The Bearcats Regular Season Opener Was a Success Over UT Martin
By Mel Payne
Mar 18, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Cashmere Wright (1) handles the ball against the Florida State Seminoles during the second half in the third round of the 2012 NCAA men
UC opened their men’s basketball season at home on Sunday against the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin. The Bearcats, ranked 24th in the standings, only allowed the Skyhawks to have the lead in the game one time, when UT Martin scored the first two points to open up Sunday’s action. Cincinnati then went on to win the matchup 80-57 on a total team effort.
Eleven different Bearcats put points up on the board, led by Cashmere Wright. Wright finished the game with 16 points and four rebounds. He was backed up by Sean Kilpatrick, who added 14 points to the win along with three rebounds and a steal on the afternoon. Titus Rubles, the junior college transfer making his UC debut, came off of the bench to score eight points and grab a total of seven rebounds.
The total team effort didn’t end with scoring either. The Bearcats were on the losing end of 19 turnovers. Justin Jackson, who finished the game with seven points and game high 11 rebounds, turned the ball over 5 times. Wright, Kirkpatrick, and Parker combined for 8 turnovers while Rubles, Thomas, Sanders, and Guyn added another six turnovers from the bench.
Wright said, “We didn’t come out focused – not to our standards.”
“The score is irrelevant,” Kilpatrick added.
The Skyhawks, who hadn’t held a lead since the beginning minutes of the game, came out in the second half and outscored the Bearcats 40-37. That is all irrelevant, though, since Cincinnati ultimately pulled the game together to beat UT Martin by 23 points.
Though, the game was sloppy for UC, the Bearcats still pulled off the win over the Skyhawks. Cincinnati improved to 91-21 in season openers, including 80-10 at home. The win was also the 114th for Bearcats’ coach Mick Cronin. This breaks the tie with Ed Jucker for fifth place in the program’s career coaching win list.