Syracuse recovers, tops Cincinnati
Kris Joseph scored 17 points and No. 4 Syracuse recovered from its first loss of the season by beating Cincinnati 60-53 Monday night.
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Syracuse vs. Cincinnati: TV Schedule, Live Stream, Spread Info and More
Fresh off their first loss of the season, the Syracuse Orange will try to get back on track Monday night when they travel to Fifth Third Arena to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The Orange could be in trouble because of the loss of sophomore center Fab Melo. He has been a dominant presence in the paint and was the glue that held the defense together. They struggled in all facets of the game against Notre Dame without him, so this game will tell us if it was an aberration or a sign of things to come.
The Bearcats were on a roll with victories over Georgetown, Villanova and Connecticut before a loss to West Virginia on Saturday. They don’t excel in any area, but they do a lot of the little things well to remain competitive against Big East competition.
Where: Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio
When: Monday, Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m. EDT
Watch: ESPN
Live Streaming: ESPN3.com
Betting Line: Syracuse (-5), according to Vegas Insider
Key Injuries
The Orange don’t have any injuries, but Fab Melo is not expected to play in this game for academic reasons, according to Sportsbooks.
According to The Spread, Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick is probable for the game with a groin injury. He leads the Bearcats in scoring, so his presence on the floor is going to be critical for them to pull off the upset.
What’s At Stake?
The Orange need to build their confidence back up after that ugly loss to Notre Dame. For a team that is 20-1 and spent most of the season up to this point ranked No. 1, there are a lot of questions they have to answer. Not all of them will be solved in this game, but they can alleviate some fears that fans and analysts have.
The Bearcats are still trying to build their tournament resume. They are going to get in on the strength of their wins over Pittsburgh, Georgetown and Connecticut, but a win over Syracuse would greatly enhance their seeding.
What They Are Saying
Matt Park, who is the voice of Syracuse basketball, spoke to Jim Boeheim after the team’s loss on Saturday about what needs to change and be improved upon for this game.
Considering how deep and talented the Orange are this season, it should not be a difficult adjustment for the team to make.
Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin had high praise for this Syracuse team before they lost to Notre Dame, and even after that loss, it is hard to believe that his feelings have changed that much.
From Cincinnati.com:
They’re the best team in the country and they may be the best team since North Carolina won it all (in 2005), Cronin said before the Orange lost to the Irish. They bring arguably the best pro prospect in the league off the bench in Dion Waiters. That probably sums it up.
Syracuse Player To Watch: G Dion Waiters
Waiters is the glue that holds the Orange offense together. He has been the best shooter on the team and is second with 13 points per game.
He struggled against Notre Dame, scoring just 11 points and shooting 4-for-14 from the field. That tied his second-worst output of the season. He has to get back on track for this offense to play up to its potential.
Another bad game from him, and the Orange will be looking at their second straight loss.
Cincinnati Player To Watch: F Yancy Gates
Gates has been a solid contributor on the inside for the Bearcats this season. He is averaging 12.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He is also shooting 47 percent from the field.
With Melo out for the Orange, Gates will have plenty of chances to exceed his season numbers. If he can exploit the paint against this defense, it will open everything else up for the Bearcats, and they will be able to pull off the upset.
Key Matchup: Yancy Gates vs. C.J. Fair
The Orange are going to figure out just how much they miss Melo in this game. Gates has been solid for Cincinnati all season long, and Fair had some problems defending in the paint against Notre Dame.
Fair needs to be a disruptive force in the middle and be able to block shots as well as grab rebounds for the Orange to look like the team they were before the Notre Dame game.
Prediction
The Bearcats will keep the game close early, but the Orange are stronger and will pull away in the second half.
Syracuse 71, Cincinnati 63
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Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats Continue to Impress on Road in Big East
Not many teams can say they beat the No. 11 team in the country on the road twice in the span of 10 days. The Cincinnati Bearcats can, however.
After a thrilling 70-67 win over No. 11 Connecticut on the road Wednesday night, the Bearcats find themselves in sole possession of second place in the Big East standings.
They also won their eighth straight Big East road game.
Once again, they did it with defense and excellent guard play.
The four-guard offense now only starts the game with three, but when the game is on the line, there are usually four on the floor and they all delivered in a big way Wednesday night.
Those four guards all finished with between 12-16 points, and Cincinnati only turned the ball over five times the entire game.
That helped them overcome a rebounding deficit of nine.
The Bearcats won in all-too-familiar fashion, hanging on in a close game against a team with more size and talent.
The grind of the Big East will not get any easier as Cincinnati will travel to Morgantown to take on West Virginia on Saturday before returning home to take on No. 1 Syracuse on Monday.
Continuing their winning ways will be nearly impossible given the games coming up, but if Cincinnati can win the games they are supposed to, they will have no trouble getting back to the NCAA Tournament.
The win over Connecticut, who has an RPI of No. 8, moved Cincinnati up from No. 101 to No. 85 in the standings, and they will have two more big chances with West Virginia at No. 13 and Syracuse at No. 1.
Getting those two wins would not only put Cincinnati back in the rankings, but would also start chatter about the possibility of winning the Big East.
But, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here.
Cincinnati still has a lot to prove and has to continue to beat good teams, but the way they are playing now, they are extremely tough to beat, particularly when they are on the road.
That is perhaps the best quality to have in college basketball.
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Cincinnati Basketball: Four-Guard Offense Leads Bearcats to Top of Big East
After starting the season losing three of their first eight games, the Cincinnati Bearcats have won nine of their last ten games, including seven-straight Big East road games dating back to last season.
That number is virtually unimaginable for any team, let alone the Bearcats.
They have been getting those wins by playing hard defense and taking care of the ball on offense.
The ball security can be pinned primarily on the new four-guard offense. An offense that only turned the ball over three times on Saturday in an 82-78 win over Villanova. That number tied a school record.
Leading the way in the four-guard offense is sophomore Sean Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick leads the team, averaging 16.2 points per game and can score from anywhere on the court.
Senior guard Dion Dixon is second on the team with an average of 14.1 points a night.
Point guard Cashmere Wright anchors the offense and averages 10.3 points and five assists a night. Wright is the key to the offense.
The final member of the four-guard offense is Jaquon Parker. Parker missed the early part of the season with a groin injury, but has come on strong in recent weeks and averages 9.3 points a game while shooting an amazing 58 percent from downtown.
The group is eerily reminiscent of the Villanova four-guard offense from 2006 and probably gave head coach Jay Wright flashbacks on Saturday of the top five team he took to the Elite Eight a few years ago.
That offense had a little more talent than Cincinnati and included the likes of Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray and Mike Nardi.
There was clearly NBA talent in that group which may not be the case for Cincinnati, but the basic principles are the same and Cincinnati has a difference-maker in the middle that Villanova did not.
That difference-make is senior Yancy Gates, the most talented player on the Cincinnati roster. While he averages 12 points and nine rebounds a game, he does so much on the defensive side of the ball and plays very well with the four guards around him.
Those four guards will be tested tonight when Cincinnati puts its road winning streak on the line against No. 11 Connecticut.
With the exception of No. 1 Syracuse, Connecticut has more talent and size than anybody in the conference. This will certainly be a tall order for head coach Mick Cronin and his Bearcats squad.
If they can win the game it will go a long way toward locking up their NCAA Tournament hopes, also proving that speed and quickness is sometimes hard for talent and size to match up with.
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Late 3 gets Cincinnati past No. 13 UConn (AP)
Don’t tell Cincinnati how hard it is to win road games in the Big East. Sean Kilpatrick hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left and Cincinnati beat No. 13 Connecticut 70-67 on Wednesday night for its seventh straight conference road victory. Kilpatrick scored 16 points to lead five Bearcats in double figures as Cincinnati (15-4, 5-1 Big East) withstood two big UConn second-half runs and a…
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Kilpatrick leads Cincinnati past UConn
Sean Kilpatrick hit a three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left and Cincinnati beat No. 11 Connecticut 70-67 on Wednesday night.
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Notre Dame Basketball: 5 Takeaways from the Irish’s Loss to Cincinnati
Notre Dame lost yet another road game last night, falling to 0-6 on the season. The 71-55 loss at Cincinnati leaves Coach Mike Brey still searching for answers as to how his young team can win on the road.
The Irish never led in the game and had it tied only once, at 2-2, on their way to a 21-point first half (their second lowest of the season). The Irish have played like Jekyll and Hyde this year based on whether they are at home or on the road.
At home, the good Irish come out to play, and on the road, it’s the bad Irish.
Notre Dame is a very young team, and part of growing up in the world of college basketball is learning how to play motivated top-notch basketball on the road just like you do at home. This whole year will be a learning experience for the young Irish players.
Let’s take a look and see what I learned from last night’s loss to Cincy.
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Yancy Gates, Cincinnati teammates issue apologies for brawl
Yancy Gates said he feared his career at Cincinnati would be over when he watched video replays of the melee Saturday against Xavier.
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Cincinnati players apologize for fight
A local prosecutor will review fight that ended Xavier/Cincinnati game. no decision has been made on whether to keep series vs. Xavier.
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Xavier, Cincinnati Suspensions Are in Line with Past NCAA Punishments for Fights
The day after Saturday’s NCAA Div. I men’s basketball game between Cincinnati and Xavier ended in a benches-clearing brawl, both schools announced disciplinary actions taken against their respective players who participated in the fight.
Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates and Cheikh Mbodj—who had been ejected from the contest for fighting—were suspended for six games each, as was freshman Octavius Ellis. Ge’Lawn Guyn was additionally suspended for one game.
Because this incident occurred in early December, approximately a month before conference play traditionally begins, Gates and Mbodj will only miss one Big East contest. Accordingly, Ellis and Guyn are not expected to miss the conference opener.
Meanwhile, Xavier’s Dezmine Wells—the only Musketeers player who was ejected—received a four-game suspension, as did walk-on Landen Amos. Junior Mark Lyons received a two-game sentence and Tu Holloway was suspended for one game.
Despite the heavy criticism being levied against both Cincinnati and Xavier for what some analysts have described as inadequate disciplinary measures, a wide range of prior NCAA suspensions for fighting or punching suggest this group of suspensions is indeed sufficient.
Read on for a partial history of significant fight- and punch-related suspensions.
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