Cincinnati seeks season sweep over Red Storm
Published: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
 "Photo: Kareem Elgazzar | The News Record")
On Saturday, Jan. 10, the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team lost to the University of Connecticut 81-72, in its fourth straight loss. After losing to the Huskies that day, the Bearcats were winless in conference play and their chances of making it to the NCAA tournament looked bleak.
Now fast-forward exactly one month later and after winning six of its last eight contests, Cincinnati (16-8, 6-5) is very much in the hunt for not only postseason play but a possible NCAA tournament bid.
“Nobody thought we’d be where we are a year ago. I think it’s cool,” said sophomore guard Alvin Mitchell. “We control our own destiny. It depends if we get some key wins at the end of the season whether we can make the tournament or not.”
UC has seven Big East games remaining on their schedule, the next being Wednesday, Feb. 11, against St. John’s at Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats previously defeated St. John’s 71-60 on Jan. 22, in New York, after overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit.
Despite the victory, UC Head Coach Mick Cronin is concerned about St. John’s physicality and ability to rebound the basketball.
“We’ve got to compete with them physically. They out rebounded us by 11 in the first half last game. That’s a pretty significant advantage in a half of a game,” Cronin said.
“What we’ve got to be ready for is what they bring from an intensity standpoint on the backboard. That’ll be a major area of concern. We can’t get down that big in the rebounding category. That really was something that had me ready to lose my mind at halftime the last time we played them.”
Another area of concern for the Bearcats is the return of Malik Boothe, St. John’s starting point guard, who missed the previous game against UC due to a
thumb injury.
“Malik Boothe was out for a while, I think it was due to his hand. He’s going to change the tempo of the game a lot. He likes to get it up and down,” Mitchell said. “That’s going to be something we have to adjust to, that we didn’t last game because [Paris] Horne was at the point guard position.”
Win or lose Wednesday, the Bearcats know each remaining game is an opportunity to further rebuild the UC basketball program.
“We’ve got two seniors and we want to get them to the NCAA tournament this year. We’ve got Branden Miller and Mike Williams, who we don’t know for sure if he’s going to be able to come back next year,” said junior guard Deonta Vaughn. “We’re just trying to get them to the NCAA tournament and go all the way for them, so they can feel like they had a lot to do with rebuilding this program.“
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