Cincinnati Bearcats Drop Second Straight

Mar 1, 2014; Hartford, CT, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin talks to an official as his team takes on the Connecticut Huskies in the second half at XL Center. UConn defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats 51-45. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

A week after losing a heartbreaker to the Louisville Cardinals the Cincinnati Bearcats traveled to Connecticut to face the Huskies of UConn. Cincinnati entered the game ranked 11th in the country, they will not be there Monday when the Top 25 polls come out as the UConn Huskies outplayed Cincinnati all day winning 51-45 in a game that Cincinnati somehow managed to stay in.

For the first half of the game the Bearcats stayed in the for the entire first half, their offense struggled, the shooting struggled to be fair. Th game stayed close, neither team leading by more than two, at the half the Huskies took the lead 26-25 and carried the momentum into the half.

The biggest problem for the Bearcats in the first half was the lack of shooting, the game could have gone either way. If Cincinnati made the shots it would have been a big lead for the Bearcats and same for the Huskies. Sean Kilpatrick struggled in the first half, he didn’t make a shot until 9 minutes left in the first half. From there he scored 10 more to keep Cincinnati in the game. Senior Justin Jackson had the most uncharacteristic game of his season with only three points in the game and none in the first half.

The second half was much of the same for the Bearcats, poor shooting. Cincinnati managed to get them in themselves in a 10 point hole ultimately leading to their loss. Cincinnati had a scoring outage from the 19:45 mark to the 12:33 mark. That was their second 7+ minute scoring drought for the Bearcats. Cincinnati would lose 51-45 in one of their ugliest games of the season.

Cincinnati played awful, nothing about Saturdays game good. The only good thing about the last two losses is the fact that as bad as the Bearcats play offensively they are fighters and somehow manage to stay in games.

TV Teddy made an appearance Saturday. Incase you don’t know TV Teddy he is referee Teddy Valentine who is more concerned about being on TV than being a good ref. His confrontation with Mick Cronin made national headlines yesterday. American Athletic Conference refs have caught a lot of flack this season and well deserved flack. Sean Kilpatrick was called for an offensive charge foul yesterday that was so preposterous Kilpatrick stared down the ref as he walked down the court. Something must be done.

http://youtu.be/DwcX8OnTTSA

The Bearcats return to Fifth Third Arena Thursday night against the Memphis Tigers.