Cincinnati vs Notre Dame Recap

Live blog recaps are the best recaps. Saves some time as well. Plus, everyone loves vague descriptions. That’s my service to you friends. 

Starting 5 is the same group that’s been starting for the most part lately, Cashmere Wright, Dion Dixon, Sean Kilpatrick, JaQuon Parker and Justin Jackson. Gates didn’t start the first game off his suspension last year either. Jackson wins the tip. He’s not good at that. Dixon a driving layup and UC scores first. UC going man. Shot clock under 3. 3 pointer no good. Killa rebounds and has it poked out by ND. Dixon drives and misses a floater. Inside and a horrible shot is airballed. It went from the box to the UC bench on a deflection. The picture is horrible. It’s small. 3 pointer by Jackson is no good. ND miss. Cash misses a 3. Cooley inside and 1. Cooley was guarded by Kilpatrick. Yikes. Dixon fouled him. FT no good. Kilpatrick bombs a 3 from the left wig. No headband. Sad face. Cash scores a layup. 7-4. Pass stolen. Outlet to a cherry picking Dixon for a layup. The crowd is loud. Parker long shot no good. Gates coming in at the media break. Shot inside no good. Parker short on a runner, but SK keeps it alive. Dixon 3 no good, ND board. Atkins a kick for 3 no good. SK running and he scores a layup. Timeout ND. UC going zone. Near steal, but ND recovers and misses a 3 badly but gets the board. Pass right to Parker. Dixon 3 no good. ND rebound. Cooley pressured by Gates and loses the ball. Gates first touch. Passes out, gets it back and scores a hook. ND misses, but Cooley gets it back and scores. Gates gets an over the back call on a miss. Long first segment. 13-6.

ND has 4 turnovers. They average less than 10. ND has Cooley out. This is going to be a short segment. ND works the ball around. Runner no good. Gates board. ND going 2-3 zone. Gates baseline jumper. That’s why I thought he would fit in the offense. UC gets burnt on a give and go. 15-8. 3 Guyn. Kilpatrick fouls on a pass down low for a bucket and foul. I missed the score. UC up 8. 18-10 probably. 

FT by Knight no good. Jackson is in. Cash is back in. Davis is in. Kilpatrick has 2 fouls. JJ is fouled inside. Make. Cooley back in, so is Martin. Jackson misses. ND breaks the press easy, but Atkins misses a 3, board to ND though. Cooley on the block passes out and screens for 22, cross court pass, back to Cooley on the box for a layup. Nice passing. Jackson baseline to Wright to Davis for 3. Timeout ND. Like the confidence from Davis and Guyn. ND gets UC chasing on the zone and Atkins scores a layup. Exactly what Brey drew up. Mbodj in the game. Jackson wild drive was blocked. Long jumper no good, 13 rebound. UC does nothing for 25 seconds, then Davis breaks for a layup. Hard move. Foul on Dixon. 7 minutes left, 24-14. 

ND ball to start. Mbodj blocks a drive. Davis for 3. On fire. ND turnover as Martin falls and the ball comes out. Parker in for Jackson. Davis was calling for the ball on the other side of the offense the whole time. Cash 3 is short. Grant the other way and is fouled by Cash. 2 on Cash. Grant makes and makes. UC up 9. Gates back in. Guyn lets a 3 fly no good, but Gates rebounds. Gates a turnaround jumper falls. ND misses, Dixon misses. Cooley misses inside. Davis drives baseline and nearly throws it way. On the wing and Parker travels. First turnover for UC. ND another turnover. 6 of them. My screen froze of a second with Hep Cronin licking his lips. It was creepy. Gates a turnover. ND misses, but gets the board. Grant buries a 3. Lead back to 10. Jackson got a pass wide open on the baseline and tried to pass instead of shoot. Lucky it out on ND. Under 4 media break, UC up 29-19. 

UC the ball under their basket. Student section is packed. Guyn to Dixon, who takes the ball up court. UC working it around. Shot clock was running out as Dixon throws up a prayer that misses rim. Bad awareness by the Cats. Open 3 no good, Jackson board. Davis from the the foul line no, but Jackson rebounds and scores. Jackson might have gotten away with a foul on the rebound. His man went flying. 3 no good, but Cooley taps it back. Parker tried driving on Cooley from the elbow to the box, but Cooley swatted his shit. Inbound to Davis, 3 off the side of the backboard. Ok, chill Jeremiah Davis. Shot blocked by Jackson and we get Justin Jackson mean face. Guyn has a shot miss and go out of bounds. ND is only down 10. ND holding for 1 shot. Inside to Martin, misses a turnaround. Davis is fouled up top. ND had fouls to give. Defensive subs in. Cash in for UC. Parker out. Interesting. Cash drives and kicks but Dixon’s 3 was deflected. Kind of an odd half. UC dominated, but only up 31-21. 

UC was 13-31, 4-16 from deep. 17 rebounds. Davis 8, Gates 6, SK 5, Dixon 4. 4 boards for Gates and Jackson. 3 steals by Cash. ND shot 9-28, 1-10 and had 18 boards. Cooley 8, Grant 5. 

ND the ball and they miss. SK rebound. Cash drives and passes to Parker for 3. Turnover by ND. Cash takes his man one on one, scores and is fouled. FT good. Danger time for ND. Jackson trails a guard and gets a not smart foul as Atkins scores. FT good. Parker another 3. Grant drives and scores a layup. Parker another 3. Foul on UC. Gates quickly in for Jackson. 12 a shot from the FT lane. He used a pump fake. Parker drives and is blocked. Grant a transition layup. Dixon drives on 12, stops, fakes, fakes and scores with a foul from 12. FT good. SK a floater too hard. ND the other way. Martin misses a 3. I missed an ND basket. SK inside and a timeout for ND. That was a beautiful give and go with SK and Gates for the score. Tie up. Under 16. 48-32. 

Cash gets in the lane but misses. Another rebounding foul on Gates. That’s 3. Mick didn’t agree with that call. 32 off a nice cut but misses. A near throwaway by UC. SK is fouled by 24. SK misses a 3, 24 rebound. 3 pointer by 24. He’s doing everything. By the way, he shot a normal 3 and the screen was cut off so we couldn’t see who made it. Shot blocked by Gates. Other way Davis scores. Lead back to 15. Cooley a shooters’ roll from the elbow. SK went fancy step back and bricked badly. Atkins a 3 from Grant. 10 point game. Cash answers with a bucket. Killa a takeaway. Dixon has a 3 rim out. Cooley blocked by Gates, Cash races the other way for a layup. ND calls timeout. UC playing great D. Shot clock running out. Prayer shot is airballed. Under 11 minutes left, UC up 54-40. 

UC gets Parker a look from 3 in the zone, but it’s short. Rebound bounces off of UC. Parker comes out injured. You’ll never know how badly I misspelled that. ND misses 1 shot, gets the board. Miss again another board. Miss and a tip in. 4 shots. Bad defense. Davis with an awkward looking drive and is bailed out. He’s going to the line. Miss miss. Why are the freshman guards so bad at free throws? ND misses and Jackson rebounds with a foul. Cash in for Davis. Starting 5 with 13 in for Parker. SK misses. His shot is off today. ND 3 rolls off, UC the other way. Dixon pulls the ball back. He’s running the point with Cash at the 2. Dixon misses an iso layup. UC board. Dixon misses a 3. Foul on UC. 7:49 left, 54-42. 

ND brings the ball up, Cash pokes it back, ND the other way again. 3 by Atkins short. UC controls the long board. Dixon drives and dishes to Jackson, who jumps and throws it away. Is Justin Jackson going out of the game? Yes. ND turns the ball over again. UC has 4 turnovers. At least 2 by Jackson. SK drives and gets a shot to bounce in. 3 pointer no good. Rebound hauled in by Parker. Gates gets an offensive rebound and drives like he’s Cash Wright, which is always a charge. 4 on Gates. 3 pointer by Atkins. Cash drove and left a lob to 13, but 13 didn’t go up for it. ND drive and a foul. Quick shot on the inbound, no good but a foul. That’s the 7th UC foul. Make make. Dixon on the other end with a big jumper. Back to 11. 3 pointer by Grant is good. 58-50. Dixon for 3. He’s over 1,000 points now. Congrats, best friend. Trap in the corner, ND out and back in to Cooley, who is fouled by 13. Cooley going to the line when we come back. 3:28, 61-50. 

Cooley has 15-11. Make it 15-11. Don’t make it 16-11 because he missed. UC takes the clock to 10 as Cash drives and is fouled on a layup. Cash to the line for his 2nd and 3rd FTs of the game. He misses the first. Missed both. 3 pointer no good and a weak call on Parker. ND in the 1-1. Make make. UC can’t inbound. Timeout. UC gets it in now. Cash drives and misses. Offensive rebound no. Lots of contact no call. Other way and Grant turnover it over. UC in the bonus because Grant fouled. Parker at the line. Make make. He has 11 points this half. Airball for ND. Dixon going to the line. Make make. 12 point game. 2 minutes left. Atkins a drive and has the ball knocked out of his hands by JJ. 3 off the inbound no good. ND had the loose ball, but lost it out of bounds. The Irish are probably done. Steal and a layup because I doubted them. Dixon lost the dribble. 10 point game, 1:24 left. Dixon going to the line. Make. Make. It’s going to take a hell of a collapse. 3 no good. Dixon going to the line again. Makes both. 2 more missed 3s. Jackson fouled. Makes both. I picked 73-59. So close. 71-55 UC win. 12-3, 2-0 in the Big East. ND is 9-6, 1-1. 

This was a nice win. This was a win UC needed. Of course, I predicted damn near the final score because I’m the smartest man in the world. The Bearcats haven’t won pretty the last 3 games, but they’ve done it with defense and smart basketball. You have to hold court against the middle to bottom of the league. They did just that. Can’t let a team that can’t win away from home beat you. This was a nice win. Handshakes all around.

Kudos to everyone to packed the house tonight. Over 10,100 at the game. Needs to be like that all the time, but hey, at least it’s like that now. Put another win through the grinder, baby. 
 
Box score from ESPN