Cincinnati Preview
February 26, 2010 04:41 PM | General
February 26, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | CINCINNATI GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin says his team has a lot to play for Saturday afternoon when his Bearcats face the Mountaineers in a 2 p.m. Big East Conference game at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Forward Devin Ebanks has reached double figures in six straight games and is averaging 16 points per game over that stretch.
Brent Kepner photo |
Cincinnati is now 16-11, 7-8 and is fighting to get the NCAA tournament selection committee’s attention. According to RealTimeRPI.com, Cincinnati is 59th with a strength of schedule ranking of 23rd. A win Saturday over seventh-rated West Virginia in Morgantown would give Cincinnati’s NCAA tournament hopes a big boost.
"We’re one of the so-called bubble teams,” said Cronin. “Our guys understand that we’ve got to find a way to get some wins.”
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins says his team also has a lot to play for. West Virginia (21-6, 10-5) is tied with Pitt for third place in the Big East standings with three regular season games to play. The top four teams in the conference receive a double bye for the Big East tournament.
“We could play ourselves into a two-seed and the difference from a two-seed to a five or six-seed is huge,” said Huggins. “We’ve got a lot to play for.”
West Virginia last played on Monday night at Connecticut, losing 73-62 to the Huskies in a game that turned with a minute to go when Stanley Robinson followed up a miss to give UConn a six-point lead. A WVU turnover led to another Husky basket, and a double-technical foul called on Huggins gave UConn three more points.
In all six games West Virginia has lost this season, free throws have been a factor – either the other team shooting considerably more than West Virginia or the Mountaineers missing theirs. In the last three losses to Villanova, Pitt and Connecticut, WVU has missed 36 free throws.
Cincinnati has also struggled from the line, going 14 of 32 in a 74-69 win over DePaul Wednesday night and shooting 61.4 percent for the season. In fact, the Bearcats managed to score 74 points against DePaul without making a single 3-point field goal (0 for 9) and missing 18 free throws.
“We did a good job of finishing in the paint,” said Cronin.
Center Yancy Gates did most of the damage for UC, going 11 of 15 from the floor and scoring 23 points. Gates is averaging 10.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. During last year’s win against West Virginia in Cincinnati, Gates scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“Conceptually we’ve got to do a better job than we did a year ago (against Gates),” Huggins said. “We didn’t give anybody any help and we let him iso or we got too extended. There are some things that we need to fix.”
Guard Deonta Vaughn is also back from last year’s game and is averaging 11.2 points per game.
“It’s pretty much the same cast of characters,” said Huggins. “Yancy may be the most talented offensive post guy in our league - and I say that with (Notre Dame’s Luke) Harangody taking over a little bit more in the perimeter.”
The one new piece to the puzzle for Cincinnati is freshman guard Lance Stephenson, a New York City high school sensation considered one of the top high school players in the country last spring. Stephenson is averaging a team-best 11.5 points while pulling down five boards per game.
“He’s got great athleticism and another guy who really rebounds the ball for them,” Huggins said. “I think the best thing he does is rebound the ball, particularly at the offensive end. And he gives them another guy that can give them some easy baskets. He’s good in transition.”
Cincinnati has won the two prior meetings against West Virginia against its former coach. Two years ago in Morgantown, West Virginia made 20 percent of its shot attempts in a 62-39 loss to Cincinnati. In that game, WVU was 1 of 22 from 3-point range.
Last year in Cincinnati, the Bearcats were able to hang on for a 65-61 win. At one point in that game West Virginia had an eight-point lead before Cincinnati rallied. Once again, WVU struggled from behind the 3-poiint arc hitting just 4 of 21 for 19 percent.
Cronin knows his team will be facing a motivated West Virginia team on Saturday afternoon.
“Two things I will tell you. I know Coach Huggins. His team lost their last game. Not good for the Bearcats,” said Cronin. “We won the game last year. Not good for the Bearcats. I just gave a brief overview to our guys of what the West Virginia players are going through in preparation simply because they lost their last game. We need to win more than they do, and that is the message. We need to understand: we are walking into the lion’s den. We may want to be prepared.”
The Big East Network will televise the game. Stations carrying the game locally include WCHS (Charleston), WVFX (Clarksburg), WOAY (Beckley), WTAE (Pittsburgh), WTAP (parkersburg) and WJAL ( Chambersburg, Pa.).
