The Cincinnati Bearcats dropped a tough one to USF 46-45 today. It was tough to watch because of the horrible shooting by both teams, 40% by USF, 35% by UC, and the slow pace that USF dragged the Bearcats into.
UC was held to the Bulls standard of 3-14 from 3. UC took 4 of those looks in under 5 minutes. To hold UC to 10 three attempts in 35 minutes is impressive. The Bearcats are a team that needs to shoot the 3 ball. The guards need it, the bigs get rebounds off them, and they keep the pace up. When UC is slowed down, they pound nails and stand around, or they run the dribble hand off for 20 seconds and take a bad mid-range jumper. This is a team that needs the 3. When you take away the attempts, it’s trouble. UC had 10 offensive rebounds. I think they had 3 the second half.
The most frustrating part of the game came late. After UC took the lead with under a minute left, UC ran the clock all the way down. A near steal by Justin Jackson pushed USF to the timeline with 8 on the shot clock. The Bulls tried going inside to Ron Anderson Jr with TWO ON THE SHOT CLOCK when Yancy Gates stupidly tried to go for a steal. Yes, he got a lot of ball. Yes, he crashed into him with his body, which drew the foul. Just a stupid, stupid, stupid foul. When you give a team multiple chances to score, they will. Anderson is only 49% from the line. He got rim help on the first and netted the second.
Cash got a layup with a questionable no call to put UC back in front with 9.5 left. His second big shot in the final minute. But UC couldn’t stop Anthony Collins, who is tremendous, from getting to the paint and fouled. Collins made both with 3.5 left. For some reason Stan Heath called timeout. They fouled UC with 0.7 left. UC ran god knows what play. The inbound was going to Gates in front of the UC bench. His back was to the basket. He would have been fouled or missed horribly. We’ll never know because the pass by Dion Dixon was deflected and USF won.
As good as the Louisville win was, this loss was nearly as bad. I think UC ends the week a bit ahead, but there is work to be done. Like I said the other day, patience. People were putting this team solidly in the tournament. Now they are back in the bubble mix you would think. All they can do next is beat Marquette.
Box score from ESPN
| Cincinnati Bearcats | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Ge’Lawn Guyn, G | 0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Cheikh Mbodj, C | 0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cashmere Wright, G | 0 | 3-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Dion Dixon, G | 0 | 2-10 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Jeremiah Davis III, G | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Yancy Gates, F | 0 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Jaquon Parker, G | 0 | 2-9 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Justin Jackson, F | 0 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Sean Kilpatrick, G | 0 | 6-14 | 0-4 | 1-1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 18-52 | 3-14 | 6-7 | 10 | 32 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 45 | ||
| 34.6% | 21.4% | 85.7% | ||||||||||
| South Florida Bulls | ||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Ron Anderson Jr., F | 0 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, F | 0 | 3-7 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Victor Rudd Jr., F | 0 | 2-6 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Anthony Collins, G | 0 | 6-12 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| Hugh Robertson, G | 0 | 3-6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Augustus Gilchrist, F | 0 | 1-7 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jawanza Poland, G | 0 | 2-7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 19-47 | 3-18 | 5-8 | 5 | 27 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 46 | ||
| 40.4% | 16.7% | 62.5% | ||||||||||
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
