minutes. He made both of his free throws for his only points. He had an assist and a steal. I feel like what he does isn't accurately reflected in the box score. I don't think starting matters to Rubles as much as it does Jackson. Rubles comes in and does his thing no matter what. Jackson has played completely different since being placed back in the starting lineup. It's good to have guys who don't have massive egos and are willing to get their 20 minutes any way they can. Props to Titus. 

That picture is both awesome and a representation of Rubles' rebounding skill. 

The rebounding was outstanding in the second half. UC pulled in 25.7% of their misses for the game, which isn't great, but they had 8 offensive boards in the second half. 7 of their 8 second chance points were in that half. UC pulled in 74.4% of Seton Hall's misses. The Pirates had 0 second chance points in the second half. 

UC had 9 steals. Seton Hall is known for turning the ball over a lot. They turned it over 14 times, which is below their average. 

It seemed like Seton Hall scored off of every UC turnover. Sure enough, the Pirates had 8 points off of 5 first half turnovers and 9 points off of 8 second half turnovers. Nearly 29% of the Pirate points came off of UC turnovers. That's not a great thing. 

Shaq Thomas and Ge'Lawn Guyn both played 5 minutes. Thomas was called for 2 fouls and had a rebound. Guyn missed a 3, pulled in a board, had a steal and turned the ball over. 

Jermaine Sanders played 9 minutes. He scored a bucket. He also had a rebound and a turnover. 

Kelvin Gaines once again got the early minutes over David Nyarsuk. Gaines was 1-2 for 2 points. The 1 was of a dunk. Of course. He had a rebound. In the bad category, he had 3 fouls and 2 turnovers. One of those was an offensive foul.

Nyarsuk played 1 more minute, 7-6. He had 2 points by going 2-3 from the foul line. He hit a big pair late in the game. He had 2 rebounds. One of his most inspired games in a while. 

The free throw shooting was pretty excellent. 21-27, 77.8%. I could take that. 

The 3 point shooting numbers are going to look bad when SK and Cash aren't making them at a high rate. They were 7-23. UC was 8-26. That stat is totally reliant on Cash and Killa. 

I was pretty impressed by Brandon Mobley of Seton Hall. He had 16 points on 6-8 shooting. He was a big part of the reason they were close in the first half. 

Fuquan Edwin had 14 in the second half on 4-10 shooting. He was held to 1 steal. I think Edwin is definitely going to be a pro. I like his game. 

Gotta hand it to Seton Hall, they didn't quit. 

I can't end this piece without talking about our good friend Carc. Ol' Carc was at the UC-Seton Hall game as the sideline reporter, which is a pretty dumb job in college basketball. He did some weird thing where he dressed up as a Pirate. That was the lead in to his epic journey. No one in the history of planet earth has done this. He started at UC-Seton Hall and went ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY to the Gonzaga-San Diego game. Now, he didn't even stay for the whole UC game. That's kind of lame. This was a big build the entire first half. When Carc finally left, people on twitter rejoiced. This was the worst promotion of the season. You can do better, ESPNU. 

Photos via Cincinnati.com