Saturday, January 14, 2006
Welcome To The Big (EAST) Show
It's Woody coming to you from a packed Shoemaker Center as the #25 UC Bearcats host new Big East rival, Syracuse. Like I said, full house. Total capacity. 13,136 strong. They had to put some of us up in the rafters. Obviously, a lot of the fan interest is coming from UC's strong 13-3 start. But there definitely is a strong pro-Orange contingent in the house. But they're mostly confined up in Section 225. There's a good amount of red and black throughout Fifth Third Arena and they're hopping Cameron-style in the student section.
Cincinnati led for most of the first half until a flukey assist put Syracuse up 25-24 with a little more than five minutes to go. The Cats quickly took back the lead from the foul line. The crowd was loud and rowdy as the refs swallowed their whistle on a few plays. It's been a while since it's been this noisy in this building. It was especially profound when a chant containing a swear word went out after a blown call as Downey was molested going into the lane. It's amazing how much louder folks get when the referees finally get around to making a call. Too bad Syracuse stunned them with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34 as time ran out on the first half.
The Orange overcame a quick three pointer on the first possession of the second half and took a 40-37 lead, forcing Andy Kennedy to call a timeout to rally the troops. It didn't help as Terrance Roberts took off for a fast break dunk. Two more fast break points followed for Jim Boeheim's squad. Considering this Bearcat team had been so strong in the second half, UC gave up a 10-3 run coming out of the locker room. The crowd was pretty crestfallen until Jihad made a three pointer to bring the score within two. But some no-calls on UC's end of the floor and some whistles on SU's turned those cheers into boos. It was more and more difficult for the crowd to get fired up as the home team fell behind as much as nine. Foul trouble started becoming a factor as Cincinnati went down by 11 with less than 10 to go. CBS Sportsline's midseason coach of the year kept trying to turn things around but momentum, and the calls, were completely pointing towards Upstate New York. Anytime UC went on a little run, the Orangemen would answer with a three point bomb or a nice lay-in under the hoop. Before you knew it, the lead was 15 with 6 minutes to go and the raucous UC chants were replaced with "Let's Go Orange" raining down from Section 225. The crowd officially began to file out with 4 minutes left in the game.
UC may drop to 2-2 in the Big East and the second half performance could certainly have been better. But hopefully this game will have reminded Bearcat fans the fun that can be had at the Shoemaker Center rooting on basketball team.
Cincinnati led for most of the first half until a flukey assist put Syracuse up 25-24 with a little more than five minutes to go. The Cats quickly took back the lead from the foul line. The crowd was loud and rowdy as the refs swallowed their whistle on a few plays. It's been a while since it's been this noisy in this building. It was especially profound when a chant containing a swear word went out after a blown call as Downey was molested going into the lane. It's amazing how much louder folks get when the referees finally get around to making a call. Too bad Syracuse stunned them with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34 as time ran out on the first half.
The Orange overcame a quick three pointer on the first possession of the second half and took a 40-37 lead, forcing Andy Kennedy to call a timeout to rally the troops. It didn't help as Terrance Roberts took off for a fast break dunk. Two more fast break points followed for Jim Boeheim's squad. Considering this Bearcat team had been so strong in the second half, UC gave up a 10-3 run coming out of the locker room. The crowd was pretty crestfallen until Jihad made a three pointer to bring the score within two. But some no-calls on UC's end of the floor and some whistles on SU's turned those cheers into boos. It was more and more difficult for the crowd to get fired up as the home team fell behind as much as nine. Foul trouble started becoming a factor as Cincinnati went down by 11 with less than 10 to go. CBS Sportsline's midseason coach of the year kept trying to turn things around but momentum, and the calls, were completely pointing towards Upstate New York. Anytime UC went on a little run, the Orangemen would answer with a three point bomb or a nice lay-in under the hoop. Before you knew it, the lead was 15 with 6 minutes to go and the raucous UC chants were replaced with "Let's Go Orange" raining down from Section 225. The crowd officially began to file out with 4 minutes left in the game.
UC may drop to 2-2 in the Big East and the second half performance could certainly have been better. But hopefully this game will have reminded Bearcat fans the fun that can be had at the Shoemaker Center rooting on basketball team.
