Cincinnati Bearcats Fall To Harvard In NCAA Tournament

Mar 20, 2014; Spokane, WA, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats guard Sean Kilpatrick (23, left), forward Justin Jackson (5, center) and head coach Mick Cronin (right) address the media in a press conference after a men

The University of Cincinnati Men’s Basketball team are one and done in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season, this time as a number five seed.

Cincinnati fall to the Harvard Crimson 61-57 Thursday in second-round action at Spokane Arena.

The Crimson led almost all the way against the Bearcats though leads were rarely more than four points.

” In my mind, today’s game was anything but an upset,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “They’ve got a great team. Tough draw for us.

“In my opinion, that’s one of the best teams we played all year.”

The Crimson led 36-28 at the half after making half of their shots and holding Cincinnati to 35 percent shooting. Harvard finished  at 43.2 percent from the field, compared to 36.8 percent for the Bearcats.

“We missed a lot of lay-ups, Cronin said. Well, it was 27 missed lay-ups, can’t have that in a single elimination game.

Senior guard Sean Kilpatrick led Cincinnati with 18 points, but committed five turnovers. Harvard hounded Kilpatrick on defense much of the game.

Kilpatrick was limited to four shots and seven points in the second half.

“Everytime we tried to free him, they double him, Cronin said. “At times, we did get him the ball and he tried to advance it to the basket, and they put guys on him.”

Cincinnati and Harvard rank among the nation’s stingiest defense teams. Bearcats forward Justin Jackson led all players with  11 rebounds and four blocked shots, and scored 13 points, but missed a number of lay-ups and finished 5-15 from the field.

We at RFB want to thank Kilpatrick, Jackson and Titus Rubels for all the great memories, Bearcat nation will surely miss you and hopefully we comeback next season and continue to get better.

So, before I’m done, I got a quote from a Cincinnati fan whose a bit too upset on the defeat, at least he didn’t say “Fire Cronin”. “If I had the power I would cancel all their plane tickets and make them walk back. It’s a disgrace for the university. They shouldn’t be allowed to come home.”

All I gotta say is “yikes”.