Bellarmine will pack it in vs. UC
11/01/13 at 11:37am by Bill Koch

After knocking off one of the best teams in Canada in their first exhibition game last week, the UC Bearcats will take on one of the top NCAA Division II teams Saturday (2 p.m., Fifth Third Arena) in their second and final exhibition before opening the regular season next Friday at home against North Carolina Central.

Bellarmine is ranked fourth nationally among Division II teams by The Sporting News and has been picked to win the East Division of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.


Bellarmine guard Vance Hall

This will be the fourth time UC has played the Knights in an exhibition game since Mick Cronin took over the UC program in 2006. The Bearcats have won the previous three games. Last year, UC posted an 86-51 victory on the strength of a 19-0 run in the second half.

“Last year we made shots,” Cronin said. “It’s hard on them if we make shots because they don’t have size, so they have to pack it in on us, which you’re going to see a lot in six of our first seven games.”

Bellarmine’s best player is guard Vance Hall, a transfer from Wright State who is a pre-season All-American. He shot 45.9 percent from 3-point range last season, 91.4 percent from the free throw line.

Hall played against UC two years ago when the Bearcats beat the Raiders at Nutter Center in their first game after the brawl at the end of the Xavier game and scored 10 points in UC’s 78-58 win.

The Knights have two local players on their roster – guard Nick Frederick, son of former Greenhills and Notre Dame star Joe Frederick, and forward Jake Thelen, both from Covington Catholic. Frederick played on the same CovCath team last year with UC walk-on guard Zack Tobler.

Cronin and Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport coached together on Rick Pitino’s staff at Louisville from 2001-03.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2013/11/0...-in-vs-uc/