Rugged Cincinnati awaits an Orange team coming off its first loss of the season

Published: Monday, January 23, 2012, 5:30 AM

By Donna Ditota/The Post-Standard


Photo by Frank Ordonez / The Post-Standard
SU players will have to re-group following their first loss of the season at Notre Dame.

Cincinnati – Scoop Jardine insisted, in the quietude of the Syracuse locker room Saturday night, that he believed his team could win every game on its schedule this season.

“I definitely did,” the Orange point guard said.

SU players, sky high after their 20-0 start and their six-week reign as the nation’s top team, tumbled to earth a bit in South Bend. The Orange lost 67-58 to the Irish and absorbed their first defeat as Notre Dame students streamed onto the Joyce Center court in an impromptu post-game celebration.

The Orange men shot 34 percent in the loss. They shot 30 percent from 3-point range. They were outrebounded 38-25. They did not score a transition basket.

They underachieved in all those departments as their 7-foot sophomore center presumably watched the game in Syracuse, his academic transgressions benching him for Notre Dame and for tonight’s contest at Cincinnati. The University has not publicly acknowledged Melo’s issues were academic (there are student privacy standards to consider) and have not said when and if those issues might be resolved. A university spokesman did say Melo could return to the team at some point.

Without Melo, the Orange struggled to defend Notre Dame’s Jack Cooley in the post and will face another wide-bodied obstacle in the form of Yancy Gates tonight at 7 in the Fifth Third Arena. Gates averages 10.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in Big East games. Built like Cooley, he is a sturdy 6-foot-9 and 260 pounds.

Orange players were careful to credit Notre Dame after the Irish beat them, but it was difficult to deny that Melo might have made a difference.

“It’s always tough to not have your starting guy, a guy who’s been there for us all year on the defensive end,” Jardine said. “He changes a lot of shots, gets us going with some dunks. It’s hard. But for the most part, that wasn’t the case (against Notre Dame). We missed him, but we didn’t make shots. It was pretty bad.”

It was all of that.

Aside from a terrific outing at Providence (10-of-17) and a solid game against Marquette (8-of-20), the Orange has struggled from beyond the arc against Big East opponents this season. SU is 11th in conference games in 3-point field goal percentage at .319.

Without any easy transition points to boost field goal percentage numbers against the Irish, the Orange was 11-for-30 Saturday inside the arc. That’s 37 percent.

“We have to make some shots,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said. “You are not going to win on the road playing offense like that.”

“Offensively we weren’t able to get anything going,” said SU guard Brandon Triche, “and that kind of (affected) our defense.”

That defense will need to resurface tonight against a Bearcat team that often deploys four guards at a time and therefore rarely turns the ball over.

Cincinnati leads the league in turnover margin at plus-7.43. Bearcats coach Mick Cronin said what the small lineup sacrifices in rebounding strength (Cincinnati is 15th in the league in rebounding margin) and defense (UC is 10th in field goal percentage defense at .434), it can compensate for in scoring.

“You don’t turn the ball over,” Cronin said, “and theoretically you should have a better offensive team because you have more weapons on the floor.”

The Bearcats own one of the league’s best scorers in sophomore Sean Kilpatrick, who averages 16.9 points per Big East game. Kilpatrick, said Cronin, has worked diligently to transform himself from a pure scorer into a credible 3-point threat.

Cincinnati shoots .339 from the 3-point line, but attempts more threes than any other team in the league. Kilpatrick shoots a respectable 39.4 percent, but JaQuon Parker, a guard who comes off the bench, checks in at 54.8 percent from 3-point range.

Jardine lamented what he termed his team’s lack of perimeter defense against the Irish, who shot 50 percent from 3-point range in Saturday’s win. The Orange, habitually among the best defenders of the three in the league, will likely watch Cincinnati attempt plenty of them tonight.

Their defensive difficulty will be heightened by Gates’ presence in the post. SU players acknowledged after Notre Dame that getting back on the winning track will require a return to the brand of sticky defense and opportunistic offense they displayed in 20 wins before Saturday’s defeat.

“We gotta bounce back,” SU forward Kris Joseph said. “It’s all about bouncing back. Every team suffers losses. It’s just about how we respond. That’s going to show what kind of team we are.”

Donna Ditota can be reached at 470-2208 or dditota@syracuse.com.

http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketbal...an_or.html

Orange Scouting Report: Syracuse at Cincinnati

Updated: Monday, January 23, 2012, 8:40 AM

By Mike Waters / The Post-Standard


Dennis Nett / The Post-Standard
Syracuse's James Southerland hams it up and spins a basketball on his finger before the Orange's game against Pittsburgh on Jan. 16.

Game time: 7 p.m.
Location: Fifth Third Arena
TV: ESPN

Who's hot for Syracuse

It’s slim pickings after Syracuse’s lackluster performance against Notre Dame. James Southerland scored 15 points in the loss to the Irish. His 15 points were a career-high against a Big East foe for the 6-foot-8 junior.

Three points

Observations from an assistant coach familiar with the Cincinnati Bearcats:

"Cincinnati doesn’t have one great shooter, but it has lots of guys who shoot a good percentage. Syracuse has be active on the perimeter of the zone."

"Cincinnati has to minimize its turnovers. That’s what Notre Dame did. Notre Dame didn’t feed Syracuse’s transition offense."

"Yancy Gates has been playing really well since coming back. He’s tough to defend once he gets the ball inside."

Key Bearcat

Yancy Gates is a 6-foot-9 senior center who averages 12.2 points and 9.4 rebounds.

Assistant's take: "It was Sean Kilpatrick before Syracuse lost Fab Melo, but without Melo inside, the key guy has got to be Yancy Gates. Syracuse couldn’t stop Jack Cooley without Melo. Gates could have a field day."

Stray fact

Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin is one of just three coaches in the Big East who are alums of the school where they coach. The others are Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins.

http://blog.syracuse.com/orangebasketbal...incart_mrt

The key to the game is going to be attacking the basket and breaking down their zone. If they take 30 3's, they're just doing what Syracuse wants them to do.

Key Bearcat is not Yancy Gates. I sure hope they key on Gates. If they do our guards will have a field day. This is the New Bearcats.

Quote:Observations from an assistant coach familiar with the Cincinnati Bearcats:

"Cincinnati has to minimize its turnovers. That’s what Notre Dame did. Notre Dame didn’t feed Syracuse’s transition offense."

ND had 17 turnovers. I wouldn't exactly call that limiting turnovers. ND won because they shortened the game and made a ton of shots late in the shot clock. It also helped that ND won the offensive glass battle without crashing the boards. Cooley held his own while the rest of the team got back to stop transition buckets. Best of both worlds right there. Hopefully Yancy can do the same thing.