UC Bearcats fall to Louisville, 67-51
Mar. 4, 2013 9:11 PM


Cincinnati guard Cashmere Wright and forward Titus Rubles (front) fight for a loose ball against Louisville guard Russ Smith during the second half. / The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II

Written by
Bill Koch

Mick Cronin’s worst fears came true Monday night.

The University of Cincinnati coach had warned Sunday that if the Bearcats turned the ball over frequently against Louisville, which ranks third nationally in turnover margin, it would be like a “shark-feeding party for 22,000 people.”

That’s exactly what happened.

The Bearcats committed a season-high 22 turnovers and the Cardinals ran away with a 67-51 victory at the KFC Yum! Center, while outscoring UC, 32-20, in the second half.

Despite the flurry of turnovers, UC (20-10, 8-9 in the Big East) played the Cardinals even until the 15:56 mark of the second half before Louisville emphatically put the game away. The Bearcats have lost six of their last eight games.

No. 8 Louisville (25-5, 13-4) has won six in a row and nine of its last 10 and presented Rick Pitino with his 300th victory in 12 years as the Cardinals’ head coach.

Cashmere Wright led UC with 15 points. Russ Smith led Louisville with 18.

The Bearcats, who trailed by four at halftime, used a zone defense to start the second half and cut off the penetration by the Cardinals’ guards, who did so much damage in the first half. With Louisville’s offense stalled, UC pulled even at 37-37 with 15:56 remaining.

No sooner did the Bearcats tie the score than the Cardinals went on a 14-3 run to take a 51-40 lead on Kevin Ware’s transition dunk with 9:36 left.

Turnovers continued to plague UC, which matched its season high of 19 with nine and a half minutes left. Junior forward Titus Rubles committed nine turnovers, falling two short of the school record of 11 set by Dean Foster in 1965-66.

Once the Cardinals seized the lead this time, they did not let up, using their transition game to take a 60-44 lead on a Ware layup. At that point, they had outscored UC, 23-7, since the score was tied at 37-37.

UC cut the deficit to 13 points with 3:30 remaining but never really made a serious run at the Cardinals again.

The Bearcats committed 12 turnovers in the first half, which matched their season average for an entire game, but managed to stay close. After trailing by as many as seven, they pulled to within one point on Ge’Lawn Guyn’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining in the first half, but Peyton Siva buried a three for the Cardinals just before the horn went off to give Louisville a 35-31 halftime lead.

UC had a difficult time dealing with the quickness of Cardinal guards Siva and Russ Smith, with Siva frequently blowing past the Bearcats’ defense for layups. Siva scored 11 in the first half. Smith scored 10.

The Bearcats made 6 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the first half. Wright, who left the game with 36.5 seconds left in the half favoring his left shoulder, broke out of his shooting slump by making three of four from long range. He returned to start the second half.

UC has one regular-season game remaining on Saturday at Fifth Third Arena before heading to New York for the Big East tournament next week.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...eakingnews

Louisville basketball beats Cincinnati 67-51
Mar. 4, 2013 9:25 PM


University of Louisville's Peyton Siva passes around the Cincinnati defense in the first half. March 4, 2013 / Matt Stone, The Courier-Journal

Written by
C. L. Brown

Coach Rick Pitino won his 300th game at the helm of the University of Louisville and clinched a double-bye for the Big East Tournament with a 67-51 win over Cincinnati Monday night in the KFC Yum! Center.

The No. 8 Cards (25-5, 13-4 Big East) guaranteed themselves to finish no lower than fourth in the league and thus automatically advance to the tournament quarterfinals. U of L isn’t counting out winning the league title. It sits a half game out of first place behind Georgetown heading into Saturday’s rematch against Notre Dame.

Luke Hancock, fresh off a clutch performance shooting against Syracuse, helped spark another crucial stretch against the Bearcats. His floater in the lane over 6-foot-10 Cincinnati center Cheikh Mbodj, who had five blocks, broke a tie game.

Hancock, who had eight points, followed with a 3-pointer and on a break lobbed a pass ahead for a Chane Behanan dunk. The Cards finished off their 9-1 spurt with Russ Smith, who had a game-high 18, converting a runner in the lane for a 46-38 lead.

It was finally the cushion that U of L made stick, despite Peyton Siva picking up his fourth foul with 11:27 left.

Siva shook off the ill effects from shooting 0-for-9 against Syracuse by getting to the rim against the Bearcats. Siva’s five baskets came all on layups and he scored all 11 of his points in the first half.

While he sat due to foul trouble in the second half, Kevin Ware played effectively in his place by helping the Cards turn up their defense.

U of L forced the Bearcats into a season-high 21 turnovers and converted 23 points off those turnovers. Two of which came when Ware got an off-ball steal and sailed in free for a dunk.

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin could only watch helplessly as the U of L lead ballooned. He spent his final timeout with nine minutes left with an 11-point deficit. He had none left to try and stop the Cards momentum on a 9-2 spurt punctuated by a Montrezl Harrell dunk after he blocked a 3-pointer to start a fast break.

Ware capped off the run with a basket that made the score 62-44 with 5:54 left.

The Cards trailed 15-14 when they got a big boost from the bench. Stephan Van Treese, Ware, Harrell and Hancock sparked an 8-0 run when they entered the game.

Their defensive possessions during the spurt were more impressive than their scoring. U of L forced Cincinnati (20-10, 8-9) to call timeouts twice to avoid 5-second calls while trying to make in-bounds passes under the basket.

The Cards 22-15 lead – its biggest of the first half -- was short-lived. The Bearcats answered with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game.

U of L’s offense wasn’t as productive the final 10 minutes of the first half as it was during the first. Gorgui Dieng broke a four minute drought without a field goal by following his own miss. Dieng had all eight of his first half points in the final seven minutes.

The Cards took a 35-31 lead into half thanks to a buzzer beating 3-pointer from Siva. But it didn’t happen exactly the way Pitino wanted it. With 24 seconds left in the game and 22 on the shot clock, Pitino was yelling “one shot” as the ball passed from Siva to Smith. Neither player could hear him and Smith missed the shot.

That allowed the Bearcats’ Ge’Lawn Guyn to launch and make a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left. Guyn’s shot gave the Cards enough time for Siva to answer with his first 3-pointer in three games.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...ck_check=1

Another rough night for the Bearcats
03/04/13 at 10:32pm by Bill Koch

Let’s start with this. Louisville is very, very good, especially when its defense is forcing teams into 21 turnovers as it did to UC on Monday night. The Cardinals have it all – a strong front line, lightning-quick guards and a shut-down defense.

There’s a reason why they’re ranked eighth in the country.

Having said that, it’s clear that the Bearcats, who succumbed to the Cardinals, 67-51, Monday night, are a wounded team, desperately trying to find some answers as the Big East tournament approaches next week. But they won’t be easy to find. UC continues to have no inside game. Not only can its big men not score around the basket, they often can’t even catch the ball. It makes you wonder sometimes why the guards continue to try to pass to them.

The Bearcats came out firing Monday night and it appeared they would be able to hold their own against the Cardinals, but eventually the 21 turnovers took their toll. Sean Kilpatrick was held to 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting. He was 1-for-9 from long range.

“If SK goes 3-for-15, we’re not going to win very many games,” Cronin said, “especially when he got the looks. He got a lot of good looks today that he usually doesn’t get.”

Titus Rubles continues to be UC’s best rebounder with nine but countered that with eight turnovers. He scored only two points, both on free throws – and took only two shots.

“He was trying to do too much but he wasn’t the only one,” Cronin said. “Obviously it was a tough night for him, the first time in this environment. With Justin (Jackson) out, I think he put a little too much pressure on himself, just playing too fast.”

Cashmere Wright, who scored 15 points, left the game with 36.5 seconds left in the first half after his left shoulder popped out for the sixth time this year, but returned to start the second half and ended up playing 29 minutes.

“After the season I’ll get it taken care of, but right now I ain’t got no time,” Wright said, “so you just keep pushing.”

That’s all the his teammates can do, too, keep pushing. But this team’s weaknesses are obvious to everyone and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight. The depth that was supposed to be a strength does not exist and Rubles, David Nyarsuk and Cheikh Mbodj all have failed to live up to expectations.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2013/03/0...-bearcats/

thats been Rubles biggest problem. Trying to do too much. He has the potential but offsets it with the many unforced turnovers and horrible shots. Dan Hoard often talks of how Rubles looks like an NBA all star in practice and hits almost everything he shoots. Well, it's sure not happening in the games he plays. Maybe Mick should hire a hypnotist to make him think he's practicing at game time. Might help this team go a lot farther.