TicketsBearcats Fall to Wildcats at NCAA Tourney
Offensive drought in final five minutes dooms UC.
Contact: Brian Teter
3/19/2005
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. ? The curtain came down on the 2004-05 basketball season for the University of Cincinnati, as No. 5 Kentucky topped the Bearcats, 69-60, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday evening.
The much-celebrated UC-UK clash lived up to almost all of the pregame hype. The Bearcats had their opportunities to defeat the Wildcats before an RCA Dome regional record crowd of 40,331.
UC?s inability to make shots down the stretch run of the game?the Bearcats scored only one point in the final five minutes of the game?spelled doom for the Bearcats hopes to defeat heralded UK and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Cincinnati had pulled to within a point, 60-59, of Kentucky on Jihad Muhammad?s layup with 5:05 remaining. The Bearcats went on to miss their final 12 shots from the field.
UC ended the season with a 25-8 record, the Bearcats? ninth 25-win season in the past 10 years.
An chilly offensive start?UC missed its first four shots from the field while UK scored on its first six possessions?put the Bearcats in an 11-point hole before the game was four minutes old. The Bearcats got untracked, and with the aid of a 16-5 run, overtook the Wildcats, 28-27, with 3:38 remaining in the half. UC took a 35-33 lead to the locker room.
Kentucky scored the first six points of the second half to regain the lead, and the two teams played just about evenly until Cincinnati?s late offensive drought.
Fatigue was the likely culprit in UC?s late woes. All five starters played 33 or more minutes and only two of UC?s four subs reached double digits in minutes played. Kentucky made liberal use of 13 players during the course of the game.
?We got tired,? stated UC head coach Bob Huggins. ?We got so tired that we didn?t move the ball, and we weren?t able to make shots. They wore us down.
?I thought our guys gave great effort,? Huggins added. ?I can?t say enough about our guys? effort.?
Nick Williams led UC with 16 points and Muhammad finished with 14. Eric Hicks recorded his 10th double-double of the season and 13th of his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Maxiell was limited to nine points and four rebounds.
Kelenna Azubuike led Kentucky with 19 points.
The Wildcats became the first team this season to shoot .500 or better from the field vs. the Bearcats. UK had a .510 field goal percentage while UC was .328 from the floor, .243 in the second half.
Notes:
? The Bearcats, with four blocks, set a new single season blocks record with 226, bettering the old mark of 223 set in 1999-00. Kenyon Martin, whose individual season record of 107 blocks that season paced the team record, was in at tonight?s game.
? Cincinnati lost the opening tip for only the eighth time this season.
? The attendance of 40,331 was the second-largest crowd that Cincinnati has ever played before, topped only by the 50,379 who witnessed the Bearcats? Final Four semifinal game in 1992.
? Jason Maxiell closed his career with 1,568 points, 11th on UC?s career list; 908 rebounds, ninth at UC; 252 blocks, second; and 129 consecutive games played, the second-longest streak in UC history.
? Eric Hicks, with one blocked shot, extended his streak of games with at least one block to 11. He has had at least one block in all but one game this season.
? Hicks upped his season total of blocks to 72, the fifth-highest single season total by a Bearcat.