Bearcats Finally Win One In Big East Tourney
- Wednesday, March 10, 2010 2:00 PM
- Written By: Garrett Sabelhaus
For the first time since entering the conference in 2005, the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team won its first Big East Conference tournament game. The tournament started Tuesday night and with the No. 11 seed, UC faced Rutgers with the No. 14 seed.
The win was oddly similar to the Cats' win over UConn in December. In both games, a late three tied the game and with one second left, Lance Stephenson was fouled and went to the line in a tie game.
The main difference: in the game against UConn, Stephenson hit both free throws allowing the Huskies to get off a decent look from half court for the win. He intentionally missed the second free throw against Rutgers forcing the Scarlet Knights to shoot a full-court shot that missed.
But a win is a win. The Cats face Louisville tonight in round two of the Big East tournament. I'd say it's safe to say that UC has to at least get to the championship game to be back in consideration for the NCAA tournament's field of 65.
The Cats were still pretty bad last night despite managing to squeak out a 69-68 win. Stephenson was the bright spot on offense along with fellow freshman Jaquon Parker. Both had 13 points and Stephenson added nine rebounds and five assists to give him the edge.
Parker's night should not be forgotten though. He filled in for a suspended Rashad Bishop who didn't make the trip to New York City for violating team rules.
Bishop is probably UC's most consistent player averaging over eight points and four rebounds per game and he shoots at a 50 percent clip. Losing him is not easy to overcome.
Rebounds made the difference though and no one did it better than Ibrahima Thomas for the Cats last night. Thomas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds helping UC out-rebound Rutgers 44-28 including 19 offensive boards for the Cats compared to four by Rutgers.
The bench stepped up too and scored a combined 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting.
The next game is against Louisville tonight. UC had a double-digit lead in the first half against the Cardinals at Freedom Hall earlier this season but ended up losing in the teams' only other match this year. Game time is set for 9 p.m. from the Garden but last night's game didn't get underway until about 9:30. ESPN has the game.
