Syracuse vs. Cincinnati - Kriech23's Blog

Kriech23's Blog

Syracuse vs. Cincinnati

Posted on January 24, 2012 at 09:31 PM.

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What an atmosphere in 5/3 Arena last night. Cincinnati was taking it too Syracuse early on, as it was 15-6 after the first TV timeout. Syracuse quickly bounced back as they closed out the half on a 22-10 run and held the lead 28-25. Cronin must have had quite a half-time speech because Cincinnati came out with another run to start a half, this time it was a 9-2 run to give them a 4 point lead. The Orange regained their composure, took the lead, and had the lead the rest of the game. Syracuse got the win on the road in front of a sell-out crowd, 60-53.
Cincinnati just didn't look they wanted to play. Well everyone, but Yancy Gates. The big man finally put on his big boy pants and was ready to play. Cincinnati did a good job getting him the ball down low in the first half. They did this by putting Justin Jackson in the high post and getting him the ball. Another quick pass underneath got Gates an easy two or a foul more times than not. Gates couldn't hit a free throw, but that is no reason to go away from him. In the second half the Bearcats went away from Gates and relied on the perimeter game too much. Why they did not just keep getting the ball down low to Gates is beyond me. No one on Syracuse was going to stop Gates, especially without Fab Melo out (due to academic issues). Hopefully Cincinnati will be able to bounce back and get a few more wins and get a invite to the Big Dance.