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Notes: Bad shots, and plenty of them

By Paul Dehner Jr., CNATI.com Posted February 5, 2010 1:00 AM ET

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Each shot from behind the 3-point arc brought a new adventure, a new disappointment. Rashad Bishop off the front of the rim. Jaquon Parker barely off the back of the rim. Cashmere Wright airball.

The unpleasant melody of shots clanging off the rim - and sometimes not at all - played the soundtrack to a potentially devastating final score.

After two games where the Cincinnati Bearcats appeared to have found a shooting stroke that was absent through much of Big East play - hitting 18 of 38 in the last two games - the Bearcats couldn't connect on Thursday.

By the time the 83-65 loss came to a close, UC was 7 of 28 from deep for 25 percent.

Cashmere Wright was 7 of 8 from 3-point range in Big East play entering the night. He was 0 for 6. He was not alone. Deonta Vaughn, who is in the top 10 in the conference from deep, went 2 for 8.

When nobody can find the bottom of the rim, each shot grew progressively harder to unleash in rhythm.

"I think you start to think more before you shoot the ball," Wright said. "You think, 'OK, this shot might not go in,' so you are kind of hesitant. Things just happen like that. It is how the ball rolls. We got to get that corrected."

Mick Cronin insists the correction comes more in shot selection than shot execution. Coming out of the locker room at halftime trailing by 13, UC took seven 3-pointers in the first 5:12 of the second half.

"Too many bad choices, too many guys trying to be a hero instead of sticking with the gameplan and trying to get to the foul line," Cronin said. "We get the ball in the paint try to get to the foul line. Get the ball inside out. We try to play a game of HORSE against a team we can't shoot with."

Notre Dame ended up making 7 of 20 from behind the 3-point line.

FIRST HALF WOES -- The Bearcats fell into the deepest halftime hole all season in Big East play.

By allowing Luke Harangody and Tim Abromaitis to score 16 points apiece, UC fell behind, 40-27.

The previous high was a nine-point deficit against Seton Hall. UC trailed Notre Dame by seven points in the first meeting but came back for a 60-58 win.

The first 20 minutes were a return to the offensive woes that dogged the team on the road all season. Lance Stephenson was held without a point, as was Cashmere Wright.

Deonta Vaughn only scored two, but was 0 for 3 from the field.

HARANGODY STRIKES BACK -- Mick Cronin spoke with pride about how his team played defense on Luke Harangody in the first game.

Harangody assured that wouldn't happen again from the opening tip in the second game. The senior who leads the Big East in points per game at 24.2 per contest scored 37.

After holding down Harangody to 14 points in the first game, the senior broke out for 16 points and 10 rebounds before halftime.

"He's at home, this is his home gym," Gates said. "We expect that from him, for him to make shots. Him making shots wasn't the only thing that beat us, we could have did more things on defense. You know, we turned over the ball more in this game than we did at home."

DAVIS SHOWS SIGN OF LIFE -- Larry Davis hadn't hit a 3-pointer since the Big East season opener against UConn. In the first half on Thursday night, nine games later, he hit another one. He didn't stop there.

The junior who entered the game 2 of 17 on the season from 3-point range knocked down four triples for 12 points.

"You got to find a positive in every night," Cronin said. "The kid's got heart, he never stops trying."

STEPHENSON ON THE BENCH -- Lance Stephenson didn't start for the second consecutive game. Last time it was because of an abdominal strain. This time it was not.

"Practice," Cronin said of the reason. "And I wanted Bishop to start on Abromaitis. Bishop is the best defender on our team."

Abromaitis finished with 22 points.

"He scored most of his points when Bishop wasn't on him," Cronin continued.

As for Stephenson, he rebounded to score 12 points and grab nine rebounds after not starting against Providence but never found a flow against Notre Dame.

Stephenson was held without a point until two free throws at the 11:40 mark of the second half.
He eventually had eight points.

Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats

Tags: Big East Conference, Cincinnati Bearcats, Larry Davis, Luke Harangody, Mick Cronin