Next up for UC: Rutgers
01/10/14 at 12:02pm by
Bill Koch
Rutgers, a former Big East member that’s headed to the Big Ten next year, is 7-8 overall, 1-1 in the American as it prepares to face UC at 6 p.m. Saturday at Fifth Third Arena.
![[Image: jordan_e3001.jpg]](http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/files/2014/01/jordan_e3001.jpg)
Eddie Jordan
The Scarlet Knights, who haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament for 22 years, are now coached by Eddie Jordan, a star on Rutgers’ 1976 Final Four team and a former head coach of three NBA teams. Jordan was hired to replace Mike Rice who was fired after he was seen in videos physically and verbally abusing his players.
Guard Miles Mack ranks sixth in the American in scoring with 16.3 points per game. Rutgers averages 77.1 points per game but has allowed 75.3. The Scarlet Knights are an excellent free throw shooting team at 70.2 percent. They won their conference opener against Temple before losing to Louisville.
Jordan has brought the NBA uptempo style to the Scarlet Knights.
“Rutgers went night and day on the court from a team that tries to grind you to death and win 52-50 and you wondered if they ever were going to shoot it before the shot clock ran out to now I don’t think they need a shot clock,” Mick Cronin said.
“They take the first open shot that they can get off is the best way to describe it. There’s a lot more possessions in their games. They’re a much better shooting team than they’ve been in the past. They’re dangerous in a different way.
“You used to worry about how are we ever going to score against this team? Now you worry about we’ve got to guard these guys because they’ve got so many guys that can make 3s. They’ve got weapons all over the place.”
UC leads the series, 14-4, and has won seven of the eight games played in Cincinnati.
UC has won its last 13 games at Fifth Third Arena, which is tied for the fourth-longest win streak for the Bearcats since the building opened in 1989.
A win over Rutgers would make UC 4-0 in conference play for the first time since 2003-04 when the Bearcats played in Conference USA.
Mick Cronin needs one win to reach the 150 mark at UC and five more to tie George Smith for second place on the school’s career victories list behind Bob Huggins, who has 399.
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Next up for UC: Rutgers
