There is a saying that in poker, you don’t remember the hands you win, you always remember the hands you lose. After reflecting on the suck that was the St John’s game, I decided to come up with a list of the 25 worst UC losses that I can remember. It was going to be 10, but I thought of 10 off the top of my head and decided that it was not enough. I used the great, great, amazing, great statsheet.com to look up the schedules of UC back to 1990 and any game that I remembered being a horrible loss, I wrote down. I said that the St John’s game was one of the 5 worst UC games, but will it be? Read the list, that’s why I made it. See Part 2 here.
25. 71-69 vs DePaul February 20, 1992
I wouldn’t have thought of this game, but JKeating23 mentioned it on twitter. This game was bad enough that it caused Bob Huggins to have chest pains and check into the hospital. I don’t remember, nor can I find, much about it, so it’s 25. EDIT: From the comments Romanvan Gogh offers some perspective on the DePaul game. After reading this, I would place DePaul 9th.
“The context is the most important part of the DePaul game. UC was emerging from the ashes of the Tony Yates years. They were coming off two straight NIT appearances. It looked like they were ready to make that jump to “NCAA Tournament caliber program.” But they weren’t quite there yet in February of ’92. Think back to all those close calls in ’90 and ’91. Almost beat UK. Almost beat Oklahoma. Split games with Florida State and Louisville. ’92 was going to be year they went over the top and started winning those games and making the tournament. But early in ’92 they were clipped by Michigan State and crushed by IU. DePaul (the preseason choice to win the Great Midwest Conference) won the first game. Maybe they weren’t ready. Maybe it was another NIT year. But then they got on a roll. Killed Xavier. Beat Memphis. Were ranked for the first time in a million years. Maybe they were for real. That confidence came back. The second DePaul game would be the true test. I don’t remember the specifics of the game, but I do remember that they should have won. There was some controversy at the end (I want to say a timeout call or clock problem) which caused Huggs to go berserk at the buzzer and end up in the hospital. Whatever happened, it was a crushing blow to the collective confidence of UC basketball. Of course, now that game is irrelevant. That was the last loss before the Final Four. UC beat DePaul something like 40 straight times after that. But at the time, it was absolutely soul crushing. To me at least, it was a Top 5 loss. Only the Kenyon Game, Lenny Brown, Jared F’ing West, and maybe Miles F’ing Simon were worse.”
24. 63-61 vs. Southern Miss Conference USA tournament March 12, 2003
The 2002-2003 season wasn’t really that memorable, but this loss is one that sticks out. I remember watching the game and the realization that this squad wasn’t going to do anything in the NCAA tournament really bummed me out. I don’t think I watched the rest of that C-USA tournament and can’t tell you who won. I’m going to guess Louisville. Hey guess what? It was. This UC squad ended up losing to Gonzaga in the first round in the game Bob Huggins and awesome radio man Chuck Machock were tossed.
23. 61-60 (OT) at DePaul February 6, 1999
This was back at a time DePaul was good at basketball. I remember being aggravated at this game because UC should have won and were hosed by the refs. Looking at the stats, DePaul shot 24 free throws to UC’s 14. Kenyon Martin fouled out in 18 minutes and had only 2 points. I’m sure this was a game that Quentin Richardson did something annoying.
22. 71-69 at Xavier February 3, 2004
The Bearcats were ranked #10 going into this Crosstown Shootout and held a 10 point lead in the first half. Xavier stormed back to take the lead going into intermission. It was tight the whole second half with neither team leading by more than 4. Jason Maxiell hit 2 free throws with 55 seconds left to give UC a 69-68 lead, but Lionel Chalmers scored on a jumper for Xavier with 22 seconds left. UC would take another tough loss in this series. But it wasn’t the worst Xavier loss.
21. 67-45 vs Illinois December 31, 2004
This loss put me in a bad mood as the New Year rang. I was sick and watched the game while coughing up my lungs. The game was more disgusting than that. The Bearcats were undefeated going into this game, and it was a big test. Illinois was up 8-10 seemingly the whole first half before pulling away near the end. The Illini would go on a run to start the half and win going away. This was a how good are ya game, and it showed the Cats weren’t elite that year.
20. 86-75 vs Belmont November 9, 2007
Cincinnati had not lost a home opener in 42 years before this game. The 07-08 team wasn’t very good, 13-19, but this was a bad loss. Getting routed by Belmont quelled all optimism for this season, and most fans wrote the team off then. Looking at the score now, it’s crazy to see.
19. 67-57 vs DePaul March 10, 2009 Big East Tournament
The Bearcats of last season collapsed down the stretch losing 6 of 7, capped off by this disgraceful performance in the Big East tournament. DePaul won 0 Big East games last year, and then kicked the uninterested Bearcats in the ass the second half. DePaul had lost 18 in a row, and UC rolled over for them on national tv. This was one of the rare UC games I turned off out of disgust before it was over.
18. 73-71 (OT) at Xavier January 19, 2006
The Musketeers were the favorite in this one against Andy Kennedy’s UC club. The game was sent to overtime when Jihad Muhammad of all people hit a 3 to tie the score at 64. Xavier would have a 2 point lead seemingly all of overtime with the Cats fighting back. The lead got up to 5 with 1:10 left when Devan Downey hit a 3, and then Cedric McGowan got a steal and dunk to tie the score. Jihad Muhammad would foul Stanley Burrell and I threw a little plush basketball I had at the wall. It knocked a picture down and the frame broke. It wasn’t a good moment. UC’s shot to tie was missed by James White and the Musketeers won another one.
17. 83-79 (2 OT) at Xavier December 13, 2009
This game is covered in much more detail here. After near 2 near brawls, Lance Stephenson’s ridiculous crossovers, and Terrell Holloway’s becoming a star, the game would go to a second OT. The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 3 point lead, but couldn’t hold on. Steve Toyloy clanked 2 free throws with 1:10 left and Jason Love would dunk one home after a good pass from Holloway. My best friend Dion Dixon would miss a 3, and Dante Jackson would make 1 free throw. Deonta Vaughn missed a lay up, and Jason Love iced it. This would be higher, but it was such a great game it didn’t sting as much as some of the others. But, it stung, hence the reason it’s 17 and over 2 other Crosstown Shootouts.
16. 69-67 vs Xavier December 14, 2000
The Bearcats once again were ranked and went down to an unranked Xavier squad. This game was an absolute brickfest, but came down to the wire. Kenny Satterfield missed a tying jump shot as time ran out, and David West, Kevin Frey and Romain Sato left this game winners. Xavier shot 40 free throws to UC’s 15. I was so pissed after this one, because UC had a much better team than X. And Xavier had lost to Princeton before this, and I was shit taking Xavier fans all day. Bad times
15. 91-90 vs Wofford November 21, 2006
The reason this game is here, and ranked so high compared to better games with better UC squads is because this was the realization game that UC was no longer UC. The Cats got off to a 3-0 start in Mick’s first year, but that would all come crashing down as Wofford beat the Cats. Cincinnati was trailing by 7 with 2 minutes left before tying the score on a John Williamson lay up with 27 seconds left. Deonta Vaughn would foul Shane Nichols, who knocked down 1 free throw with 5 seconds left. Vaughn would miss a 3, and UC fans everywhere found out that days of 20 win seasons every year were over.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
