Bearcat Basketball Breaks Record, Stays Unbeaten

Ddec 6, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats center Cheikh Mbodj (13) dunks the ball during the first half of the game against the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Leifheit-USA TODAY Sports

The Bearcat men hit the court last night against the Trojans of Arkansas Little-Rock at Fifth Third Arena. No. 11 Cincinnati won the game easily, showing the visitors why they are a defensive force to be reckoned with. The final score was 87-53 and kept the Bearcats undefeated at 8-0.

Cincinnati played strong in the first half and held the Trojans to just 17 points at the midpoint. Arkansas Little-Rock could not keep up and turned the ball over 18 times in the first half alone. It seemed as though every time the ball touched a Trojan’s hands, the Bearcats were scoring again.

In an effort to calm the team down, Trojan head coach Steve Shields used four of his five total timeouts in the first half. That didn’t slow down the Bearcats, though. The team surged to a 44-17 lead at half time.

The second half of play was more evenly matched, as the Trojans made some adjustments in the locker room. Arkansas had better ball security and only turned the ball over five more times and doubled their first half score with 36 points in the second half. While the Bearcats put up 43 of their own.

At the end of the night, the Bearcats broke a school record with 23 steals and have remained undefeated through their first eight games in only the 15th time in school history. Cincinnati has been great defensively throughout the season, but has struggled on offense at times. However, they are still surging and have a chance to break into the top ten national rankings.

In Thursday night’s matchup the Bearcat men were led by Sean Kilpatrick, who put 18 points up on the scoreboard, had six rebounds and two assists. David Nyarsuk and Cheikh Mbodj both put up twelve points and added a combined ten rebounds and four assists, while JaQuon Parker rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Cincinnati’s welcomes the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks to Fifth Third Arena on Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm.