WV 66, UC 55 – summary
Posted by bkoch 01/29/11, 11:21 pm

Player of the game: West Virginia guard Joe Mazzulla, who kept penetrating the lane and drawing fouls. He went to the line 12 times and made 10 free throws as the Mountaineers outscored UC, 24-5, from the free throw line. He and John Flowers each scored 16 points to lead West Virginia.

Play of the game: After UC erased a six-point halftime deficit to take a one-point lead, Mazzula made three of four free throws to reclaim the lead for the Mountaineers, who never trailed again.

Turning point: WV outscored UC, 20-5, to take a 57-43 lead with 6:59 to go.

Quote: “I’ve never been one to run. When people think you can’t do something, that’s a great time to do things.” - Bob Huggins talking about his short-handed team.

“If I stressed one thing in this game it’s that we can’t lose this game at the foul line because they can’t make enough (field goals) to beat us. We didn’t get the job done.” – Mick Cronin

What it means: UC saw its 12-game home winning streak come to an end, along with its quest to finish unbeaten at home this season. The Bearcats, a good rebounding team in their own right, were simply no match for West Virginia on the boards and struggled offensively when West Virginia put the clamps on Yancy Gates in the second half. UC now has a week off before playing at Pitt next Saturday.

http://news.cincinnati.com/ucblog

I need a full report, missed the whole game, my grand daughter's dance recital

(01-30-2011 05:24 AM)icehole3 Wrote:  I need a full report, missed the whole game, my grand daughter's dance recital

Here's the main points:

1. UC shot 29 3-point attempts, making 8 of them, against a team that currently goes 7 deep. Not only did that play right into WVU's hands to prevent them from getting into foul trouble, it gave them easy rebound after easy rebound.

2. WVU continually attacked the basket to pick up fouls and gave themselves better opportunities for offensive rebounds. Mazzulla was the most effective at getting in the lane, but even their big guys attacked the basket with success (either scoring or picking up fouls).

3. Bishop and Thomas should never shoot threes, yet they combined for 1-7. Add in Gates' miss to make it 1-8 from guys who belong either in the paint or attacking the basket off the dribble.

4. WVU was +19 points at the free throw line and +9 rebounding against UC. Those two stats tell the story of the game.

5. Terrible game plan by Cincinnati. Clearly the more talented group of players, but WVU played much better as a team. UC had Wright, who was excellent shooting the ball last night (24 points in 17 minutes), and nothing else offensively. When Mazzulla attacked the basket and got Wright's 4th foul, the game was pretty much over.

As a % of total shots, this team jacks up more 3's than last year's team. And the 3 point shooting % has dropped off in BE play.

Take the ball to the hole.

(01-30-2011 07:40 AM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 05:24 AM)icehole3 Wrote:  I need a full report, missed the whole game, my grand daughter's dance recital

Here's the main points:

1. UC shot 29 3-point attempts, making 8 of them, against a team that currently goes 7 deep. Not only did that play right into WVU's hands to prevent them from getting into foul trouble, it gave them easy rebound after easy rebound.

2. WVU continually attacked the basket to pick up fouls and gave themselves better opportunities for offensive rebounds. Mazzulla was the most effective at getting in the lane, but even their big guys attacked the basket with success (either scoring or picking up fouls).

3. Bishop and Thomas should never shoot threes, yet they combined for 1-7. Add in Gates' miss to make it 1-8 from guys who belong either in the paint or attacking the basket off the dribble.

4. WVU was +19 points at the free throw line and +9 rebounding against UC. Those two stats tell the story of the game.

5. Terrible game plan by Cincinnati. Clearly the more talented group of players, but WVU played much better as a team. UC had Wright, who was excellent shooting the ball last night (24 points in 17 minutes), and nothing else offensively. When Mazzulla attacked the basket and got Wright's 4th foul, the game was pretty much over.

Again; Bishop and Thomas should never shoot the three. They are not very good shooters. At one point in the game, bishop had a wide open three that he air-balled.

It terms of basketball IQ, UC's players and coaches must have one of the lowest in the country.

What happened to that offense we were running against the Little Sisters of the Poor? Can't run offense against good Big East level teams. I don't see where this falls except upon the coach. He recruited the players and he "coached" em up, and they are running his offense (or not running it).

"For those who want to be negative, we are still 18-4."

...and have yet to beat a top 25 basketball team. And yet to beat a team in the top half of the Big East conference.

I predict another late season slide. I see 21 wins tops.

What did you see in terms of wins before the season?

More or less?

21 was what I thought. I did not have them at 18-4 at this point so I anticipate more than 21 now. Someone find that prediction thread. Love to see how people moved their goal line one direction or the other in terms of expectations.

Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

Ha!

Thanks.

(01-30-2011 01:40 PM)50Cent Wrote:  Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

WVU beatable? The line I saw had UC as a 4.5 point favorite.

so if UC wins at DePaul are they back in NCAA tourney???

(01-30-2011 01:40 PM)50Cent Wrote:  Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

Dr. Doom I will bet you $892 trillion we will not finish with 7 bigeast wins this year

(01-30-2011 02:10 PM)icehole3 Wrote:  so if UC wins at DePaul are they back in NCAA tourney???

UC gains nothing from beating Depaul, they can only hurt themselves if they sleepwalk for 40 minutes.

(01-30-2011 02:10 PM)Former Lurker Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 01:40 PM)50Cent Wrote:  Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

WVU beatable? The line I saw had UC as a 4.5 point favorite.

Um wouldn't that imply west Virginia was beatable? Seems the money thought uc would win.

(01-30-2011 02:14 PM)chicago bearcat Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 01:40 PM)50Cent Wrote:  Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

Dr. Doom I will bet you $892 trillion we will not finish with 7 bigeast wins this year

Dr. Doom? Lol. More like dr. Realist and dr. Mick you ain't fooling me no more.

Oh wait, you don't even seeing them win two more. That's entirely possible too.

Just curious as to the wins you see the rest of the way?

Again, I would love nothing more than to knock off Louisville, and st. Johns and gtown and uconn at home.....I'm just no longer optimistic after watching this groups since Xavier.

The game at DePaul is no gimme. DePaul will win a game this season likely at home and the UC game is a distinct possibility. I can't chalk up any gimme wins for the Bearcats the remainder of this year if they play like they did last night.

(01-30-2011 03:27 PM)50Cent Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 02:14 PM)chicago bearcat Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 01:40 PM)50Cent Wrote:  Rath who cares. That's why you play the season. Expectations evolve. This teams play up through Xavier gave us hope of Mick finally making the dance.

Even with 3 bad road losses to nd, villanove and syracuse, uc managed to steal a win at st. Johns and beat rutgers to position themselves for the NCAA. Needed to win at home....against a good wv team, but a beatable one. If you want to be an ncaa team.

Mick failed.

The expectations are now reset. 7-11 in big east again. NIT again.

Dr. Doom I will bet you $892 trillion we will not finish with 7 bigeast wins this year

Dr. Doom? Lol. More like dr. Realist and dr. Mick you ain't fooling me no more.

Oh wait, you don't even seeing them win two more. That's entirely possible too.

Just curious as to the wins you see the rest of the way?

Again, I would love nothing more than to knock off Louisville, and st. Johns and gtown and uconn at home.....I'm just no longer optimistic after watching this groups since Xavier.

Haha no I do see them winning more than two more. I dont believe in penciling in wins because in this conference any team can knock off any other on a given night. Heck, St. Johns just whipped Duke. So I dont list any games as "locks" However, when looking at schedule I also dont see a single game that we cant win. Pittsburgh almost got beaten by Rutgers yesterday (granted it was a home game).

Of the remaining games I think we have a decent shot at beating DePaul, St. Johns, Louisville, UConn, Georgetown, and Providence. DePaul is obviously a terrible, terrible team. Providence will be tough on road but certainly doable. the other four I listed are home games. Thus far, weve lost a total of one home game. Probability says that we should snag at least two of the four home games against SJU, Lou, UConn, and GT. On top of that, we have an outside shot of stealing a road game at GT, MU, or Pitt. You said you havent seen much to inspire confidence since Xavier game but I think we were quite impressive against Rutgers at home. The WVU game is an anomaly for our home court play this season, which has featured great intensity on defense nearly the entire game in Big East play.

I'd like to believe it's an anomaly. I'd like to believe that for some absurd reason, guys were just not ready to play. But how could they not be? Didn't they know this would be a tough game? Didn't they know that WVU had been counted down, but not out? Why is there always a lack of focus against good opponents? This team has come out flat against Villanova, Syracuse, ND, St. John's, Rutgers, and now WVU. Where did the fire go?

It's not so much that I am disappointed that we lost. It's how we lost. Particularly with our offensive game plan. Pass it around the perimeter a couple times, or pound the ball at the top of the key, and then shoot an ill advised three. Going to the rim like they were scared. Jon Flowers had 4 blocks. Thomas was weak. Gates couldn't get the ball in the post in the second half. Nobody on the offensive glass. I mean, how often is this strategy going to beat good Big East teams???

The defense against dribble penetration was bad, and the rebounding effort was pathetic. Stupid fouls. Just an abysmal night.

I keep trying to be an optimist, but I'm not an idiot. 21 wins is not an NCAA team with the schedule that they played. Should we be happy with less?

(01-30-2011 07:40 AM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  

(01-30-2011 05:24 AM)icehole3 Wrote:  I need a full report, missed the whole game, my grand daughter's dance recital

Here's the main points:

1. UC shot 29 3-point attempts, making 8 of them, against a team that currently goes 7 deep. Not only did that play right into WVU's hands to prevent them from getting into foul trouble, it gave them easy rebound after easy rebound.

2. WVU continually attacked the basket to pick up fouls and gave themselves better opportunities for offensive rebounds. Mazzulla was the most effective at getting in the lane, but even their big guys attacked the basket with success (either scoring or picking up fouls).

3. Bishop and Thomas should never shoot threes, yet they combined for 1-7. Add in Gates' miss to make it 1-8 from guys who belong either in the paint or attacking the basket off the dribble.

4. WVU was +19 points at the free throw line and +9 rebounding against UC. Those two stats tell the story of the game.

5. Terrible game plan by Cincinnati. Clearly the more talented group of players, but WVU played much better as a team. UC had Wright, who was excellent shooting the ball last night (24 points in 17 minutes), and nothing else offensively. When Mazzulla attacked the basket and got Wright's 4th foul, the game was pretty much over.

I think that is an accurate summary. Good job.