Cincinnati Bearcats

Josh Levin

2/7/14

Travel Writing

Charity Smith

Cincinnati Bearcats

            What a game last night! The Bearcats were on their home court facing a huge conference rival in the UConn Huskies. These two teams were big rivals in the Big East conference for years. Now they are both in the American Athletic Conference or AAC. The Bearcats have now won 15 straight games, are 22-2 overall and are 12-0 in conference play. It was a matchup of the top two point guards in the AAC with Sean Kilpatrick of the Bearcats against Shabazz Napier of the Huskies, both averaging 10+ points a game.

UC started off slowly, trailing the entire first half, but they were hanging on and fighting hard. They had an incredible second half led by Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Jackson; Sean Kilpatrick with his quick hands on defense and his great ability to make it rain from downtown, and Justin Jackson with his prowess underneath to defend shots and fight for rebounds. The biggest play of the game was in the second half with about 5 minutes left; Justin Jackson got the major block on a Huskie going in for the layup and the ball bounced around and was thrown up court where it was a race to get to the ball between, of course, Sean Kilpatrick and Shabazz Napier. Kilpatrick won the race and slammed it home for two, the crowd went wild, everyone standing and screaming. That changed the momentum of the game for UC just long enough to pull out the win with some key free throws in the final seconds of the game to secure the conference win against a tough opponent.

Sean Kilpatrick ended up with 26 points, 15 of them from beyond the arc, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. While Shabazz Napier ended up with 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. Point Kilpatrick!

 It was an amazing game! I had a blast! I am now adding the Cincinnati Bearcats to my list of teams along with the Kentucky Wildcats and the Iowa Hawkeyes.