Well,
that wasn't good.
So,
there's much that we could discuss from this game - from the 21 turnovers to
the 12 missed 3-pointers,* from Lance Stephenson's second-straight game with
six turnovers in front of his hometown fans to another defeat against one of
the Big East's so-called light weights. Or you could talk about the positives -
from the impressive defensive performance to the solid play of senior forward
Steve Toyloy.
*<i>You
know the last time UC didn't make a 3-pointer? The
But let's
not talk about that. Let's talk about the final 1:30 of the game, because that
is where the Bearcats lost this one. That's where UC lost a chance to move back
into the upper half of the conference and where the Bearcats hurt their NCAA
tournament chances.
OK, back
to the videotape.
A Yancy
Gates layup gave the Bearcats a 50-47 lead with 1:29 to play, and from there,
UC had a number of chances to close out the game and improve to 3-2 in
conference play. That's what the Bearcats should have done. Instead, this ...
-After a
timeout with 1:13 left, Vaughn played good defense, tying up Sean Evans as he
took a handoff from a teammate with 53 seconds to play.
Except it
didn't.
-With 24
seconds remaining, Mick Cronin takes a timeout, and on the inbounds play,
junior guard Rashad Bishop was supposed to find freshman guard Lance
Stephenson, who was coming off a double screen and was open. Instead, Bishop
passed to Gates, who was trapped on the sideline and threw
it back to Bishop - who was then stripped from behind by a Red Storm defender.
The ball somehow rebounded to sophomore guard Dion Dixon, whose shot was blocked
by Paris Horne.
"That's a
crucial play right there," Cronin said on his postgame radio show. "If we get
Lance the ball, the game is over."
Except it
wasn't.
-After
-On the
inbound: Bishop was supposed to be looking for senior guard Deonta Vaughn, who
was going to use a screen near mid-court and come back for the ball. The idea
was for
"That
play is not in our repertoire," Cronin said. "It was not called. We don't run
that play. Young people at times get rattled because of the turnover and do
interesting things. We never should have went long in that situation and
compounded it by throwing it. Deonta is supposed to come back. If not, give it
to Dion Dixon on the flash. He hasn't missed a free throw in a month and the
game is over."
Except it
wasn't.
--With
the score tied at 50-50 with nine seconds to play, Bishop Stephenson tries to hit
"Knowing
they were going to press, we don't flash strong to the ball," Cronin said. "If
we flash strong to the ball there, we're going to get a foul on them. Instead,
we let them physically cut in front of us and foul the guy. Young people do
wild things. That's why coaching is a rough way to make a living. It boggles my
mind."
UC should
have beaten
